A federal appeals court in the District of Columbia has upheld a ruling halting construction on the ballroom on the site of what used to be the East Wing of the White House. The original injunction was granted on the grounds that the president has no authority to demolish or build on the site without authorisation from Congress – and the two appeal judges expressing the majority opinion agreed: ‘Whether or not a massive ballroom should be constructed is for Congress to decide and is not a matter for Executive self-help,’ they wrote in their decision. The court has delayed implementation of its ruling to allow the Trump administration to appeal to the Supreme Court – a move that seems likely after President Trump describing it on social media as a ‘horrendous’ and ‘politically motivated’ decision.
A Russian airstrike destroyed a 300-year-old Cossack church in southern Ukraine on 2 August, the Kyiv Post reports. Made entirely out of wood without using a single metal nail, the Holy Vvedenska Church had been dismantled and rebuilt several times, most recently in the historic site of Beryslav in the Kherson region. Oleksandr Alchiev, head of the Beryslav City Military Administration, described the church, which had a bright blue and green exterior, as an ‘architectural monument of national significance’ on Facebook. MOCT reports that at the time of attack the church was under the administration of the Moscow Patriarchate, aka the Russian Orthodox Church. In 2023 Beryslav’s military administration appealed to Ukraine’s ministry of culture to return the church to state ownership but received no response.
The Trump administration has proposed cutting the Smithsonian Institution’s federal funding by 11 per cent, which would leave it with its lowest budget in almost a decade, ARTnews reports. The proposed budget for the fiscal year 2027 is $961.3m in federal funding, down from the $1bn granted in 2026. The government also proposes cutting the Smithsonian’s workforce by six per cent – some 243 employees – as well as reducing its salaries and expenses account by $87.2m and facilities spending by $32m. The proposal is the latest in the Trump administration’s attacks on the Smithsonian Institution, which it has accused of ‘extreme political activism’ and most recently of containing ‘inaccurate information’ in its displays.
The Australian Museum in Sydney has returned ancestral remains to Rapa Nui (Easter Island), the Art Newspaper reports. German forces seized the remains, which include 17 skulls and a sample of hair, during a naval expedition in 1882, six years before Chile annexed the island. The museum acquired them in 1883. Andrew Martin, Australia’s ambassador to Chile, said in the ‘island’s ancestors are returning to the place they should never have left’. Emilio de la Cerda, Chile’s undersecretary for cultural heritage, said that the restitution reflected a ‘profound change in the way we understand heritage […] and the recognition of the rights of indigenous peoples’.
Staff at Royal Museums Greenwich (RMG) and the National Galleries of Scotland (NGS) are going on strike. Workers at sites run by RMG – the National Maritime Museum and the Royal Observatory – who are represented by the trade union Prospect will strike on 11 and 12 August over concerns including poor pay and leave allowances. NGS staff who belong to the Public and Commercial Service Union (PCS) staged the first of four 24-hour strikes on Friday, with three more to take place in August. A statement from the PCS described the strikes, which are taking place during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, a response to ‘detrimental changes to working practices’. The strikes follow last week’s announcement that V&A staff across London would take industrial action over poor working conditions.
Tim Reeve, the deputy director of the Victoria and Albert Museum, has been appointed chief executive of English Heritage. Reeve began his career at the organisation, which oversees more than 400 historic sites across the UK, in 1996 as a registry assistant, and became director of historic properties in 2005. In 2013 he joined the V&A as deputy director and chief operating officer and led projects such as V&A East Museum and Storehouse and V&A Dundee. He will begin his new role in November, taking over from interim chief executive Geoff Parkin.
Valerie Hillings will be the first director of Guggenheim Abu Dhabi, which will open in December. Hillings joins from the North Carolina Museum of Art, where she has been director since 2018. From 2004–09 Hillings was a curator at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York before leaving to become director of curatorial affairs for the Abu Dhabi project, where she led the acquisitions and collection strategy for nine years.
Flávia Almeida will be the new president of the Museu de Arte de São Paulo (MASP), ArtReview reports. Almeida, who is currently vice president of MASP, will take over in September from Heitor Martins, who is leaving after 12 years in the role. Before joining MASP, Almeida was director of Fundação Bienal de São Paulo, where she retains a seat on the board, and previously chaired the board of the Instituto Tomie Ohtake, an exhibition space in São Paulo.