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# Week in Review: Guggenheim Employees Demand Executive Resignations; Brooklyn Museum Employees Allege Staff Mistreatment
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/week-in-review-guggenheim-employees-demand-executive-resignations-brooklyn-museum-employees-allege-staff-mistreatment/
- Published: 2020-09-18T11:00:34.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T16:38:49.000Z
- Description: Also, Bill Arning, former director of the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, was accused of sexual harassment online, and more.
- Author: Jasmine Weber
- Tags: News, Week in Review, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 09:08 (2019, 2020, part 3)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/brooklyn-museum-real-estate-summit-01.jpg)

*Week in Review is a weekly collection of news, developments, and stirrings in the art world.* [*Subscribe*](https://hyperallergic.com/newsletters?utm%5Fsource=page&utm%5Fcampaign=artmovements) *to receive these posts as a weekly newsletter.*

Former and current **Brooklyn Museum** employees have stepped forward to decry the behavior of executive leadership at the institution, [denouncing “the **harm and daily mistreatment**” of workers of color](https://hyperallergic.com/brooklyn-museum-staff-open-letter/).

In a letter sent to the **Guggenheim Museum** and published online, the anonymous group **A Better Guggenheim** [called for the removal of three top executives](https://hyperallergic.com/a-better-guggenheim-removal-letter/): **Richard Armstrong, Elizabeth Duggal,** and **Nancy Spector.** The letter details allegations of sexism, racism, classism, and abuse.

The **Guggenheim Museum** [laid off 24 employees](https://hyperallergic.com/guggenheim-museum-24-workers-laid-off/). Another eight employees accepted voluntary separation packages.

After **Bill Arning**, the former director of the **Contemporary Arts Museum Houston**, was [accused of sexual harassment online](https://hyperallergic.com/bill-arning-contemporary-arts-museum-houston/), the museum confirmed that an investigation into the director’s behavior resulted in his separation from the museum in 2018.

Citing “deeply systemic issues,” faculty at the **Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA)** declared a [vote of “**no confidence**“](https://hyperallergic.com/no-confidence-vote-mica/) in the school’s senior leadership, including the president and provost.

An open letter signed by LA artists demands the **Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)** [remove **Tom** **Gores**, who owns a prison telecom company, from its Board of Trustees](https://hyperallergic.com/open-letter-lacma-tom-gores/).

**Hito Steyerl, Michael Rakowitz,** and **Forensic Architecture** are among 300 signatories of an [open letter in support of **striking Tate Workers**.](https://hyperallergic.com/hundreds-of-artists-support-striking-tate-workers/)

An open letter, authored by three artists included in the now-canceled *Collective Actions* exhibition, urges the **Whitney Museum** to “[commit to a year of action — of mobilization and introspection.](https://hyperallergic.com/whitney-museum-collective-actions/)”

At the **Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts**, more than a dozen MFA students are sitting out their final show [in protest of the school’s actions during Black Lives Matter demonstrations](https://hyperallergic.com/pafa-mfa-student-grad-show-boycott/). They are presenting their work at alternative, artist-run spaces instead.

Tenants of a [40-year-old **collective of artists and organizers**](https://hyperallergic.com/fort-greene-collective-landlord-allegations/) in Fort Greene say that the building’s owner and her family have used tactics of “surveillance, intimidation, and harassment” to force them out of the building.

**Public statues** of women in the UK just [barely outnumber those of men named John](https://hyperallergic.com/uk-study-women-statues-john-statues/), a new study has found.

## Awards & Accolades

**Farah Al Qasimi** was awarded the third annual **Capricious Photo Award**.

**Ana María Alvarez, Andrew Cyrille, Sean Dorsey, Michael John Garcés, Rennie Harris, Cécile McLorin Salvant, Dael Orlandersmith,** and **Pam Tanowitz** were named the 2020 Doris Duke Artists, each receiving a $275,000 award from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

**Arts.Black, BOMB, Bmore Art, the Brooklyn Rail, Burnaway, Glasstire, the Maine Arts Journal, the New Art Examiner,** and **X-TRA** were awarded $20,000 each by the **Dorothea and Leo Rabkin Foundation.**

**Tracy Fitzpatrick**, Director of the Neuberger Museum of Art, was appointed to the **New York State Board of Regents Advisory Council on Museums**.

**Jova Lynne** rejoined the **Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD)** as the Susanne Feld Hilberry Senior Curator.

## Transitions

**Brent R. Benjamin** will retire as director of the **Saint Louis Art Museum**.

**Nikki** **Iacovella** was appointed director of the **Outsider Art Fair.**

**Sara Jimenez** and **Destinie Adelakun** were awarded the 2020 **Canadian Women Artists’ Award** by the **New York Fondation for the Arts**.

**Kyla McMillan** was appointed director, focusing on sales and artist management, at **David Zwirner Gallery. |** via [ARTnews](https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/kyla-mcmillan-david-zwirner-director-1234570912/?ref=hyperallergic.com)

## Obituaries

Steve Carter (1929–2020), playwright who began his career at the Negro Ensemble Company | [Playbill](https://www.playbill.com/article/playwright-steve-carter-dies-at-90?ref=hyperallergic.com)

Vasilis Dimitriou (1936–2020), artist who painted original movie posters | [artnet](https://news.artnet.com/art-world/vasilis-dimitriou-one-europes-last-hollywood-billboard-painters-dead-84-1908321?ref=hyperallergic.com)

Nancy Dine (1937–2020), Academy Award-nominated filmmaker | [artnet](https://news.artnet.com/art-world/nancy-dine-obituary-1908482?ref=hyperallergic.com)

Ann Getty (1941–2020), publisher and arts patron | [*NYT*](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/17/obituaries/ann-getty-dead.html?ref=hyperallergic.com)

Florence Howe (1929–2020), publisher and historian who cofounded the Feminist Press | [*Baltimore Sun*](https://www.baltimoresun.com/obituaries/bs-md-ob-florence-howe-20200915-tg6hw2o2u5gohoyqcwor6uiqma-story.html?ref=hyperallergic.com)

Randall Kenan (1963–2020), award-winning fiction writer | [*NYT*](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/15/books/randall-kenan-dead.html?ref=hyperallergic.com)

Jiří Menzel (1938–2020), award-winning director | [Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/sep/08/jiri-menzel-obituary?ref=hyperallergic.com)

William Pursell (1926–2020), Grammy-nominated country musician | [*NYT*](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/16/obituaries/william-pursell-dead-coronavirus.html?ref=hyperallergic.com)

Bruce Williamson Jr. (1970–2020), soul singer and former member of the Temptations | [AV Press](https://www.avpress.com/news/williamson-jr-latter-day-temptation-dies/article%5Fe339adf2-f894-11ea-837d-bbaee58b9eff.html?ref=hyperallergic.com)