Artists pressure Judy Chicago to cancel exhibition in Tel Aviv, Gallup Arts rejects grant funding in protest of escalating censorship, and more top Southwest art news headlines for October 2025.
News
Artists with Southwest Ties Pull Out of Smithsonian Symposium Over Censorship
Margarita Cabrera, a Mexican American artist who lives in El Paso, Texas, and Nicholas Galanin, a Lingít/Unangax̂ artist with ties to the Southwest, declined to attend the Smithsonian American Art Museum symposium culminating the recent exhibition The Shape of Power: Stories of Race and American Sculpture in Washington D.C. Their withdrawal was triggered by the Smithsonian’s decision to make the symposium private instead of public and its request that artists not post about it on social media. “I come from a lineage that has endured attempted erasure through cultural, linguistic and spiritual silencing… My work is only possible because of the ancestors who persisted and refused to be silenced,” wrote Galanin in a post on Instagram.
Artists Implore Judy Chicago to Cancel Tel Aviv Exhibition Over Gaza Genocide
Over fifty artists signed an open letter to New Mexico–based artist Judy Chicago urging her to retract her exhibition at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, which opened on September 18. Most of the signatories are Israeli, and state that “cooperation with an Israeli establishment by international artists… effectively turn[s] a blind eye to the genocide Israel has been perpetrating in Gaza for almost two years.” Pussy Riot co-founder Nadya Tolokonnikova helped Chicago make the collaborative quilt central to the exhibition and is also addressed in the letter. Tolokonnikova responded by saying she has no control over where the quilt is exhibited, but “agree[s] with the artists who wrote the letter asking that the piece not be exhibited at the Tel Aviv Museum.” Chicago has not yet responded to the letter. Nearly two decades prior to the genocide in Gaza, formal calls to boycott Israeli institutions complicit in Israel’s system of occupation and apartheid were initiated in 2004 through the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel.
Also:
- Celebrated actor and director Robert Redford passed away at age eighty-nine. In 1981, Redford founded the nonprofit Sundance Institute in Utah as a vehicle for supporting emerging and independent filmmakers. Redford is also remembered by many for his advocacy for Indigenous rights and environmentalism.
- Meow Wolf Workers Collective accused Meow Wolf Grapevine of violating the National Labor Relations Act with its latest series of “Town Hall” meetings, which the union stated were organized to bypass “fair and equitable contract negotiation[s].”
- Tia Tanna, whose father founded the Tia Collection, revealed their identities after years of anonymity. For a long time, her father was only referred to as “The Collector.”
- Icelandic-Danish artist Olafur Eliasson announced a forthcoming art project in Salt Lake City, Utah. This is Eliasson’s first public art commission in the Intermountain West, and will respond to the Great Salt Lake evaporation crisis resulting from climate change.
- Double Scoop’s founder and editor, Kris Vagner, announced in an email newsletter that the nonprofit news outlet focused on art in Nevada will be shuttering operations soon due to unsustainable financial conditions.
- A record-breaking $1.2 million was raised for student scholarships at the 2025 Institute of American Indian Arts benefit and auction.
- Two Oklahoma artists turned Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, Texas into a Charlie Kirk tribute, sparking charged reactions online and onsite at the roadside attraction.
- Latinos in Heritage Conservation launched its inaugural Endangered Latinx Landmarks program, which highlights places in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas as sites of importance. This is the first national initiative to commemorate and protect sensitive Latinx heritage sites in the United States.
Grants and Awards
IAIA Professor Emeritus Arthur Sze Selected as the Nation’s Poet Laureate
The Library of Congress appointed Arthur Sze as the 25th Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry for 2025–2026. Born to Chinese immigrants in New York City, Sze dropped out of MIT in his sophomore year to follow his dreams of becoming a poet. He was the city of Santa Fe’s first poet laureate and taught at the Institute of American Indian Arts from 1989 to 2006. Sze is the second appointee with connections to IAIA—the first of whom was Joy Harjo (Mvskoke Nation), who served three terms as the first Native U.S. Poet Laureate between 2019 and 2022. In his upcoming term, Sze aims to place special emphasis on translating poetry originally crafted in other languages.
