The Trump administration has had a public impact on every aspect of America; from tariffs, to immigration, to egg prices. But while these topics flood our social media feeds and newspapers, art is silently being smothered in the background, and it’s the Republican party holding the pillow.
Public art, whether it’s museums, murals, or sidewalk chalk, is intertwined with humanity. Through these channels, art becomes an accessible and aesthetic way to experience history and makes it a part of life, rather than something exclusive. This is a significant change from what art used to be like.
Arguably, art didn’t become public until the late 19th century, when elite art ideologies were first critiqued by artists who believed that art didn’t have to be uptight, strict, or private. Though some art has been public since before the turn of the century—think Rome’s Trevi Fountain, Brussell’s “Manneken Pis”—this period marked a time where art started to become truly accessible. Creativity no longer required formal education or money: it was for everyone. This availability is fundamental to American life—in graffitied streets, murals, and our metropolitan museums—but the Trump administration threatens that.
On his first day in office, Trump dismantled the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, an advisory committee established by former president Ronald Reagan in 1982 to help preserve and protect the arts. During Trump’s first term, the committee members stepped down in protest, and they were later reinstated by former president Joe Biden.
On March 14, Trump signed an executive order eliminating “unnecessary” government agencies. Included in this list was the Institute of Museum and Library Services, a committee responsible for delivering funding to thousands of museums and libraries across America.
This elimination follows the dismissal of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts president in mid-February. After leading a bipartisan board for nine years, they were replaced by Trump himself, along with an entirely new board of Republicans. Following this, the entire staff was placed on administrative leave.
Boston’s JFK Presidential Library was also affected by this, along with many other institutions around the country, closing without notice, citing abrupt firings as the cause of the sudden disruption.
Though he’s spent approximately 78 days in office, Trump has done more than just critique art and oversee its preservation: He’s defunded museums, demolished murals, and cancelled art shows, most of which has gone unreported and unrecognized by the public. The Trump administration is working silently to stifle artistic voices and freedoms, lending to the oppressive nature of the regime as a whole.
These demolished murals and cancelled art shows, to no one’s surprise, were works of art intended to educate and preserve history. The demolishing of Washington, D.C’s street mural honoring those lost to police brutality and the ongoing Black Lives Matter movement is underway, and over the next eight weeks, this commemoration of a significant moment in modern American history will soon be turned to dust.
This removal isn’t just about the art, just as threatening art isn’t just about aesthetics—it represents a political manipulation of culture. It is an attempt to erase history and pave over suffering and violence.
Murals like these aren’t just decoration, they speak to grief, protest, and solidarity. This deliberate censorship is a blow to justice, truth, and the communities this art represents.
Unfortunately, this calculated attack on art is a strategy. Art is powerful because it educates in a way that those in power can’t control. By erasing it, this administration doesn’t just attack artists—it attacks history, truth, and justice itself.
So what is there to do? In times of political fragility, it feels scary to speak out. But systems like this depend on silence for oppression to echo. Keep making art. Support museums, pin your drawings to the walls, and draw with chalk on the sidewalk on sunny days.
