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Good Morning!
- The Tate has cut 7 percent of staff via voluntary departures and a hiring freeze, due to a post-pandemic deficit.
- Raymond Pettibon has gifted his archive to the Getty museum in Los Angeles.
- JD Vance was booed at Kennedy Center when he took his seat in the auditorium for a concert.
The Headlines
TATE CUTS. The Tate has cut back almost a tenth of its staff via voluntary departures and a hiring freeze, as it tackles deficit woes, reports the Financial Times. About 40 roles, or 7 percent of the institution’s staff, have been removed according to sources, in an effort to break even ahead of fundraising plans towards further expansion. The recent belt tightening will “eliminate the deficit that many museums like Tate have borne since the pandemic,” said the museum. Tate Director and Chair of the National Museum Directors’ Council, Maria Balshaw added that the Tate had “carefully streamlined our workforce through voluntary means,” and bolstered new income streams. The Tate has museums in London, Liverpool, and Cornwall, and has planned a major redevelopment of the Liverpool location, plus a restoration of Barbara Hepworth’s studio in St Ives, and a 25th birthday celebration at London’s Tate Modern in May.
GIFT TO THE GETTY. The Getty in Los Angeles has acquired the archive of self-taught artist Raymond Pettibon, most of which will be housed in the Getty Research Institute (GRI), reports Hyperallergic. Pettibon’s artworks are known for his stylized ink drawings combining text and narratives referencing pop and consumer culture as well as history. The archive includes drawings, notes, concert flyers, prints, zines, skateboards, a surfboard, and other materials. “As a seminal voice in art, and someone who has spent many years in Southern California as well as defined its mentality, Raymond’s gift will be a terrific addition to the Getty’s extraordinary custodianship for artists and the history of art,” said Shaun Caley Regen, founder of Regen Projects, which has long represented the artist.
The Digest
Vice President JD Vance was booed at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington as he and his wife, Usha Vance, took their seats for a National Symphony Orchestra concert. This was the first time he had attended an event at the venue since President Trump has taken over the arts institution. [The New York Times]
The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) received $1.5 million from Google’s philanthropy offshoot, Google.org, to back the forthcoming retrospective of the late artist Ruth Asawa. Opening April 5, this will be the first major posthumous retrospective of the artist, but the museum announced news of the donation earlier this month, as the largest it has ever received from a corporation for a single exhibition. [Hyperallergic]
The Greek artist Christoforos Katsadiotis discusses his practice after his pieces were vandalized this month by a far-right member of Greek parliament, who claimed the exhibited works were blasphemous. “I respect each and everyone’s beliefs and don’t want to offend anyone,” he said. [Le Journal des Arts]
The Madison Square Park Conservancy in New York has appointed Denise Markonish as its chief curator, who will oversee the art program at the park. Since 2007 she has served as chief curator of Mass MoCA in North Adams, Massachusetts, and she succeeds Brooke Kamin Rapaport. [Artforum]
The Kicker
CANADA’S NEW NORMAL As President Trump enacts his chaotic back-and-forth trade policy of tariffs with China, Mexico, and Canada, the affected art scene in the latter nation is not waiting to respond, asthe Observer‘s Elisa Carollo writes. Canadian art dealers told Carollo that they are holding off on confirming participation in future US fairs this year, and that the “largely self sufficient and self-contained” Canadian art scene is relying on its own circle of collectors and institutions to weather the storm. Canadian arts professionals are also building connections with Mexico’s art world, particularly since last month’s Zona Maco fair. For the 2025 edition of Art Toronto, Mexican art dealer Karen Huber will curate a new section dedicated to Mexico. The takeaway: expect new lines of collaboration to keep building that leave the US on the sidelines. As Toronto dealer Stephen Bulger told ARTnews‘ Karen K. Ho earlier this month, “If the Americans just want to be by themselves, then you know, the world is a big place, right? There are lots of different friendships and alliances that can form really quickly.”