| Former and current Brooklyn Museum employees have stepped forward to decry the behavior of executive leadership at the institution, denouncing “the harm and daily mistreatment” of workers of color.In a letter sent to the Guggenheim Museum and published online, the anonymous group A Better Guggenheim called for the removal of three top executives: Richard Armstrong, Elizabeth Duggal, and Nancy Spector. The letter details allegations of sexism, racism, classism, and abuse.The Guggenheim Museum laid off 24 employees. Another eight employees accepted voluntary separation packages.After Bill Arning, the former director of the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, was accused of sexual harassment online, the museum confirmed that an investigation into the director’s behavior resulted in his separation from the museum in 2018.Citing “deeply systemic issues,” faculty at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) declared a vote of “no confidence“ in the school’s senior leadership, including the president and provost.An open letter signed by LA artists demands the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) remove Tom Gores, who owns a prison telecom company, from its Board of Trustees. Hito Steyerl, Michael Rakowitz, and Forensic Architecture are among 300 signatories of an open letter in support of striking Tate Workers. An open letter, authored by three artists included in the now-canceled Collective Actions exhibition, urges the Whitney Museum to “commit to a year of action — of mobilization and introspection.”At the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, more than a dozen MFA students are sitting out their final show in protest of the school’s actions during Black Lives Matter demonstrations. They are presenting their work at alternative, artist-run spaces instead.Tenants of a 40-year-old collective of artists and organizers in Fort Greene say that the building’s owner and her family have used tactics of “surveillance, intimidation, and harassment” to force them out of the building. Public statues of women in the UK just barely outnumber those of men named John, a new study has found.Awards & Accolades Farah Al Qasimi was awarded the third annual Capricious Photo Award. Ana María Alvarez, Andrew Cyrille, Sean Dorsey, Michael John Garcés, Rennie Harris, Cécile McLorin Salvant, Dael Orlandersmith, and Pam Tanowitz were named the 2020 Doris Duke Artists, each receiving a $275,000 award from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. Arts.Black, BOMB, Bmore Art, the Brooklyn Rail, Burnaway, Glasstire, the Maine Arts Journal, the New Art Examiner, and X-TRA were awarded $20,000 each by the Dorothea and Leo Rabkin Foundation. Tracy Fitzpatrick, Director of the Neuberger Museum of Art, was appointed to the New York State Board of Regents Advisory Council on Museums. Jova Lynne rejoined the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD) as the Susanne Feld Hilberry Senior Curator.Transitions Brent R. Benjamin will retire as director of the Saint Louis Art Museum. Nikki Iacovella was appointed director of the Outsider Art Fair. Sara Jimenez and Destinie Adelakun were awarded the 2020 Canadian Women Artists’ Award by the New York Fondation for the Arts. Kyla McMillan was appointed director, focusing on sales and artist management, at David Zwirner Gallery. | via ARTnews ObituariesSteve Carter (1929–2020), playwright who began his career at the Negro Ensemble Company | Playbill Vasilis Dimitriou (1936–2020), artist who painted original movie posters | artnet Nancy Dine (1937–2020), Academy Award-nominated filmmaker | artnet Ann Getty (1941–2020), publisher and arts patron | NYT Florence Howe (1929–2020), publisher and historian who cofounded the Feminist Press | Baltimore Sun Randall Kenan (1963–2020), award-winning fiction writer | NYT Jiří Menzel (1938–2020), award-winning director | Guardian William Pursell (1926–2020), Grammy-nominated country musician | NYT Bruce Williamson Jr. (1970–2020), soul singer and former member of the Temptations | AV Press |
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