Reposted from ICOM

In this article, I describe the swift response of the teams managing the collections in Congress, underscoring the importance of conducting an inventory and implementing a Risk Management Plan. I also highlight the initiative of the STF to publicly display fragments of the damaged items, thus re-signifying the attack. Lastly, I emphasize the importance of the senior management of public institutions such as these in recognizing the need to invest in the preservation of their collections, which themselves serve as powerful educational tools for democracy.

The images featured in the newspapers of January 8, 2023, displayed disturbing scenes: shattered windows, broken furniture and equipment, vandalised artistic and historical heritage, and flooded halls. On that Sunday, thousands of supporters of the far-right former president of Brazil invaded and vandalised the buildings of the National Congress, the Presidency, and the Federal Supreme Court. The attack inflicted severe damage upon the cultural assets of these institutions. However, more than that, it posed a threat to the very democracy of Brazil. What trigged these invasions? An outrage over the election results, which, just seven days prior, had inaugurated a leftist president. A disastrous coup attempt. 

Brasilia is inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List as an example of modernist urbanism and architecture since 1990. Designed by architect Oscar Niemeyer, public buildings such as the headquarters of the three republican branches are emblematic. The National Congress, which houses the Federal Senate and the Chamber of Deputies, along with the Federal Supreme Court and the Planalto Palace, collectively embody the independence and harmony among the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches, serving as symbols of Brazilian democracy. The geographic proximity between them facilitated the invasions.

The collections of these three Houses represent significant primary sources about national political life. They gather documents produced since the establishment of the Brazilian Parliament in 1823, including Constitutions, manuscripts, photographs, and audio-visual materials. The palaces also safeguard works by artists such as Alfredo Ceschiatti, Victor Brecheret, Di Cavalcanti, Athos Bulcão, and Marianne Peretti, in addition to furniture designed by Niemeyer, Ségio Rodrigues, and Jorge Zalszupin. Protocol gifts, offered by heads of state and diplomatic representatives visiting the country, further enrich these collections.

Damage and contamination

Numerous objects were damaged in the attack. At the Planalto Palace, a 17th-century pendulum clock made by Balthazar Martinot, a gift from the Court of France to Portugal that was later brought to Brazil by King Dom João VI, was intentionally thrown to the ground and shattered.

Even more significant were the damages inflicted upon the national heritage. A painting by Di Cavalcanti endured seven knife strikes, and a Burle Marx tapestry was torn and contaminated with urine. Historic paintings and photographs were defaced or broken. Other artworks were discovered floating in the water that spread after vandals opened the hydrants.

It was necessary to rescue items amidst the debris and address scratches, dents, ruptures, stains, oxidation, and broken parts, as well as contamination from dry chemical fire extinguishers. Parts of destroyed objects were never recovered. The success of the salvage operation was only possible due to the swift action of the responsible departments, supported by cleaning and maintenance teams, as well as volunteers. However, it was also owed to the management and preservation measures previously implemented.

The importance of inventory  

The Senate Museum had just begun cataloguing its collection when the invasions occurred. One of the first areas targeted by the extremists was the exhibition hall, but the inventory of the pieces kept there had already been completed, which made it easier to identify and process the assets to be handled.

In the Chamber of Deputies, the Museum had already inventoried its entire collection. As a result, it had a precise understanding of the quantity, typology, and state of conservation of each item on the inventory list, along with their exact locations within the palace. This information was particularly important due to the frequent movement of artworks requested for the decoration of directorates and parliamentary offices.

Simultaneously, the Preservation Department, in collaboration with other departments responsible for historical and artistic collections, developed and implemented the Preservation Policy, the Risk Management Plan, and the Emergency Preparedness Guide for potential disasters. These efforts, in conjunction with regular training for cleaning and maintenance teams, proved to be indispensable. Within approximately four months, more than 80% of the vandalized items had been processed, cleaned, and/or restored.

In another line of action, the Supreme Federal Court chose not to restore the original physical integrity of certain assets. With the aim of documenting and re-signifying the events of January 8th, it set up exhibitions featuring damaged objects and other physical remnants from the attack, complemented by photographs of the invasion and the palace’s restoration.

