Two exhibitions at the Art Museum of the Americas in Washington, D.C. have been cancelled, according to a report by The Art Newspaper on Wednesday. The decision was made in the context of the US President Donald Trump’s elimination of programs for diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) across all government agencies and organizations that receive US funding.
A related order was published on the White House website on February 4. Trump has tasked US Secretary of State Marco Rubio with reviewing all international intergovernmental organizations in which the US is a member and that the US supports, to determine “which organizations, conventions and treaties are detrimental to the interests of the United States and whether these organizations, conventions, or treaties can be reformed.”
Cheryl D. Edwards, the curator of the exhibition Before the Americas, told the art news portal Hyperallergic that the museum’s leadership informed her on February 10 that the Trump administration had classified the exhibition as a “DEI program and event” and had withdrawn the funding allocated by the Biden administration. Edwards emphasized that it was not about “securing funding” but about “discrimination based on ethnicity, caste and class.”
The exhibition, scheduled to open on March 21, was to feature works that addressed the heritage of migration, colonialism and displacement in Afro-American, Afro-Caribbean and Afro-Latin American communities. It was to showcase 40 works by artists of the African diaspora in America.
The other cancelled AMA exhibition, titled Nature’s Wild with Andil Gosine, was also set to open on March 21. The event was to be based on a book by the Canadian artist Andil Gosine, which is dedicated to queer identities and the heritage of colonialism in the Caribbean.
The AMA Museum is the oldest US museum for modern and contemporary Latin American and Caribbean art.
Trump’s dismantling of DEI programs has led to the closure of diversity offices at the National Gallery of Art and the Smithsonian Institution.
The Art Newspaper warns that the cancellation of the two events could lead to possible censorship and self-censorship of cultural programs in the US, which historically have focused on underrepresented communities.
The AMA Museum is operated by the Organization of American States (OAS), which promotes development, human rights, security and more across the American continent. The OAS is funded by the support of its 34 member states from the entire region. According to a report by The Guardian, the US is its largest funder, with $55 million in 2024.
The Trump administration has not yet appointed a new head of the US mission at the OAS. However, US Secretary of State Rubio has already outlined updated tasks and priorities for the US participation in the organization, including “the elimination of our focus on political and cultural causes that are divisive at home and deeply unpopular abroad.