Trump Federal Job Cuts May Threaten Thousands of Artworks

Widespread cuts to the federal workforce under President Trump may leave the General Services Administration’s (GSA) massive collection of public artwork in a state of purgatory. As reported by the Washington Post, expected cuts to the agency have reportedly impacted the GSA’s fine arts and preservation units, which are primarily responsible for commissioning and maintaining over 26,000 artworks displayed and stored across the nation’s federal buildings.

GSA’s fine arts and historical preservation workers told the Post that five regional offices were shuttered last week, and that nearly half of the approximately three dozen staffers in the division were abruptly put on leave pending termination. The publication reviewed a March 3 email from newly-appointed GSA Acting Administrator Stephen Ehikian outlining the dismantling of said divisions and their staff positions was because they “no longer align” with agency and White House goals, pointing to Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency’s overhaul initiative to reduce government spending.

The GSA did not immediately respond to Hyperallergic‘s request for comment.

Established in 1949, the GSA is an independent agency of the US government that manages federal property, leases, and technology for government agencies. It employs some 12,000 staffers — a handful of which belonged to the fine arts and historical preservation divisions working directly with the art collection. The agency has amassed thousands of historical artworks dating from 1850 onwards, including a selection of art commissioned by the Works Progress Administration, crucial documentarian photography, and public sculptures and installations by the likes of Alexander Calder, Sol LeWitt, Maya Lin, and Nick Cave.

The news comes a week after the GSA published and then rescinded a list of “noncore” buildings that the agency was intending to sell off to cut down operations costs — leaving thousands of artworks, many of which require ongoing maintenance or are permanently installed in or outside of certain buildings, with uncertain futures. Artists with ongoing commissioned projects for the agency have reportedly been left in the dark as well, as are contracted restorers and conservators with open contracts to preserve and repair artworks in the collection.