Artists Send Letter Criticizing Trump’s Anti-DEI Policy, Lisa Schiff’s Regrets, Frieze New York Releases Gallery List: Morning Links for February 19, 2025

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The Headlines

NEA PROTEST LETTER. Over 460 artists sent a letter to the National Endowment for the Arts on Tuesday protesting funding limitations following President Donald Trump’s executive orders barring funding applicants from promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, reports NPR and The New York Times. “We oppose this betrayal of the Endowment’s mission to ‘foster and sustain an environment in which the arts benefit everyone in the United States,’” reads the letter spearheaded by New York-based writer and theater director Annie Dorsen. Performance artist Holly Hughes, one of the so-called “NEA Four,” who was denied NEA funding in 1990 following conservative criticism, observed that “these funding restrictions are a good barometer for who is the easy punching bag in American culture at the moment.”

LISA SCHIFF’S REGRETS. After turning herself into the police and pleading guilty in a Manhattan federal court to a multimillion-dollar fraudulent scheme that began in 2018, former high-profile art advisor Lisa Schiff sat with The New York Times in a first interview in which she speaks openly about her crimes, amounting to a veritable “art-world Ponzi scheme.” Schiff is scheduled to be sentenced March 19, and faces up to 20 years in prison. In an article that repeats several times how Schiff is currently bankrupt, despite once leading a completely different, glamorous life, the former art advisor says she didn’t even enjoy the spoils of her scheming. “I was miserable in that helicopter. I was miserable in Loewe in my fancy outfit,” she said. “At the end, I thought that I was going to have a stroke.” The article grants Schiff credit for helping “advance the field of advising from the vanity project of bored socialites into a respected profession, more akin to an asset management firm.” However, this becomes trivial in light of her brazen theft, even from her “dearest friends” and godparents to her son, whom she raises alone. “I was a fake, a fraud every day,” Schiff admits, later adding: “I felt like a walking corpse.” Now, though, she has more pressing concerns, according to the NYT: “setting a better example for her son and making plans for his care should she be imprisoned.”

The Digest

On Monday dancers performed in protest against President Trump’s leadership takeover of Washington D.C.’s John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. A total of 34 dancers performed The Nelken Line by choreographer Pina Bausch outside the D.C. monument, in a protest organized by dancer and educator Kelly King. [NPR]

Similarly, Advocates for Trans Equality, ACT UP and Human Rights Campaign protested at New York City’s Stonewall National Monument after the National Park Service removed references to trans and queer people from its website. [Hyperallergic]

A man has caused “irreversible damage” to a 500-year-old Incan artifact in Peru, known as the twelve-angled stone, according to local authorities. The 30-year-old man was suspected of hitting the stone with a hammer while intoxicated, and breaking off multiple fragments of the archaeological landmark, which is also part of an Inca Roca palace wall, now a museum. He was arrested in the city of Cusco. [France 24 and AFP]

Director of the Victoria and Albert Museum Tristram Hunt is calling for the UK to introduce a “tourist charge” on visitors at hotels and overnight tourist accommodations, and to use the funds raised for cultural infrastructure. He argues against raising museum entrance fees, as the Louvre is planning to do, because “evidence shows that visitor numbers fall with charging as they do with queueing,” writes Hunt. Also, “any perceived barrier to entry deters hard-to-reach visitors the most,” where some minority communities may be averse to proving their citizenship to enter a large museum. [The Financial Times]

After over a decade in operation, the London gallery TJ Boulting has closed, it announced on Instagram. The gallery was founded by Hannah Watson alongside the late publisher Gigi Giannuzzi in 2012 and was known for its roster of women photographers. A market downturn was “a factor” in deciding to close, according to Watson. [The Art Newspaper]

Frieze New York has named more than 65 galleries for the 2025 edition, held May 7 to 11. Lumi Tan will curate the Focus section for emerging galleries and lesser-known artists. [ARTnews]

The Kicker

BEATING LA TRAFFIC. “Ah art week. When you think you’ll have enough time to make it from the fair in Santa Monica to the exhibition opening in Mid-City, to the function in Lynwood, to the after-party in the Arts District and not collapse from traffic-induced exhaustion,” opens The Los Angeles Times’ staff guide on what to see as Frieze LA opens this week. The media is not the only one announcing their top recommendations for visitors trying to pack too much into a short time span, and a city known for its sprawling size and punishing traffic. To that end, Artnet News is also offering “The Most Efficient Frieze Los Angeles Itinerary Ever,” per their headline, which promises “insiders’ tips for Frieze Week and how to beat the traffic before it beats you.” The piece goes through new galleries and different neighborhoods, from “around Felix: Hollywood and Melrose Hille,” to “around Frieze: Santa Monica, Venice, Culver City and Beverly Hills,” with added warnings about parking. Lastly, locally based Cultured Magazine picks five “thrilling” new galleries, and sits down to talk to their promising young leaders about their programs.