A judge ordered the Kennedy Center to strip President Trump’s name from signage and materials by June 12, a ruling that ripples through institutional branding and donor politics (Kennedy Center). [P]Meanwhile the National Symphony faces existential scheduling and funding woes as its homebase shifts, even as MoMA named Makeda Best as chief curator of photography — a hire that signals fresh curatorial direction for photographers (NSO report, MoMA appointment). Add cultural punctuation: Marjane Satrapi's death, a blockbuster Christie's spring haul, and the arrival of Refik Anadol’s 25,000-sq-ft AI museum — all signals that the art world is simultaneously mourning, monetizing, and experimenting with new mediums.

Phoebe Bridgers turned Madison Square Garden into an intimate, phone-free acoustic moment, debuting eight new songs and proving scale can feel personal (Phoebe Bridgers). [P]Lawmakers advanced the ARTIST Act to protect Alaska Native sales of marine-mammal materials, a concrete win for Indigenous makers and the market they rely on (ARTIST Act), while Meta paused its Muse text-to-image launch for safety checks, underscoring ongoing tensions between generative AI and the rights & practices of working artists (Meta delay).