A shared characteristic among some of the institutions previously mentioned is that, in each of them, the awareness of senior management regarding the importance of preserving collections was ignited by the very teams responsible for managing these collections. They often forge strategic external partnerships with authorities and universities, while also successfully engaging a pivotal figure: a project sponsor, a member of the senior administration of the institution, who possesses a substantial degree of influence and authority and can play a role in advocating the project to senior management, therefore enhancing its prospects for approval.

Lastly, it is important to emphasize that Houses such as the Chamber and the Senate, which stand as symbols of Brazilian democracy, must also channel investments into programs that view these collections as instruments for critical reflection and education. Such programs have the potential to bolster society’s historical consciousness and contribute to the establishment of a robust and democratic national identity. Moreover, they might play a role in preventing other acts of vandalism from occurring.

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Reposted from Artnet News

A German museum employee has confessed to an audacious scheme, after he was caught swapping out paintings with forgeries and selling the originals to fund a luxury lifestyle. He has received a suspended prison sentence of one year and nine months and must pay back more than €60,000 ($63,500) to the German museum, the Munich District Court ordered on September 11.

The man, now aged 30, stole three paintings while working at the Deutsches Museum in Munich as a technician between May 2016 and April 2018. He replaced the paintings with fakes while they were in storage, consigning the originals to a Munich auction house.

The defendant allegedly used the money to pay debts and fund a luxury lifestyle, the court heard. “Among other things, he bought a new apartment, expensive wristwatches, and bought a Rolls-Royce,” read the verdict, noting that the man now showed remorse. “He stated that he had acted without thinking. He could no longer explain his behavior today.”

After replacing Franz Stuck’s Das Märchen vom Froschkönig (The Fairy Tale of the Frog King) (1891) with a forgery, the man pretended the original was a family heirloom and it was sold at Ketterer Kunst auction house in May 2017 to a Swiss gallery for €70,000 ($74,000). After auction house fees, he received $49,127.40 ($52,000).

Two more paintings that were switched out for fakes, Franz von Defregger’s Zwei Mädchen beim Holzsammeln im Gebirge (Two Girls Gathering Wood in the Mountains) and Eduard von Grützner’s Die Weinprüfung (Tasting the Wine), brought in an additional €11,490.50 ($12,700). An attempt to sell a fourth painting, Franz von Defregger’s Dirndl, at another Munich auction house was unsuccessful. The man made €60,617 ($64,000) in total.

“We have, of course, fulfilled our duty of care in full and have researched the works mentioned extensively,” a spokesperson for Ketterer Kunst told Artnet News. “We regret that the works were stolen from the museum with such high criminal energy. We cooperated closely with the LKA (Bavarian State Criminal Police Office) at an early stage and handed over all documents to solve this case.”

The Deutsches Museum is currently trying to arrange for the return of the pictures, according to Süddeutsche Zeitung. It apparently has many valuable German paintings languishing in storage thanks to a history of receiving bequests from local foundations and families.

“The defendant shamelessly exploited the opportunity to access the storage rooms in the employer’s buildings and sold valuable cultural assets in order to secure an exclusive standard of living for himself and to show off,” the verdict summarized.

The apparent vulnerability of the museum’s collection to theft while in storage recalls the recent scandal of a senior curator at the British Museum accused of stealing some 1,500 objects, several of which were sold for cheap on eBay. Most of these items had never been catalogued, revealing the complex challenges faced by museums tasked with keeping track of vast holdings.

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Reposted from Artnet News

Two suspects accused of digging a hole to create a shortcut over the Great Wall of China have been arrested for causing damage to the world famous heritage site.

Last month, police received an alert reporting that the hole had been dug in the Great Wall in Yang Qianhe Township, about 215 miles west of Beijing, the Youyuxian County Public Security Bureau said in a statement. Investigators called the historic site “severely damaged.”

When investigators arrived at the UNESCO World Heritage site, they spotted tire treads in the dirt, leading them to determine that the ancient wall was damaged by large machinery, but were initially unable to find the culprit.

The suspects were identified earlier this month as a 38-year-old man named Zheng and a 55-year-old woman named Wang, both from the Chinese autonomous region of Inner Mongolia.

The suspects dug the hole “to facilitate the passage of the excavator through the gap, causing irreversible damage to the integrity of the Ming Great Wall and the safety of cultural relics,” officials said.

