In another move toward shedding allegiance to local news coverage, the Washington Post has killed its only column that highlighted local artists and galleries.
The Aug. 25 print edition of the “In the Galleries” column by Mark Jenkins, which ran for 13 years, was the last. (Jenkins formerly wrote for City Paper and worked as the paper’s art director.)
BmoreArt first broke the news on Aug. 20, a day after Jenkins emailed local galleries, artists, and curators. “My editors at the Washington Post have decided to end the galleries column,” Jenkins wrote, noting that Sunday’s post would be his last. “I’m very sorry to send you this news. I’ve enjoyed writing the column, and getting to know so many artists, curators, and gallery owners.”
Jenkins’ column ran weekly and usually profiled three or four exhibits at smaller art galleries in the area. “In the Galleries” was generally credited with attracting visitors and helping both artists and art spaces make sales.
Jenkins declined to comment on the Post’s decision to axe his column but sources say he was given just two weeks’ notice that it would be coming to an end. Local art fans are despondent.
“It’s sad the Post is ending this column. They are going to lose readers. They are so stupid,” says Margery Goldberg, an artist and the founder and curator of Zenith Gallery in Shepherd Park. “It’s frickin’ ridiculous.”
Kate Lowman, an artist with Washington Printmakers Gallery, says, “Frankly as a citizen I am disappointed in the Post for failing to serve their purpose as a newspaper of record.” Lowman believes that the loss of Jenkins’ column will harm both local artists and local galleries that relied on the Post coverage to reach a greater range of audiences.
Post Style editors Ben Williams, Hank Stuever, Steven Johnson, and Jonathan Fischer all declined to comment on Jenkins and “In the Galleries” when contacted by City Paper.
A Post spokesperson confirmed the death of “In the Galleries” and tells City Paper: “The Washington Post will continue to publish local art coverage, including galleries and museums, across all platforms, as it has done outstanding of the [Jenkins] column.”
The move to end the column comes amid increasing reader concern that the Post is shedding staff and space for local news coverage, eliminating most of its local columnists, ending local obituaries, charging more money to publish death notices, and hiring staffers who have no connection to the District.
In June, the Post announced that Naveen Kumar would replace longtime theater critic Peter Marks, who took a voluntary buyout from the paper in December. But Kumar, who’s written theater reviews for the New York Times and Variety, has never lived in the District and, according to the June 20 hiring announcement, he will stay in New York. (Though Marks started his career at the Post while living in the area for a decade, he finished it in New York.)
Local playwrights, artistic directors, and theater owners are concerned. Kumar didn’t officially start at the paper until Aug. 19, but he has been writing theater reviews for the past few months in Marks’ absence. All of his coverage for the Post has focused on Broadway productions, including An Enemy of the People, The Notebook, Days of Wine and Roses, Hell’s Kitchen, and The Heart of Rock and Roll. He’s written nothing on D.C. theater.
Kumar could not be reached for comment. But on Friday night, Aug. 23, during a conversation with Marks at the Kennedy Center’s Local Theatre Festival, Kumar said of reviewing D.C.-area productions: “It’s thrilling for me to get to come to a new vibrant theater center and figure it all out. It’s an exciting thing to be learning, and I’m really looking forward to it.”
He also noted that he doesn’t see himself writing nice reviews of work he doesn’t care for just because it’s locally produced: “I won’t just celebrate it just because it’s on stage,” he said.
Amy Austin, the president and CEO of Theatre Washington (and former City Paper publisher), says that while she admires Kumar’s skill as a reviewer, she worries about his bandwidth to cover D.C. and, more generally, about the overall cutbacks happening within the news industry.
“Do I wish Naveen lived in D.C.? Yes,” Austin says. “Mid to smaller theaters are going to have a harder time” getting their shows reviewed in the Post, she says.
In recent months, City Paper has documented the Post’s decision to scale back local coverage with a disproportionate number of buyouts taking place in the paper’s Metro section. During the end of 2023 buyouts, the Post decided to restructure its local Metro columns. Courtland Milloy, John Kelly, and Theresa Vargas ended their columns (though Vargas is now the local enterprise editor). Only Petula Dvorak has continued with her local column.
More dismaying for many longtime Post readers are the changes to its editorial page, which went from three daily editorials to just one.
As embattled Post publisher Will Lewis works to build the outlet into a national brand, he has signaled that he intends to focus on core coverage areas “including investigations, business, technology, sports and features.” Missing from that list? The Metro section.