Saudis Renege On Met Opera Deal, Berlin Senator Resigns, And More: Morning Links

(MENAFN- USA Art News) Met Opera Loses Saudi Funding as Berlin Culture Senator Resigns in Antisemitism Scandal

The Metropolitan Opera is facing a sharper financial squeeze after Saudi Arabia backed out of a funding arrangement that could have brought the New York institution as much as $200 million over eight years. Peter Gelb, the company's general manager, said Thursday that the Saudi government blamed the war in Iran and the blocked Strait of Hormuz for walking away from the nonbinding memorandum of understanding first announced in September.

The collapse of the deal lands at a difficult moment for the Met, which had already begun cutting costs after the promised money failed to materialize. Those measures included preemptive layoffs in January. Gelb said the company is now confronting a $30 million shortfall for the current fiscal year, even as he described some of its recent artistic results as among its strongest.

The funding reversal is only one of several culture-policy stories moving through the news cycle. In Berlin, culture senator Sarah Wedl-Wilson resigned after a state audit found she had illegally authorized funding for 13 projects connected to the prevention of antisemitism and deemed of particular political significance. The projects received about €2.6 million in total. Wedl-Wilson said she was stepping down to preserve the government's stated commitment to combating antisemitism, while Berlin governing mayor Kai Wegner said the Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion would establish a legally sound framework for future support.

Elsewhere, President Trump announced plans to renovate the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool in Washington, D.C., calling it“filthy” and“dirty.” Ontario is adding $21 million CAD in annual support for the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Royal Ontario Museum. And in another notable appointment, Brazilian-born Thiago de Paula Souza will curate the eighth Athens Biennale in spring 2027.

Taken together, the developments point to a season in which cultural institutions are being shaped as much by public funding, political scrutiny, and infrastructure decisions as by exhibitions themselves.

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