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# Week in Review: NYC Launched WPA-style Initiative; Turner Prize Nominee Criticizes Tate
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/week-in-review-nyc-launched-wpa-style-initiative-turner-prize-nominee-criticizes-tate/
- Published: 2021-05-13T20:08:00.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T16:38:33.000Z
- Description: Also, Palestinian actress Maisa Abd Elhadi was shot by Israeli police during a protest, and more.
- Author: Jasmine Weber
- Tags: News, Week in Review, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 09:11 (2021, 2022, part 1)

W*eek in Review is a weekly collection of news, developments, and stirrings in the art world.* [*Subscribe*](https://newsletters.hyperallergic.com/?ref=hyperallergic.com) *to receive these posts as a weekly newsletter*.

## Activism and Museums

Black Obsidian Sound System, one this year's five Turner Prize nominees, [accused Tate of "exploitative practices,"](https://hyperallergic.com/turner-prize-nominee-black-obsidian-sound-system-accuses-tate-of-exploitative-practices/) citing its alleged censorship of a Black artist and the ongoing struggles of its workers.

Activists are shining a spotlight on the [financial connection between MoMA trustee Patricia Phelps de Cisneros and a gold mine](https://hyperallergic.com/strike-moma-shines-spotlight-on-trustees-connection-to-toxic-gold-mine/) in the Dominican Republic which has been accused of poisoning and displacing hundreds of people.

In an open letter, over 75 historians and curators [denounced the “senseless monetization”](https://hyperallergic.com/historians-and-curators-denounce-senseless-monetization-of-newark-museum-collection/) of the Newark Museum’s collection.

## NYC's Cultural Sector

New York City launched a [$25 million WPA-style recovery program](https://hyperallergic.com/nyc-launches-25m-wpa-style-recovery-program-for-the-arts/) to create jobs for more than 1,500 resident artists.

Over 100 art workers staged a demonstration in lower Manhattan to [demand relief for NYC’s cultural sector](https://hyperallergic.com/art-workers-demand-relief-for-nyc-cultural-sector/).

The Metropolitan Museum of Art installed a plaque on its Fifth Avenue facade, [acknowledging that it sits on Lenape land](https://hyperallergic.com/met-museum-acknowledges-it-is-on-lenape-land-with-new-plaque/).

## Reuniting Missing Art

You can now report stolen art and browse more than 50,000 objects reported stolen using a [new Interpol app](https://hyperallergic.com/report-stolen-art-interpol-app/).

The Louvre Museum [returned an index finger to a massive bronze of Emperor Constantine](https://hyperallergic.com/roman-emperor-finger-reunited-louvre/) after it was long mistaken for a toe.

## In Other News

Palestinian actress Maisa Abd Elhadi was [shot by Israeli police](https://hyperallergic.com/palestinian-actress-maisa-abd-elhadi-shot-by-israeli-police/) during protests in Haifa.

The Colombian government [utilized an installation by Doris Salcedo to denounce nationwide protests](https://hyperallergic.com/colombian-government-exploited-doris-salcedo-art-to-denounce-nationwide-protests/) without the artist's permission.

Marianne de Groot-Pons designed [biodegradable rice paper masks](https://hyperallergic.com/combatting-single-use-plastic-these-seed-filled-masks-will-bloom-when-discarded/) which are embedded with wildflower seeds that bloom when discarded.

Twelve African American artists were commissioned for an [exhibition on the Great Migration](https://hyperallergic.com/african-american-artists-commissioned-great-migration-exhibition/), jointly organized by the Mississippi Museum of Art and the Baltimore Museum of Art.

## Awards & Accolades

- ArtTable has announced 16 participants in its national fellowship program for advancing diversity in the arts, including **Sarah Ahmed, Andrea Lewis, Sarika Sanyal, Molly Hatesohl,** and **Nidhi Gandhi**. | [ArtTable](http://arttable.org/impact/?ref=hyperallergic.com)
- **Tim Bouverie, Marcela Calderón, Monika Czyzyk, Sky Hopinka, Kabelo Malatsie, Robertas Narkus, Eszter Salamon,** and **Lantian Xie** were named summer 2021 residents for the Amant Foundation's residency in Siena, Italy.
- **Abigail DeVille, Dread Scott, Jules Arthur, Nina Cooke John,** and **Vinnie Bagwell** are the five finalists selected to design the Harriet Tubman Monument Project in Newark, New Jersey.
- **Sondra Perry** was named the winner of Dream Commission by Muse, the Rolls-Royce Art Programme.

## Transitions

- **Robert Longo** is now represented by Pace Gallery.
- **Rashid Shabazz** was named executive director of Critical Minded.

## In Memoriam

- Billie Hayes (1924–2021), actor | [Deadline](https://deadline.com/2021/05/billie-hayes-dead-obituary-witchiepoo-h-r-pufnstuf-actress-was-96-1234749037/?ref=hyperallergic.com)
- Helmut Jahn (1940–2021), architect | [CNN](https://www.cnn.com/style/article/helmut-jahn-chicago-accident-death/index.html?ref=hyperallergic.com)
- Bill McCreary (1933–2021), Emmy-Award-winning reporter and one of New York's first Black journalists on television | [*New York Times*](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/11/nyregion/bill-mccreary-dead.html?ref=hyperallergic.com)
- Richard Nonas (1936–2021), experimental sculptor | [*ARTnews*](https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/richard-nonas-artist-dead-1234592590/?ref=hyperallergic.com)
- Ed Ward (1948–2021), writer, NPR radio commentator, and rock historian | [NPR](https://www.npr.org/2021/05/05/993956435/ed-ward-rock-critic-and-historian-dead-at-72?ref=hyperallergic.com)