On Saturday, the National Gallery of Art indefinitely shuttered down, becoming one of the first galleries affected by the US government shutdown.
On Friday, the museum released a statement saying that it will close from the next day for an indefinite period: “Beginning tomorrow, October 5, the National Gallery will be temporarily closed and all programs will be canceled until further notice.” The announcement is significant because it is the first major museum in America to close after the US government shutdown; however, it is likely that many more would follow.
Immediately after the announcement, many upcoming shows on the National Museum of Art website were cancelled. However, notably, one show did not appear to be cancelled: the survey of indigenous Australian art. Scheduled to open on October 18, it was promoted as the largest survey of Australian indigenous art outside of Australia. The survey would feature some 200 works loaned from the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne. Despite not announcing the cancellation, the indefinite closure would have undoubtedly left the team behind the survey in a predecament due to the sheer volume of works and staff travelling between the continents.
This is the second shutdown of the US government happening in the last decade, occuring due to the large fiscal deficit. The previous shutdown, which also happened during the Trump adminstration in December 2018, last 35 days. It left many organizations dependent on federal funding, like national museums, unable to pay salaries to their workers.
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With the federal funds cutoff, currently, such organizations are operating purely on reserves and emergency funds. Some, like the Smithsonian, are hoping to continue operating at least until this week to see how things unfold.