Officials noted that the specific section of the wall that was damaged is known as the 32nd Great Wall, named after the 32nd beacon tower where the Great Wall enters Youyuxian County.

“There are relatively complete side walls and beacon towers in existence. It is a provincial cultural relic protection unit. It is famous for its majestic and vast ancient frontier fortress style and has important protection and research value,” officials said.

China Daily, a media outlet owned by the Chinese government, reported that the pair has been charged with destroying a cultural relic. Further details about the suspects, such as any court appearances or penalties, could not be found.

Meanwhile, China has been seeking to boost tourism to the UNESCO World Heritage site in recent months with the continuation of the Great Wall Tourism Highway No. 1.

Workers have completed 1,542 miles of roadway and secured about $1.8 million in special funding to protect cultural relics in the Shanxi province.

As of the end of July, officials have invested more than $1.9 billion in the scenic roadway.

“Relying on the ancient Great Wall and its surrounding tourism resources … our province has created a Great Wall culture and tourism integrated development model,” officials said in a statement.

“In conjunction with the scenic spots along the Great Wall, we have launched themed tourism routes such as food tasting, leisure vacations, parent-child study, and Great Wall countryside, and continued to launch Great Wall-themed cultural and creative products.”

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Reposted from AAM

What can be even better than a museum making a successful hire? Keeping the experienced, well-trained staff it already has. The Alliance’s soon-to-be-released latest snapshot survey of our sector documents that half of museums are still experiencing problems filling open positions three years after the pandemic began. To keep these problems from getting worse, many museums are working to improve retention by improving pay and equity, including raising the hourly rate of the lowest-paid employees, shrinking the ratio between highest and lowest salaries, and implementing new initiatives to improve staff wellness. Research has shown that organizations can also improve retention of existing staff by providing clear pathways to better roles. Today on the blog, Scarlett McCahill and Erica Simonitis share how the Barnes Foundation has worked to do this, creating career exposure internships and career ladders for its frontline staff.

To sustain a workplace culture rooted in equity, transparency, and inclusion, it’s critical to invest in frontline staff. Frontline staff activate our educational missions. The impression they leave on guests has a substantial impact on our institution, influencing everything from our reputation to our revenue streams. While they hold this significant responsibility, they are often afforded limited avenues for professional development and growth, despite having strong desires to experience those workplace milestones. At the Barnes Foundation, we recognize this problem and want to counter the trend of low investment in frontline staff. For that reason, in 2021 we launched our Pathways Program, to:

• Create accessible, transparent development opportunities through career exposure internships.
• Offer opportunities for skill development beyond daily job duties.
• Structure specialized career ladders within frontline departments.

Program Structure

The Pathways Program has two branches: Career Ladder (which creates structures for job promotion) and Career Exposure (which creates opportunities for internal internships). For this piece, we’ll focus on the internal internship branch and the initial impact it’s had on our organization.

The Career Exposure branch of Pathways offers paid, internal internships, which provide opportunities for career exploration and skill development. In addition, they can prepare staff for internal promotion and career growth, both within and outside of their home department.

Our sixth quarterly internship cohort began this year. In 2022, eleven interns, chosen from a frontline staff census of fifty-two, worked one day a week for eight to ten weeks—roughly eighty internship contact hours each—in a career exposure internship. For the balance of their regularly scheduled weekly work hours, they continued to work in their primary job roles.

Offering the internships relies on strong planning and budgeting practices, scheduling internships around busy operational peaks. Pathways is reflected in our operational budget through:

1. A cost formula: Number of internships multiplied by the number of intern hours multiplied by the median frontline staff payrate. Institutions of any size can create their own internal internship program using this elastic formula. At the Barnes, we use it to look ahead to plan the next year’s internship costs.
2. An operational strategy: Internship activities are part of frontline scheduling assumptions, just like job duties at our box office or in our galleries. We ensure staffing levels in frontline departments are sufficient and we do not authorize overtime to absorb internship hours.

These practices will allow us to expand offerings in the future in a sustainable way for the institution.

