The U.S. Pavillion is running short by $1 million to organize and ship back artworks, including Alma Allen sculptures, from the Venice Biennale in Italy.
The American pavillion is organized by American Arts Conservancy, a non-profit. According to Jenni Parido of the pavillion, the total cost of the pavillion – including setup and shipping – is estimated at $2.5 million. However, the group has only been able to accumulate $1.4 million so far. She said: “While we have accomplished a tremendous amount in a relatively short period, the final phase of this undertaking has presented financial challenges that I am working tirelessly to resolve.”
Perhaps the most unfortunate victim of this situation are the works of scupltor Alma Allen. The two giant metal sculptures already made news due to the difficulty surrounding shipping them to Venice. Then the artist drew backlash from public and critics. Now there aren’t enough funds to ship them back to the U.S. after the biennale, which would end in a month. There are no American storehoues in Venice, and the Venice Biennale itself has cited no storage space.
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The U.S. State Department gave an endowment of $375,000 towards the pavillion while Parido expected the rest to come from private donors. The U.S. Pavillion of 2026 already drew criticism earlier for being one of the cheapest pavillions from the country in almsot a decade.
