Amid Trump’s Threats, a Potential Home for Smithsonian Latino Museum

Дата публикации: 24-08-2026 20:40:54

The Smithsonian board will reportedly vote on housing the fledgling institution in the recently reopened Arts & Industries Building — a move that would allow it to bypass Congressional approval.

Основное содержимое страницы с новостью.

The Smithsonian Institution's board will meet next Monday, August 31, to vote on housing the National Museum of the American Latino (NMAL) in the Smithsonian's recently reopened Arts & Industries Building, as reported in the Washington Examiner and confirmed by the New York Times. The move would allow the fledgling museum to move forward in the face of the Trump administration's threats to defund the project altogether.

Establishing the NMAL in the historic Arts & Industries Building would allow the Smithsonian to bypass congressional approval, which was an initial requirement under the original plan to build out a new space for the museum on or near the National Mall, because those parcels of land fall under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service. Founded in 2020, the NMAL has been operating out of a dedicated gallery within the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History since 2022.

Billed as a “permanent home to honor the stories, contributions, and impact of Latinos in the United States,” the NMAL has been repeatedly highlighted throughout the Trump administration's targeted attacks against the Smithsonian's “woke” ideologies and programming. An unnamed source told the Times that considering how things are going right now, the NMAL decided that gambling on congressional approval for a site for a brand-new building wasn't worth the risk.

Last August, several of the museum's programs and didactics were included in a memo supporting the White House's “comprehensive internal review” of the Smithsonian's public-facing content across all 21 museums, research centers, and the National Zoo. The Presidential budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2026 also omitted federal funding for the museum's development in favor of reestablishing the decentralized Smithsonian Latino Center, which would mount programming throughout the Institution's network.

The Smithsonian also closed the NMAL's gallery at the American History Museum from August 2025 — just before National Hispanic Heritage Month — through spring of this year in preparation for ¡Puro Ritmo! (2026), a salsa music-themed exhibition within the Institution's Our Shared Future: 250 programming.

Furthermore, the American History Museum is also navigating operations while under the Trump administration's microscope. Director Anthea Hartig, whose leadership was extensively scrutinized in the White House's 162-page report accusing the Smithsonian of promoting “extreme political activism” last month, underwent a two-day congressional hearing on various allegations outlined in the report.

Without federal support, the nascent NMAL's unwavering quest for a permanent home has called on the Smithsonian's board to reconsider the Arts & Industries Building as an option. Built in 1881, the structure initially served as the United States's first National Museum and is the second-oldest within the Smithsonian. The site sits between the National Museum of African Art and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Gardens.

The building was known for its natural sciences and anthropology exhibits as the premier home of the Smithsonian's rapidly expanding collection, but later became the Institution's hub for historical developments in American science and technology after the National Museum of Natural History was built in 1910. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1971, but the space itself fell out of fashion as the Smithsonian opened more specialized museums.

Arts & Industries began operating as an incubation site for the developing museums before their permanent locations were built, hosting inaugural and temporary exhibits as well as other programs while being outfitted for collection storage and additional office space.

Its mixed use yielded structural damage, leading to its indefinite closure for renovation in 2004; the building reopened its doors to the public for the first time in 22 years this summer with a show for the nation's 250th anniversary.

• News
• Smithsonian Institution
• National Museum of the American Latino
• Washington DC

Схожие новости

#	Наименование новости	Тональность	Информативность	Дата публикации
1	Kennedy Center board OKs new way of adding Trump’s name to building	0	4.66	14-08-2026
2	Kennedy Center board OKs new way of adding Trump’s name to building	0	4.66	14-08-2026
3	Iconic US cultural center calls demolition warning a hypothetical scenario	0	7.09	26-08-2026
4	The park service says Trump's arch would obstruct historic sites. Could it be moved?	0	6.09	06-08-2026
5	The park service says Trump's arch would obstruct historic sites. Could it be moved?	0	6.09	06-08-2026
6	Historians Reject Trump Administration’s Criticism of Smithsonian Museum	-2	6	06-07-2026
7	Trump allies vote to weaken protections for historic sites — not just in D.C.	0	7.81	23-07-2026
8	Trump's plan for a triumphal arch in DC wins early approval from a key federal agency	0	5	09-07-2026
9	White House report brands Smithsonian leadership as radical activists who can't be trusted	-5	7	06-07-2026

Классификация: Культура. Схожих патентов: 0. Схожих новостей: 9. Тональность: 0. Информативность: 8.01. Источник: hyperallergic.com.