Here’s how our internships work:

Intern Eligibility

Staff are not required to have work experience directly related to an internship to qualify. Eligibility is based on high-quality job performance in the applicant’s primary role. We explicitly communicate that the internship is a low-risk, high-support opportunity to gain new professional experience, and typically will not result in an immediate promotion. We are cautious not to overpromise on internal promotion because we are a mid-sized institution with approximately two hundred positions. Despite this, we still see excellent program engagement, as measured by applications and post-internship program evaluations. Staff share how much they value the opportunity for resume-building experiences.

Application

Non-supervisory staff from frontline departments—including Guest and Protection Services, Box Office, Call Center, Barnes Shop, and Facilities—can apply to the Pathways Program if they have been employed by the Barnes for at least four months, have no documented disciplinary infractions related to their job performance within the prior six months, and receive their supervisor’s referral. The program is open to both part-time and full-time employees. Interested staff complete a web application and are interviewed by a Pathways Mentor from the internship host department.

Mentor Expectations

Interns work with a dedicated supervisor, called a Pathways Mentor, in a Barnes department outside their home department. Thus far, we’ve had enthusiastic mentors from many departments, including Archives, Conservation, Communications, Family Programs, Business Development, Education, Information Technology, and Marketing. The most sought-after internship has been in preventative conservation, exposing staff to strategies to care for our gallery spaces. Great peer-to-peer buzz has also come after Brand Engagement & Marketing and Archives internships, thanks to dynamic staff mentors.

Preparing mentors is key, as they may have varying degrees of experience in structuring workplace learning plans for others. In the Pathways Program, this preparation is a three -hour commitment before the start of the internship. Our Human Resources Director onboards our mentors into the program and provides continued support to help create a holistic internship experience that focuses on understanding the core functions of the host department. This is accomplished through a combination of on-the-job work tasks, observation of others, and theoretical reading and discussion about strategies employed in the focus area. Mentors are not job supervisors; in the event of work performance, attendance, or conduct lapses, they report observations to frontline supervisors.

Feedback

Staff who apply but are not selected to participate receive constructive feedback about their application and interview performance from the Pathways Mentor, followed by coaching from their supervisor or Human Resources staff. For many staff, this low-stakes interview and feedback experience is a professional development opportunity in itself. Early-career applicants share being nervous to apply, and some applicants interview several times before being selected for an internship. A supportive peer culture has organically developed as staff encourage each other to navigate these program processes.

Post-internship, interns and mentors evaluate themselves, one another, and the Pathways Program. Many interns elect to take advantage of an optional resume review and coaching offered as part of an exit interview.

Taken all together, we are investing in shared mindsets, vocabulary, and feedback structures to make sure we’re building each other up through an iterative cycle of feedback and improvement.

Program Highlights

While it’s still in early days, there are encouraging initial signs our Pathways Program is serving both the individual staff who participate and the institution as a whole:

1. High rates of internship completion in each quarter offered.

2. Interns learning a new skill or assessing a career track.

3. Sustained program interest, measured through strong applicant and mentor pools

4. Continued or first exposure to coaching and management practices for mentors.

5. An increase in frontline staff promotions.

Implementation at Your Museum

The Barnes’s workplace culture, values, and program goals may differ from other institutions, but our advice to others who may be interested in beginning a program like Pathways would be not to wait until your culture and operations are perfect—there’s no such thing—but to create your program as part of broader cultural investments and give it resources to sustain a consistent, fair, high-quality program structure. Here are the elements that have made our program a success:

1. Board and Executive Champions

Our board and executive leaders are deeply supportive of this program as a natural extension of our institution’s founding commitments to equity, inclusion, and empowerment through learning.

2. Commitment to an Empowering Workplace

The Barnes has invested in its employees in many important ways: conducting periodic cultural assessments; empowering interdepartmental working groups to implement enhancements to our workplace culture; offering competitive pay and fringe benefits; investing in management skills; and centering cultural competency and inclusion in our exhibitions, public programs, and internal investments. While our organizational operations and work culture are not perfect, the Pathways Program contributes to our broader investments into positive culture, empowerment, and equity. These programs have brought us together with greater appreciation and understanding of one another’s work.

