National Trust for Scotland appoints Philip Long as chief executive

Our daily round-up of news from the art world

National Trust for Scotland appoints Philip Long as chief executive | The National Trust for Scotland has appointed Philip Long as its next chief executive. Long is currently director of the V&A Dundee, having been appointed in 2011 to oversee the development of the museum, which opened in September 2018. He will take up the post when Simon Skinner, who has served as chief executive of NTS since 2015, retires in July.

David C. Driskell (1931–2020) | The artist, curator and art historian David C. Driskell has died at the age of 88. A key figure in establishing the discipline of African-American art history, Driskell curated the groundbreaking survey ‘Two Centuries of Black American Art: 1750–1955’ at LACMA in 1976. His most celebrated paintings include Behold Thy Son (1956), which commemorated the death of Emmett Till.

Sotheby’s furloughs staff as ‘gigaweek’ sales are postponed | Sotheby’s has announced to staff a raft of measures to cut expenditure, including redundancies, staff furloughs, and pay cuts. The Wall Street Journal reports that around 200 staff will be furloughed, while those who remain will take a 20 per cent deduction on next month’s salaries. The news comes after the auction house postponed its major May sales in New York.

National Lottery Heritage Fund announces £50m in emergency support | The National Lottery Heritage Fund has announced an emergency fund of £50m to support the UK heritage sector during the next three to six months. Applications for the fund will open in the next few days. In the US, meanwhile, the Warhol Foundation is offering $1.6m in grants to artists affected by the coronavirus crisis.

Temporary mortuary to be established at Irish Museum of Modern Art | A temporary mortuary will be established in the grounds of the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin, as part of the Irish government’s efforts to deal with Covid-19. In a statement, the museum said: ‘While this is, of course, a reminder of the seriousness of this situation, the dignity and solemn beauty of the grounds is appropriate. We think with great compassion and respect for the families of those who may need these facilities in the times to come.’