Letter from the editor:

As many of us hunker down and otherwise practice forms of self-isolation and “social distancing,” I encourage you to take a minute to think about your friends, colleagues, and neighbors who might not be lucky enough to be able to stay home. Do something nice for them, or better yet, support their businesses by buying gift cards, tipping service workers (many of whom are also artists), and participating in mutual aid networks. As the organizers of the People's Cultural Plan remind us, now is the time to “[revisit] our work, placing it in dialogue with the pandemic, as well as with climate change and the city’s over-policing of Black and brown people on the MTA, schools, and museums. All are interconnected...” See here for their op-ed and full (and urgent) list of demands, addressed to the Department of Cultural Affairs and New York's art institutions.

In that vein, last week, our news editor Jasmine Weber reported that the Met became “the first major New York City museum to close due to the pandemic,” spurring a wave of closures that has since grown to include the majority of the city’s cultural institutions and galleries. Luckily, thousands of museums — including the Met, New York’s own Guggenheim, MoMA, and the Frick Collection — are now offering virtual tours and online access to their collections. Our staff writer Hakim Bishara shares more details here, along with a list of 12 scintillating virtual tours worth taking. Big institutions aren't the only ones thinking about new ways to promote access to art though; this Saturday, Tiger Strikes Asteroid will launch the second edition of its online Q&As with artists, #AskTigerStrikesAsteroid, via instagram. Call me biased, but ruminating on art and culture feels like an important way of caring for your mind right now. 

Hakim also shares news of developments in the ongoing efforts of Guggenheim employees to unionize. Recently staff members wrote to the Museum’s trustees, “urging them to wield their influence on the museum’s ‘reluctant’ management.” Given the curtailed hours many of our cultural workers are facing, the fight for fair wages and benefits feels especially important. 

After all, uncertainty is always easier to face collectively — just don’t forget to stay home and wash your hands. 

Dessane Lopez Cassell

An Urgent List of Demands for Arts and Culture in the Face of NYC State of Emergency

The People’s Cultural Plan shares a list of demands in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including housing as a human right and free public education.

The People's Cultural Plan

News

Metropolitan Museum Announces Indefinite Closure to Contain COVID-19

The museum’s three locations are shuttered indefinitely.

Who’s Behind the Media Campaign Against a Decolonize This Place Organizer?

According to the MTL+ collective, articles have discredited their MTA actions and reduced one of its members “to the figurehead of a ‘violent’ Palestinian mastermind.”

Guggenheim Workers Ask Trustees for Help Amid Union Negotiations

Recently unionized workers urge the Guggenheim’s trustees to wield their influence on the museum’s “reluctant” management.

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