3. Intentional Program Administration

The Pathways Program was initially designed by an interdepartmental group which included frontline staff. Frontline department supervisors and HR team members implement the program in collaboration with mentor host departments. Pathways is managed by our Director of Human Resources and frontline supervisors, with support from the HR, Finance, and IT departments. Through this structure, we ensure internships remain focused on education and professional development (not on filling an unexpected operational need, replicating favoritism, or perpetuating racial exclusion). The HR department tracks demographics of staff who are or aren’t applying and accepted for internships, and we communicate program goals on an ongoing basis during staff recruitment, onboarding, performance reviews, and everyday coaching. This attention ensures Pathways continues to strengthen our operations and advance our commitment to equity.

The organization celebrates mentors and treats their service as an accomplishment that raises internal visibility for the mentor and their department. The HR department provides mentors with tools to keep administrative burdens to a minimum and incentivizes program participation for mentors and interns in our performance review process.

The Pathways Program is championed internally as an important expression of our mission and a smart business decision by giving our largest and most visible group of staff a program that adds to a stimulating and supportive work environment where they can flourish.

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Reposted from AAM

Have you registered for the Future of Museums Summit? Taking place from 1-5 pm ET November 1 and 2, this virtual conference will explore four themes from the current edition of TrendsWatch: the evolution of digital practice, workplace trends, the growing partisan divide, and recent developments in repatriation, restitution, and reparations. Early Bird Registration rates end September 15—I encourage you to take advantage of this special rate and hope to see you at the Summit.

The Summit’s origin story

When I write AAM’s annual trends report, my job is to summarize important forces shaping society and highlight what that may mean for our sector. Each year I recruit people who are experts to help educate me on these topics, guide my thinking, and provide feedback on the draft text. This year we also invited these advisors to draft their fantasy lineup of sessions to explore their corresponding topic in more depth—and that list became the program for the Summit. I look forward joining you in the audience to learn from these incredible folks from inside and outside our field.

What will be on the program?

You, readers, are the first to hear about two of our four “big idea” speakers for the Summit:

How can preserving and drawing attention to the remaining slave dwellings in the US help repair the narrative we tell of American history? Learn from Joseph McGill, Jr., Founder and Executive Director of the Slave Dwellings Project and history consultant at Magnolia Plantation.

When robots learn to get creative, what will happen to informal learning? Hear four proposals about generative AI for museums from William-Hart Davidson, Professor of Writing, Rhetoric, and American Cultures and Associate Dean for Research & Graduate Education at Michigan State University.

The final two big idea speakers, and our keynote speaker, will be announced in the coming weeks. 

What is the Metaverse and Should Museums Care? Nik Honeysett, Director and CEO at Balboa Park Online Collaborative has organized this session as a debate, inviting speakers to make their case for or against museums expanding into 3D virtual space. As an audience member, you will be invited to cast your vote to determine the victor. See if the speakers can sway your opinion on metaversity!

Human-centered Work Practices. Micah Parzen, CEO, Museum of Us will moderate this panel exploring human-centered HR as the future of work and the key to long-term sustainability for any museum. I look forward to hearing panelists’ recommendations on how museums can ensure staff are seen, heard, valued, and appreciated, and that their voices are embedded into operational decisions that have a profound impact on their lives.

Navigating Partisan Tensions in Museums. The tense national political climate is putting stress on museums, their staff, and their communities. In this session, Devon Akmon, Director of the Michigan State University Museum will be joined by Christy Coleman, Executive Director of the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation and Jorge Zamanillo, Director of the National Museum of the American Latino to explore how museums can steer a steady course through partisan storms.

Sharing Authority with Indigenous Peoples. Museums are in the early stages of repairing their relationships with Indigenous communities, learning how to undo some of the harm resulting from traditional museum practices. In this session, Brandie Macdonald (Chickasaw Nation), Executive Director of the Indiana University Museum of Archeology and Anthropology, will be joined by Nicole Armstrong-Best, Museum Administrator of the S’edav Va’aki Museum (formerly Pueblo Grande Museum) and Dawn DiPrince, President/CEO & State Historic Preservation Officer of History Colorado to discuss how these two museums have “flipped the script,” ceding power, authority, and voice to the Indigenous peoples whose stories they tell.

Each day will end with the opportunity to join some of our speakers in breakout rooms where there will be ample time to ask questions, contribute your views, and debate the issues raised in their conversations.

Now, if you will excuse me, I’ll return to researching topics for next year’s trends report! Members will have the first opportunity to read TrendsWatch in the January/February 2024 issue of Museum magazine—I look forward to engaging with you on a new set of topics in 2024.

