What does engaging a community look like amid a pandemic — and what does it mean for the future? On Episode 5 of DISCOVERY, a weekly show by Priya Sircar, Director/Arts at the Knight Foundation, Joy Bailey-Bryant, a Vice President at Lord Cultural Resources explores how to effectively engage communities in creating an equitable future.

Join the Garden Conservancy, Lord Cultural Resources, and some of the most preeminent thought leaders in the gardening world for a four-part, biweekly webinar series exploring the new role of gardens in our changing world. The series is designed to stimulate thoughtful conversations about a world that is experiencing seismic ecological, economic, social, and cultural change.

The Holocaust Museum Houston announced the U.S. premiere of "Mandela: Struggle for Freedom," a rich sensory experience of imagery, soundscape, digital media, and objects used to explore the earthshaking fight for justice and human dignity in South Africa — and its relevance to issues of today.

In what it says is an effort to "ensure people can learn more about Chinese Canadians' contributions to British Columbia," the provincial government announced on Thursday that it has invested $10 million to establish the Chinese Canadian Museum – the first of its kind in Canada. "We've been working closely with the community for years, and it has told us how important this museum is for everyone in BC," said BC Premier John Horgan. "We are at a critical point when it comes to conversations about race, inequality and injustice in this province."

Lord Cultural Resources is working with the Chinese Canadian Museum to develop a Feasibility Study and Business Plan for the new institution.

Grace Wong's father came to Canada from China in the early 1920s. He traveld back and forth, eventually marrying her mother in China. They had a son there — Grace’s older brother. Her father returned to Vancouver, but could not bring his new family to Canada for many years because of anti-Asian immigration policies. "This is part of my history … To share that with more people, I think it's very meaningful," Wong said. Wong heads a new Chinese Canadian Museum Society of British Columbia, which will develop and operate the new museum in Vancouver's Chinatown.

Lord Cultural Resources is working with the Chinese Canadian Museum to develop a Feasibility Study and Business Plan for the new institution.

In 1959, the 30-year-old artist Michael Snow took an old newspaper photograph of a British man who was hanged for murder and drew the felon’s face 21 times in charcoal in 21 different styles, from faithful reproduction to quirky illustration to twisting cubist forms. Today, those varied virtuosic images hang at the newly reopened Art Gallery of Hamilton.

Lord Cultural Resources is working with the Art Gallery of Hamilton on a feasibility study and architectural plan to ensure they have a sound, shovel-ready expansion plan ready as soon as infrastructure funding is available. Learn more about Lord’s shovel-readiness services.

A steel beam with signatures of supporters and community leaders was lifted to the top of the International African American Museum in a topping-out ceremony near Gadsden’s Wharf. This significant milestone indicates the construction project is nearing completion. The 41,760-square-foot, elevated museum is set to open in 2022.

Only by looking backwards can we start to tackle inequality in the arts sector, says Gus Casely-Hayford, the director of V&A East.

The Smithsonian institution has produced an authoritative collection of videos, websites, and online educational materials that help answer the question, “What is the meaning of American Democracy?”

After massive and righteous protests that called cultural institutions into question, artist Rick Lowe restored 22 small homes in Houston’s underserved Third Ward in a way that preserves the community’s history and restores its beauty. His Project Row Houses has created a platform for artists’ projects and studios, community events, and housing for young mothers—the pragmatic hand-in-hand with what Lowe calls the “poetic.”

Lord Cultural Resources worked with Project Row Houses to plan the Third Ward Cultural District and with Project Row Houses successfully applied for the Texas Commission on the Arts Cultural District Designation.

In the online-talk “Art World in Times of Crisis — Roles and Responsibilities“ Sabine Haag, Gail Lord, Norbert Kettner and Robert Punkenhofer discuss current challenges and opportunities in post COVID times.

The challenges facing the art world as a result of the current Coronavirus pandemic are the focus of this online discussion. The discussion pays special attention to innovations and potentials that the crisis brings with it as forward-looking opportunities for the art world in general, cultural tourism and cultural institutions in particular. This explosive topic is discussed by Sabine Haag (Director General of the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna), Gail Lord (President of Lord Cultural Resources), Norbert Kettner (Director of the Vienna Tourist Board). The panel is moderated by Robert Punkenhofer (Artistic Director of the Vienna Art Week).

COVID-19 has only accelerated what was bound to happen in the arts world — the collapse of unsustainable economic models. It’s time to think again about where income comes from and what we spend it on, says Alice Black.

Museums and art galleries have specific needs when it comes to controlling ventilation and climate conditions for the safety of the art and objects. So, a question for the fine arts world: Would coronavirus safety measures and best preservation practices be compatible when it comes to managing the air in reopened indoor art spaces?

A surprise decision by the New South Wales government to cancel a fiercely controversial relocation of Sydney’s 140-year-old Powerhouse Museum has been hailed as a victory for community campaigners. But arts figures and local residents who contested the A$1.1bn ($770m) plan to demolish the museum’s current 1988 building in the city centre and create a new venue in a western suburb say the battle is not over yet.

International museum leaders speak out against the treatment of "the best, most dynamic, and most innovative art museum director in North America."

Museums may emerge from the past few months, replete with sudden shutdowns, economic downturn, industry layoffs, and developed on-the-fly virtual programming, as an even more valuable and appreciated resource than before. That’s what new national data indicates, and Connecticut museums are among those encouraged by the news.

Along with presenting the wonders of space, dinosaurs, and pyramids to the public, the Denver Museum of Nature and Science has taken on another mission: repatriating stolen souls to their rightful homes.

The Contemporary Arts Museum Houston hired Janice Bond as deputy director. The museum said she is coming on board “during a period of growth and systemic change” amid a new strategic direction. Bond’s leadership position encompasses oversight of all museum operations across departments, including internal collaborations and external partnerships, and the institution’s commitment to diversity and inclusion.

Cultural institutions from Amsterdam to Utrecht will work together to advance diversity and inclusion in programming, audiences, and staff recruitment.

Telling America’s overlooked stories is fundamental to building a true national identity, says preservationist Brent Leggs.

Elon Musk’s Neuralink is working on a brain-computer interface that will allow wearers to stream music directly to their brain, but what does the Neuralink chip mean for the future of the visitor experience?

At major Canadian cultural organizations, the influence of money does the work to uphold racism.

Institutional antiracism, if genuinely desired, cannot be achieved without resources. Pledges and action plans mean nothing without them. Government funding, the best basis for such resources, is currently insufficient for many organizations’ core operations, which include rent and staff salaries. To supplement this funding, institutions turn to the subject of this essay: the private donor and corporate philanthropy sectors, which tend to exclude BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color), and/or ask BIPOC to prop up their explicit whiteness. In turn, finance, accounting, advertising, and development departments at cultural organizations do the same. These are the hidden, mystified aspects of culture work.

The pandemic is likely to change the way people travel, shop, and work. But around 60 percent of respondents to a new Artnet News survey say it will have little impact on the way they interact with art.

A major new archival exhibition exploring key controversial moments in the history of the Venice Biennale will open later this year in the central pavilion of the Giardini, filling the gap left by the cancellation of this year’s architecture biennale. The interdisciplinary show, titled The Disquieted Muses: When the Biennale Meets History (29 August-8 December), brings together all six of the Venice Biennale’s departments: art, architecture, cinema, dance, music, and theatre.