The 35 days of the United States Government partial shutdown in late December through late January left the Smithsonian museums in Washington, D.C. barren and vacant of visitors. Tourists and locals, temporarily not working, roamed, as in a sci-fi movie, the nation’s capital looking for open, free cultural exhibitions. Private museums, including the Phillips Collection and Kreeger Museum, charged fees that tourists were unwilling to pay, and locals at this time could not pay, not knowing when the situation would resolve and when their paychecks would arrive. The United Kingdom and France managed to keep their museums open, free and accessible during government strikes and temporary shutdowns; the embassies of these and other nations satisfied cultural cravings for all visitors. Foreign embassies, foreign collections and cultural centers offer permanent art on view, while temporary … [Read more...] about VISUAL DIPLOMACY: GLOBAL EMBASSIES OPEN GALLERIES TO U.S. VISITORS