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Reposted from NBC News

A man who was charged Monday with a felony hate crime after allegedly smashing the windows of an Asian American art and history museum in Seattle and issuing a racial slur was arrested for a hate crime a decade ago, new charging documents show. 

Craig Day Milne, accused of smashing the windows at the Wing Luke Museum in Seattle’s Chinatown-International district, was arrested in 2013 on charges of physically attacking an Asian man in a locker room, repeatedly punching him at a Shoreline, Washington, recreation center, according to the charging documents. 

Deputies who responded at the time heard Milne yell that his only regret was not hitting the “Or---tal harder”  before fighting them and calling an Asian officer racial slurs. This earlier hate crime was dismissed, “under unknown circumstances” in 2015, according to the charging documents.

Asian American leaders, residents and others have been fearful for the community’s safety since the  incident at the museum last Thursday. The suspect yelled racial slurs while smashing windows with a sledgehammer, according to the Seattle Police Department. 

Milne, who was also charged with malicious mischief in the first degree, allegedly continued rambling anti-Chinese statements following the attack, which took place as a retreat for the Japanese American organization Tsuru For Solidarity was being held inside, said Stanley Shikuma, a member of the group’s leadership council who was present during the attack. Museum staff disarmed the man themselves, before police arrived. The King County Department of Public Defense, declined to comment. An attorney from that office represented Milne on the day of his hearing.  Efforts to find Milne’s current representation were not immediately successful Tuesday. “He was saying, ‘The Chinese have ruined my life. It’s all because of the Chinese,’” Shikuma, who’s also co-president of the Seattle chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League, said. “He was also saying: ‘I’ve lost two houses. My car was stolen. I’ve been tortured. And that’s all because of the Chinese. Something has to be done, and that’s why I came to Chinatown.’” 

While police were called about the window smashing at 5:22 pm on Thursday, they were not dispatched until roughly 45 minutes later because of “staffing constraints and call volume,” according to a police press release. Officers arrived almost an hour after the incident, prompting criticisms over police response and concerns over the Asian American community’s safety. 

And given footage released last week of a Seattle police officer saying the life of a 23-year-old college student from India, Jaahnavi Kandula, “had limited value” after she was struck and killed by a police cruiser as she was crossing the street, Shikuma said that many in the Asian American community feel that the museum incident serves as a further example of the police department’s failure to value Asian lives. 

The Seattle Police Department declined to comment on the museum attack  beyond its press release.

“I think we need a radical rethinking of how we guarantee safety and security to everybody,” Shikuma said, adding that he feels greater police presence doesn’t ensure safety. 

Shikuma said that he and other members of Tsuru For Solidarity had just begun their retreat Thursday with a viewing of the museum’s “Resisters” exhibit, dedicated to Japanese American resistance movements, when their seats began to tremble. 

“We were all seated in the theater, which is right above the glass windows that this guy was hammering on and breaking,” Shikuma said. “Five minutes into the welcoming program, all of a sudden we heard this breaking glass, and it kept getting louder and it was hard enough that seats in the theater were literally shaking.” 

The organization’s members and museum staff were able to surround the suspect, who was still holding the sledgehammer, Shikuma said. A museum security guard was able to disarm the suspect before authorities arrived. 

According to court documents, Milne told police that his briefcase had been stolen for the third time and “he had to do something.” When asked by police if an Asian individual had taken the briefcase, Milne said he didn’t know, adding that the “Chinese ruined his life.” 

“We are grateful to those members, Wing Luke staff, and community neighbors who immediately addressed the situation,” Tsuru for Solidarity said in a statement. “We are grateful to our members, experts in community trauma, who created space, in the moment and over the weekend, for vulnerability, processing, and healing. We were the first responders.” 

Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell’s office is reviewing how the initial call to police was prioritized and dispatched, the city’s director of communications, Jamie Housen, said in an email. Harrell said in a statement Friday that he was “appalled” by the incident.

“The targeting of our AAPI community is unacceptable, and I condemn the attack — and the hate-fueled motivations of the suspect who was arrested — in the strongest possible terms,” Harrell said. 

Greg Wong, deputy mayor, said in a statement that the incident “underscores the importance of recruiting and retaining officers.” 