Gallup Arts Declines New Mexico Arts Grant in Protest of Anti-DEI Measures
After over a decade of partnering with New Mexico’s state arts agency, the nonprofit Gallup Arts rejected grant funding for its guest curator program at ART123 gallery due to concerns over censorship and new funding contingencies implemented by the current federal administration. According to the public statement released by Gallup Arts, New Mexico Arts receives half of its funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, which is now requiring grantees to verify that their programming does not promote diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. With these new constraints, Gallup Arts turned down funding for this year’s grant cycle. Last month, Gallup Arts was among over 200 arts and culture organizations throughout the country which signed an open letter denouncing censorship, and cited this as part of its commitment to artistic freedom and programmatic independence.
San Carlos Apache Artist Terrill Goseyun Awarded $50,000 Grant from First Peoples Fund
Each year, the Jennifer Easton Community Spirit Awards recognizes between four and six Indigenous artists and culture bearers in the United States with a $50,000 unrestricted award. Honorees are nominated and selected for demonstrating artistic excellence and unwavering dedication to their communities. Of this year’s six grantees, Terrill Goseyun (San Carlos Apache tribe) represented the Southwest region.
Also:
- US News named the Heard Museum in Phoenix as one of the top twenty-six museums in the country.
- First American Art Magazine editor America Meredith (Cherokee Nation) won a Rabkin Award for excellence in arts journalism, which comes with a $50,000 unrestricted award.
- The Committee for Art Recognizing Enslavement (CARE) at Yale University commissioned New Mexico–based artist Nikesha Breeze to create a new permanent monument on the campus.
- Three Double Scoop contributors won Nevada Press Foundation awards.
- Bountiful Davis Art Center announced the winners of Utah’s 2025 Statewide Emerging Artists’ Annual Exhibition, curated by Jorge Rojas.
- RedLine Contemporary Art announced two solo exhibitions featuring its 2024-2025 Greene Fellows and current resident artists.
- Texas-based artist RF. Alvarez was awarded the Delfina Foundation Artist Residency Prize for his work presented at the Armory Show by Martha’s in Austin.
- The Phoenix Art Museum named its 2025 cohort of Arizona Artist Awards recipients, including Alice Leora Briggs, Chris Ignacio, Jan Talmadge Davids, and Shaunté Glover.
Leadership Changes and Appointments:
Tucson Museum of Art Appoints Meg Jackson Fox Chief of Curatorial and Convergent Practice
The Tucson Museum of Art and Historic Block announced that Meg Jackson Fox was elected as its inaugural chief of curatorial and convergent practice. In this role, Jackson Fox will work to deepen relationships with artists and communities in Southern Arizona and establish the museum as a site of collaborative cultural exchange. She is currently the director of the Feitler Center for Academic Inquiry and head of education at the Smart Museum of Art at the University of Chicago, and previously was the curator of interdisciplinary and community practices at the University of Arizona’s Center for Creative Photography. Jackson Fox starts her new position at TMA on November 3.
Blaffer Terminates Curator Erika Mei Chua Holum
The Blaffer Art Museum at the University of Houston terminated Erika Mei Chua Holum, the museum’s Cynthia Woods Mitchell Associate Curator. Chua Holum’s termination occurred in July. In mid-July, artist Ja’Tovia Gary cancelled her exhibition at the Blaffer scheduled to open May 2026, citing a breakdown in negotiations with museum director Laura Augusta. As reported by Glasstire, Gary had been working with Chua Holum on planning the exhibition for two years prior to its cancellation. Following Chua Holum’s termination, artist Kenneth Tam alleged that his forthcoming exhibition at the Blaffer was cancelled by Augusta. Augusta denies these allegations. (Disclosure: Laura Augusta is on our Community Editorial Advisory Board).
Also:
- Houston Center for Contemporary Craft welcomed four new members to its board of directors: Nana Booker, Alecia Harris, Edward Lane McCartney, and Lorie Westrick.
- Ucross added four new trustees to its board, including Richard Davis of Sheridan, Wyoming; David Leuschen of Roscoe, Montana; Christian Nelson of Fredericksburg, Texas; and Naoma Tate of Cody, Wyoming.
- Roswell Artist-in-Residence Foundation named Ryan Crowley as its new residency director. Crowley, who holds a BFA from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design in Boston and an MFA from the Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, moved from Pittsburgh to Roswell in 2023 to attend the RAiR program (2023-2024).
