According to the White House, two international groups working on cultural heritage preservation and arts policy are “contrary to the interests of the United States” and “waste taxpayer dollars.”
The International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM) and the International Federation of Arts Councils and Culture Agencies (IFACCA) are among 66 organizations or treaties from which President Trump withdrew in a memorandum on Wednesday, January 7.
Headquartered in Australia, the IFACCA collaborates with government arts agencies and conducts research on issues that impact cultural policy decisions, such as arts funding and cultural labor. The group is perhaps best known for hosting the World Summit on Arts and Culture, whose 10th edition last year gathered artists and industry leaders to discuss topics including artificial intelligence, Indigenous knowledge, and fair working conditions.
Members of IFACCA include representatives for more than 70 countries, including the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), the US arts funding agency that Trump has sought to dismantle. As of today, the NEA is still listed as a member on IFACCA's website. Hyperallergic has contacted IFACCA's executive director, Magdalena Moreno Mujica, as well as the NEA for comment.
Established in 1959 in response to mass cultural heritage loss during World War II, the ICCROM focuses on disaster risk management and conservation of historic sites, monuments, museum collections, and other forms of artistic patrimony. Its work includes training experts, leading research, and encouraging international bodies to cooperate on preservation. In September 2024, ICCROM partnered with the US State Department to help safeguard Ukrainian cultural sites under threat from Russian attacks.
In a statement shared with Hyperallergic, ICCROM said the US had been a member since 1971 and that its withdrawal “will have a direct impact on ICCROM’s core capacities, with consequences for the Organization’s ability to deliver on its mandate.”
Hermann Parzinger, executive president of the pan-European cultural heritage group Europa Nostra, also decried the move, particularly in light of Trump's “deplorable withdrawal” from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) last July.
“This sweeping retreat from multilateral cooperation of a major global player seems to signal a troubling misunderstanding of the essential role that culture and heritage play in fostering peace, mutual respect, resilience, innovation, and shared prosperity across the globe,” Parzinger said.
Around half of the entities in the White House memo are connected to the United Nations, and several address clean energy and the environment, including the high-profile UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, the basis of international efforts to address global warming. But the list also includes a multilateral counterterrorism body, a UN office dedicated to preventing violence against children, and a coalition working to protect internet freedom, suggesting a broad criteria and unclear priorities.
Advocates and officials warned that Trump's mass exodus from these efforts could have disastrous consequences for human rights worldwide.
The president's distancing from global cooperation on urgent issues such as the climate emergency comes just a week after the US attacked Venezuela and captured President Nicolás Maduro, and in the wake of Trump's renewed threats to seize Greenland from Denmark.