Shikuma said that he feels the attack is “symptomatic of a larger malady within American society,” adding that there’s a fear that the undercurrent of anti-Asian sentiment will only continue to materialize as violence. 

“I don’t think this is one crazy individual who just went nuts. I think it’s a reflection of the political climate, targeting and anger and hate that’s being spread,” he said, adding that politicians, particularly former President Donald Trump, “talking about things like ‘Kung Flu’ and the China virus set the tone of all social ills to be traced to China and Chinese people.” 

While the attack has left many Asian Americans in the area rattled, Shikuma said that his organization had received an influx of messages, emails and texts from those across Seattle, showing their unity with the community. Major League Soccer’s Seattle Sounders and the Pacific Northwest chapter of the Anti-Defamation League, among others, expressed their solidarity on social media. 

And a coalition serving those across the Asian American diaspora, including Chinese, Japanese, Filipino and Korean groups, are drafting a letter to the city expressing safety concerns and demanding support, Shikuma said. 

“The community response has been pretty immediate as soon as people learn about what happened,” Shikuma said. “The positive thing is that there is this pulling together and feeling of community.”

Steve McLean, strategic communications officer at the Wing Luke Museum, said in a statement that the organization is “grateful” for the overwhelming support from the community. 

“As the museum works to support its staff and the community we serve, it is heartening to know we are surrounded by those who believe in our work,” McLean said. “Despite the clear racial motivation of the attack, and the delayed 911 response, we will not be deterred in our mission’s work, and holding space for our staff and our community to make sense of the attack on the Museum.”

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Reposted from Reuters

The British Museum launched a public hotline on Tuesday asking for help to locate some 2,000 missing artefacts, revealing they were mostly ancient Greek and Roman gems and jewellery.

The museum said last month it had sacked a staff member over stolen, missing or damaged items in a crisis that highlighted internal failings and led to its director quitting days later.

Home to treasures such as the Rosetta Stone and the Parthenon marbles, the British Museum houses one of the world's most visited collections and has since tightened its security.

Sixty items had now been returned, with a further 300 identified and due to be handed back imminently, the museum said in a statement.

"If you are concerned that you may be, or have been, in possession of items from the British Museum, or if you have any other information that may help us, please contact us," said a page on its website advertising a dedicated email address.

The page said it was only disclosing the types of artefacts stolen and heeding expert advice not to share full details.

It said the stolen items included gold rings, ear-rings and other pieces of jewellery dating back to ancient Greek and Roman periods as well as small objects such as gems that were often set in rings.

The museum, which is facing demands from several governments for the repatriation of historical treasures to their home countries, said it was working with London's police, "actively monitoring" the art market, and had registered the missing items on the Art Loss Register database.

The museum is also consulting an international panel of experts.

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Reposted from Post Gazette

The Andy Warhol Museum on Pittsburgh’s North Side received a bomb threat by email Sunday afternoon, authorities said. 

Officers from Zone 1 responded to Sandusky Street on the North Side at 1:50 p.m., where they contacted museum security. The decision was made to evacuate the building.

Pittsburgh Public Safety said explosives K-9s were called in to search the building and no explosives were found. 

Authorities determined the email came in from a third party located in Harrisburg. 

The Pittsburgh Police Intelligence Unit is investigating in cooperation with the FBI, currently investigating similar threats made to other jurisdictions.

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Reposted from BBC

A Van Gogh painting stolen from a Dutch museum in March 2020 is back in safe hands after a three-and-a-half-year quest to recover it.

Dutch art detective Arthur Brand said he had been handed the 139-year-old painting in a pillow and an Ikea bag by a man who came to his front door.

"I did this in complete co-ordination with Dutch police and we knew this guy wasn't involved in the theft," he said.

In 2021, a career criminal was jailed for eight years over the incident.

But by then the painting, worth several million euros, had already changed hands.

The Parsonage Garden at Nuenen in Spring was initially stolen from the Dutch town of Laren, to the south-east of Amsterdam. The thief smashed through two glass doors at the Singer museum with a sledgehammer, at the start of the coronavirus lockdown.

It had been on loan from a museum in the north-eastern city of Groningen which has hailed the work's recovery as "wonderful news".

