Curators and Directors that have resigned under strained or speculative conditions
When President Trump fired the six members of the Federal Commission of Fine Arts in light of the controversial White House ballroom and planned “Arc de Trump” in Washington D.C., he replaced them with a new team “more aligned with [his] America First Policies” as reported by the Guardian. Many critics argue the Canadian and American art and culture world has been rocked by numerous resignations and terminations over political differences and speculated racism.
In Toronto, at the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO), senior curator John Zeppetelli resigned in the wake of the failed acquisition of Nan Goldin’s Stendhal Syndrome, a slideshow of portraits of friends and lovers juxtaposed with “Classical, Renaissance, and Baroque masterpieces.”. This was soon followed by the resignation of two collection committee volunteers. According to Artnet News, the purchase was terminated in a vote after several members “expressed concern about Goldin’s remarks denouncing Israel’s attacks on Gaza as genocide.” This specifically referenced a speech that Goldin made back in November of 2024, at the opening of the artist’s exhibition titled “Nan Goldin: This Will Not End Well” at the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin. During this speech Goldin expressed her “moral outrage at the genocide in Gaza and Lebanon.” The audience responded positively to her speech chanting “free, free Palestine” following her statement. Neue Nationalgalerie Director, Klaus Biesenbach, took the stage after Goldin. According to ArtForum, he supported her right of freedom of expression, but did not agree with her views. Since Berlin, Goldin’s sales have been minimal. In an interview with Artnet, Goldin said that “there was a WhatsApp chain that committed to destroying all the artists that signed the Artforum letter. They committed to not buying us, not collecting us, not showing us, not reporting on us” she says.
Canadian Barbican Arts Director Devyani Saltzman is set to leave her position at the centre in May 2026. This occurs just months after being named one of the 40 most influential women working in the arts in the U.K. Saltzman is a Canadian writer, curator, and cultural leader, who moved from being the director of public programming at the AGO, to one of London’s most prominent art institutions. According to the Guardian, Saltzman’s exit follows the exit of Nicholas Kenyon, who resigned from the Barbican Centre after 14 years as managing director in 2021. This comes after a fellow staff member told the Guardian that the Barbican was “institutionally racist.” Saltzman’s newest book, “EXITING: Towards a Future of Work that Serves Us All,” explores the “trend of increasing pushback against systemic change in our institutions, the exiting of diverse leaders from organizations they were invited into, and what new healthier systems could look like” according to the Barbican website. Saltzman posted on LinkedIn on the week of Feb. 23, confirming she would be departing Barbican Centre in May 2026. She says this after what she calls “two transformative years,” and that the role of Director for Arts will not be replaced as the centre is set to close in 2028 for renovation. Saltzman’s exit follows the delivery of her creative vision that involved transforming the Barbican to greater reflect the diversity of London for the gallery’s planned multi-million pound transformation, leading to speculation about her exit. Following the announcement of Saltzman’s departure, over 170 cultural figures have signed an open letter in protest of her departure.
Beyond the art institution, cultural workers that promote Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (D.E.I.) and support for racialized communities have also been resigning. In December 2025, the city of Vancouver’s Senior Director of Indigenous relations, Michelle Bryant-Gravelle, stepped down. In an interview with CTV Bryant-Gravelle said she “knew it was going to be hard” but “didn’t know quite the extent of what [she] was getting into.” She resigned after the Globe and Mail reported on a leaked memo about how “Indigenous people living in the Downtown Eastside return to their home communities” from Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim’s chief of staff, Trevor Ford, and extensive budget cuts.
In June 2020, Canadian Art featured an article called “A Crisis of Whiteness in Canada’s Art Museums,” which revealed Canada’s four largest art museums are led by completely white leadership teams. Furthermore, the majority of the boards and senior leadership team are also white as well. Since the article’s release, there has been little change. Projects to fight against discrimination and censorship in the arts include a new project launched on Jan. 28 of this year titled Silencing in the Arts. This is a new research project documenting the use of non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) in the Canadian visual arts sector. The project aims to educate artists and cultural workers on NDAs and raise awareness about the growing culture of censorship in the arts industry.
To learn more about Silencing in the Arts: https://silencinginthearts.ca/about