Confederate statue toppled at the University of North Carolina

Our daily round-up of news from the art world

Confederate statue toppled at the University of North Carolina | A statue of a Confederate soldier known as ‘Silent Sam’, which was proposed and paid for by the United Daughters of the Confederacy and unveiled at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1913, has been pulled down from its plinth on the university campus. The New York Times reports that the wooden statue was toppled on Monday night, after more than 250 protestors had gathered at the Peace and Justice Plaza. At least one person was arrested and the university has stated that they are ‘investigating the vandalism and assessing the full extent of the damage’.

ICA Philadelphia receives $1m endowment | The Institute for Contemporary Art at the University of Pennsylvania, has received a donation of $1m from private-equity investor and ICA alumnus Marc J. Leder, ARTnews reports. The donation will endow the post of director of curatorial affairs.

MacKenzie Art Gallery appoints its first director of programs | The MacKenzie Art Gallery in Regina, Saskatchewan, has hired the artist and educator John Hampton  as its director of programs, ARTnews reports. The role has been newly created at the institution and, as the first holder of the post, Hampton will be in charge of the museum’s curatorial and education departments.