The French-born thief, 59-year-old Nils M, who lived a short distance away from Laren, was convicted of stealing the work as well as a Frans Hals painting a few months later from a museum in Leerdam, near Utrecht. His DNA was found at both crime scenes.

According to communications intercepted by police, the Van Gogh painting from 1884, also known as Spring Garden, had been acquired by a crime group intending to use it in exchange for shorter jail terms.

Mr Brand, who has collaborated with Dutch police on the hunt for the work, told the BBC that they knew it would pass from one group to another in the criminal underworld, as nobody would want to touch it.

He was sent "proof of life" pictures of the Van Gogh as early as June 2020.

Eventually, he was approached by a man in Amsterdam who offered to return it in exchange for complete confidentiality, partly because it had become a headache to keep holding on to the painting.

"I was at a birthday party and he was waiting under a tree and he explained to me why he wanted to do this," Mr Brand told the BBC.

The painting was then handed over to him at his home on Monday afternoon, while the director of the Groninger museum was waiting on the street corner in a bar to authenticate the work.

It was protected by a pillow which was covered with blood, he added, as the man had cut a finger while retrieving it.

A spokesman for the Dutch police arts crime unit has confirmed that the recovered painting is authentic and Andreas Blühm, the head of the Groninger museum, has spoken of his delight at its safe return.

"There are scratches... but it's painted on paper and glued on panel so it's stable. We can restore it and it should be fine," he told the BBC's Newshour programme.

The Spring Garden is currently in the hands of the Van Gogh museum whose experts will help restore it, and it could take weeks or months before it goes back on display.

The director said he would not lend it out any more as he was too traumatised.

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Reposted from The New York Times

On Thursday evening, the doors abruptly closed at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. Officials had learned that climate protesters were planning a visit during the hours when the cultural institution offers free admission.

The activist group Extinction Rebellion had posted on social media earlier in the day, saying this would be its second attempt at visiting the museum. “This is a peaceful field trip without the risk of arrest,” the invitation said.

In March, demonstrators had tried to stage a “guerrilla art installation” that would have involved inserting their own images into empty picture frames at the museum, an action intended to draw attention to the loss of biodiversity. But the event also would have fallen on the same day as the infamous art heist at the Gardner 33 years earlier, and executives were nervous about security risks and decided to close the museum. Protesters instead carried flags and red banners, staging a “die-in” near the museum’s entrance.

On Thursday, the museum’s director, Peggy Fogelman, wrote a public note to explain the second sudden closure in six months. “These frames are not only important and fragile historic objects in their own right, but they memorialize the tragic 1990 theft that deprived our public of the opportunity to enjoy unique masterpieces by Rembrandt, Vermeer and others,” she wrote. “It is heartbreaking to associate the painful reminder of this loss with any scenario that would jeopardize the frames themselves or the experience of our staff and visitors.”

For more than a year, climate protesters have targeted museums as a method of gaining attention for their cause. One of the latest attacks occurred at the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, where a protester threw pink paint on Tom Thomson’s 1915 painting “Northern River.” The museum said the artwork was unharmed during the incident thanks to a protective glazed panel installed on the canvas.

Some of the most serious charges against demonstrators stemmed from an episode in April, when two activists splattered paint on the case surrounding a 19th-century Degas sculpture at the National Gallery of Art in Washington. Because the museum is a federal institution, the protesters are now facing federal charges, including conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States.

During an interview, Fogelman said the Gardner Museum needed to increase its spending on security because of the ongoing threat of protests; it also lost out on revenues generated by the 1,300 people who usually visit the museum on a Thursday evening, spending money in the gift shop and restaurant.

“The most painful part of the decision was that we had to curtail our free hours,” Fogelman said. “It deprives our community of the chance to really immerse themselves in the experience of art at the Gardner Museum.”

She questioned why protesters would target the museum, which dwells inside a building designed to have a low carbon footprint by drawing its energy from geothermal power. The museum also maintains a renowned garden and currently has an exhibition called “Presence of Plants in Contemporary Art,” reflecting the closeness of artists with the natural world.

“The Gardner Museum simply serves as a conversation-starter,” said Jamie McGonagill, the media and messaging director for Extinction Rebellion’s Boston branch. She said the activists were planning to wear shirts with the images they had originally wanted to insert into the empty frames. “There was no civil disobedience planned. There was no disruption of guests planned.”

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