National Gallery of Art Closes amid Government Shutdown
54Oct. 8, 2025
TheNational Gallery of Art(NGA) in Washington, DC, closed its doors to the public on October 5, six days after the federal government ceased operations following the failure of Republicans and Democrats to agree on a spending bill. Though the museum, established by a Congressional mandate in 1937, operates as a private nonprofit entity, it does so in partnership with the federal government. The NGA receives the lion’s share of its annual funding through Congress, which typically covers salaries, special exhibitions, and operating costs, while private sponsors fund programming and acquisition expenses.
Having drawn on the previous year’s funding to remain open beyond the shutdown, the museum has not publicly provided a reopening date but has modified its website to notify visitors that it is “temporarily closed and all programs are canceled until further notice.” Among the canceled events are “Strike a Pose,” which invites visitors to the exhibition “Photography and the Black Arts Movement, 1955–1985” to dress in period-appropriate clothing and have their picture taken in a photo booth. The event is part of the museum’s popular after-hours program, which typically attracts a younger audience. Among the forthcoming programming that may be impacted, depending on the length of the shutdown, is the October 18 opening of “The Stars We Do Not See: Australian Indigenous Art,” a major survey of work by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists.
According to the Washington Post, the Smithsonian—another independent, federally funded institution, which the White House has recently targeted for scrutiny—is able remain open through October 11, after which it would close the twenty-one museums operating under its aegis, along with the National Zoo, were the shutdown to drag on. The Library of Congress, the US Botanic Garden, the National Archives, and the National Arboretum, all in DC, remain closed, as do all museums nationwide operated by the National Park Service.