Today, Canada marks the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation—a time to honor the Survivors of residential schools, remember the children who never returned home, and recognize the families and communities whose lives continue to be shaped by this legacy.

“On September 18, Niagara College welcomed members of the Indigenous community to the Daniel J. Patterson Campus for the 2026 Indigenous Niagara Outstanding Achievement Awards (INOAA).

Hosted by the Niagara Academy of Indigenous Relations (NAIR), the awards recognize Indigenous leaders, artists, educators and allies whose contributions are shaping the Indigenous cultural, educational and artistic landscape across the Niagara region. [...]

The inspiring awards ceremony was hosted in the Yerich Auditorium, led by Tim Johnson, NAIR President, and Dr. Jennifer Brant, NAIR Board member and Associate Professor in the Department of Curriculum, Teaching, and Learning at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto.”

We’re proud to see Lord Indigenous Advisor Tim Johnson continuing this important work through his leadership with the Niagara Academy of Indigenous Relations. Tim brings this same commitment to Indigenous knowledge, relationships, and perspectives to his work with Lord and our cultural partners.

“One doesn't have to spend too much time in Erie before they will almost certainly begin seeing references to the War of 1812 – or, more specifically, the war's Battle of Lake Erie. [...] In June 2026 Talk Erie host Joel Natalie interviewed Brad King (Lord Cultural Resources) alongside journalist (and Erie native) Steve Scully to discuss the feasibility of a ‘transformational’ museum opening in Erie. The vision, they made clear, is not to compete with any existing local museums, but to complement them in a location that is geographically central among the Great Lakes (not to mention the halfway point between Chicago and New York City). 

What would make this museum different then? First of all, as previously stated, this would be a national museum. While there are many museums that reference the War of 1812 or are dedicated to an aspect of it, most are regional and do not encompass the entire war.” 

“University of Arkansas alumni Bob and Becky Alexander have donated $1 million to the University of Arkansas Museum to support strategic planning and professional expertise needed to guide the museum’s development. The fund will provide resources for leadership support and consulting services, and will impact the role it has on campus and in the community by incorporating a feasibility study and future awareness projects.

“On the occasion of her forty-fifth birthday on September 4, pop-music superstar Beyoncé Knowles-Carter donated $2 million to the Studio Museum in Harlem.

“The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, founded by American filmmaker and Star Wars creator George Lucas and his wife, is set to open later this month in Los Angeles, California. While the museum will include Star Wars-themed memorabilia, it will also feature other historic and modern pieces among the more than 1,200 works of narrative art.

“The director general of the long-awaited Kanal (formerly Kanal-Centre Pompidou), Yves Goldstein, will stand down when the new modern and contemporary art museum opens in late November in the Belgian capital.

“Museums across North America are beginning to revise long-standing climate control protocols, moving away from stringent 1970s guidelines in response to escalating energy costs and a desire to reduce environmental impact. These changes emphasize collection care over uniform numerical standards.

“On September 15, the Metropolitan Museum of Art broke ground on the Oscar L. Tang and H.M. Agnes Hsu-Tang Wing, a long-awaited addition that will house the museum’s collection of modern and contemporary art. The new wing is scheduled to open to the public in 2030.

“The British Museum's Bayeux Tapestry exhibition has opened, with the embroidery now on public display in the UK for the first time since it was created nearly 1,000 years ago.

“The Smithsonian Institution’s secretary, Lonnie Bunch III, will retire at the end of the year amid Donald Trump’s attacks on the museum’s content and independence.

“A federal program making it cheaper and more accessible for Canadians to go to national parks and sites from coast to coast is ending on Monday. 

“A new cultural centre is opening in Accra, Ghana, this October. Si Hene, located in a repurposed former pharmaceutical factory building, is billed as Ghana’s first membership-based cultural centre in the Ghanaian capital. Its inauguration will take place during this year’s Accra Cultural Week (29 October-2 November), organised by Gallery 1957.”

“Ottawa, September 16, 2026 ― Today, the Canada Council for the Arts celebrates the 2026 winners of the Governor General’s Awards in Visual and Media Arts (GGArts). Eight artists are being honoured for their exceptional careers and their significant contributions to visual arts, media arts and fine crafts in Canada. Chosen by their peers, this year’s winners reflect the creativity, innovation and lasting impact of the arts in communities across the country.”

“Some new research is shining a light on the importance of Saskatchewan’s heritage sector. In 2024 alone, Saskatchewan’s cultural heritage sector contributed more than $73 million to the province’s GDP.

Emma Morris, the executive director of the Museums Association of Saskatchewan, explained how the heritage sector is an economic driver.

“The Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (Malba) has announced that Mexican architect Frida Escobedo will lead the project to expand the museum.

“Throughout her work, Escobedo has earned an international reputation for architecture that is quietly powerful rather than attention-seeking, drawing on light, shadow, local craftsmanship and layered histories to create spaces that feel deeply connected to their surroundings while remaining unmistakably contemporary. Whether designing a museum, a hotel, a public square or a piece of furniture, she approaches every project with the same sensitivity to memory, materiality and human experience. In this exclusive conversation, Escobedo reflects on the formative influence of Mexico City, the ideas that continue to shape her architectural language and the responsibility of creating cultural landmarks destined to become part of history.”

“A metal tunnel guides visitors from underground into a lofty exhibition hall within a tram depot at the Centre for Contemporary Arts Tashkent, which was designed by French architecture practice Studio KO in Uzbekistan's capital.

“Art generated with artificial intelligence (AI) relies on models trained on billions of images. That training has been the subject of much debate and several ongoing or impending lawsuits. Many consider the training to be a form of involuntary extraction and that the images derived from it are a violation of countless artists’ copyrights, but recent scientific findings about how AI processes the information it is trained on complicate this view.”

“The survey findings confirm that AI is becoming an increasingly visible part of museum work worldwide, supporting activities ranging from administration, translation, and collections research to documentation, exhibition development as well as visitor engagement. However, access to AI technologies and the resources needed to implement them remains uneven. Disparities in digital infrastructure, funding, technical capacity and access to expertise mean that museums do not all have the same opportunities to explore or adopt AI, particularly across regions and contexts with persistent digital and economic inequalities.”

“What if a visit to a museum didn’t end with simply looking at an ancient Egyptian mummy, but also let you directly experience the smells that people back then would have encountered? In recent years, museums have begun making scientific attempts to reconstruct historical smells so that visitors can actually smell the past. At one ancient Egypt exhibition in Denmark, reconstructed fragrances were provided on cards and in cartridges placed around the gallery, allowing visitors to experience the scents firsthand.”

“The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York repatriated five pieces of ancient Cretan armor to Greece. The pieces were connected to a large-scale illegal excavation that occurred more than 60 years ago.

“Jewish heirs of Holocaust victims and their representatives have filed two lawsuits in California staking their claims to Nazi-looted paintings that still hang on the walls of prominent museums in Los Angeles and Auschwitz.

“Ethiopia has achieved significant diplomatic victories in its efforts to prevent the international sale of looted cultural artifacts, utilizing legal challenges, institutional lobbying, and public pressure.

“The United States has returned dozens of cultural relics to China ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s coming visit to Washington, a goodwill gesture to help pave the way for a positive summit.

“Manhattan District Attorney Alvin L. Bragg, Jr., today announced the return of 147 antiquities totaling nearly $2.4 million to the people of Türkiye, Pakistan, and Thailand. 

‘The breadth of these repatriations is a reminder of the global scope of antiquities trafficking,’” said District Attorney Bragg. ‘“None of this would be possible without the extraordinary investigative work of our team, and I am extremely grateful for their continued dedication.’”