Smithsonian's Governing Body Quietly Losing Members The Art Newspaper International Art News And Events

The Smithsonian Institution's Board of Regents has quietly thinned to 15 members, after two trustees' terms ended on March 2 and no successors have been announced - a delay that arrives as the Trump administration intensifies its campaign to reshape the nation's largest museum complex.

The departing regents were Risa J. Lavizzo-Mourey, a physician and health policy expert who previously served as the board's chair, and John Fahey, chairman emeritus of the National Geographic Society. Both were appointed in 2014 under President Barack Obama. Regents may serve a maximum of two six-year terms.

More turnover is imminent. The term of Denise O'Leary, an American Airlines board member appointed in 2020 under President Donald Trump, is set to expire next week, according to reporting by The New York Times. Three additional regents' terms are expected to end in the autumn. As of now, there have been no public announcements outlining a timetable for replacements or indicating whether eligible members will be renewed.

The bottleneck is structural as well as political: new citizen members of the Board of Regents require approval from both Congress and the president. In that context, the absence of appointments is being read in Washington as more than administrative drift. It may signal an effort to increase leverage over the Smithsonian's governance at a moment when the institution has become a focal point in the administration's broader cultural agenda.

The current tension traces back to a March 2025 executive order,“Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.” The order directed Vice President J.D. Vance to oversee the removal of what it called“divisive, race-centred ideology” from the Smithsonian and to deny funding to exhibitions and programs deemed to“degrade shared American values.” It also instructed Vance to work with congressional Republicans to pursue the appointment of regents“committed to advancing the policy of this order,” including the mandate to“remove improper ideology” from the institution.

In the year since, the administration has repeatedly pressed the Smithsonian to align more closely with the president's priorities. That pressure included a sustained political campaign targeting Kim Sajet, the longtime director of the National Portrait Gallery (NPG), culminating in her resignation in June. The White House also initiated a review of Smithsonian museums and exhibitions last summer, framing it as an effort to ensure compliance with a directive to celebrate“American exceptionalism.”

President Trump has publicly criticized the Smithsonian for focusing on“how bad slavery was,” and has circulated a list of complaints about what he characterized as“wokeness.” Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III has sought to steady the institution amid the escalating scrutiny, even as some museum workers voiced alarm and some artists reportedly withdrew from exhibitions or canceled programming, citing concerns about censorship.

The dispute has also played out inside the National Portrait Gallery's presentation of presidential history. After the end of the longest government shutdown in US history - which sharply reduced museum attendance in Washington, DC - the administration renewed its attention on the Smithsonian. Around the same period, wall text referencing Trump's impeachments was removed from the NPG's permanent display of presidential portraits, and the administration suggested the museum create a dedicated section for multiple portraits of him.

With several regent terms expiring in quick succession, the next round of appointments could shape not only the Smithsonian's leadership culture but also its curatorial latitude. For an institution that has long balanced scholarship, public service, and politics, the composition of its governing board is poised to become a consequential - and closely watched - battleground.

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