The future of two of the most important cultural institutions in the United States - The Kennedy Center and the Smithsonian - looks likely to be decided in the White House.

Washington DC's Kennedy Center could reportedly close as early as tomorrow with its own leadership describing it as facing "certain fiscal collapse".

The Washington Post reported its board said the only way to avert that is by fulfilling President Trump's long-stated wish that his name be put on the facade thereby ensuring his backing for a fundraising drive.

The future of the Smithsonian will not be decided quite so soon with the New York Times reporting the administration is dragging its feet in filling the seats of board members whose terms have ended in the hope it can appoint more allies.

As many as six places on the board could be up for grabs - all important at a time when they will be involved in choosing its next leader following the retirement of Lonnie Bunch which was announced last week.

Bunch had been a regular target for criticism from the administration and was powerless to stop the resignation of one of his chief lieutenants, National Portrait Gallery director Kim Sajet, after the president said he wanted to fire her for supporting DEI policies.

Lisa Havilah's reported wish to return to run Sydney's Powerhouse Parramatta after the investigation into its finances looks even more fanciful amid reports cuts to its opening hours are being planned before it has even opened.

The former chief executive spent seven years guiding the design and construction of the multi-million dollar museum until she stepped aside in August after a government investigation was launched into its procurement practices.

Her business plan for the $712 million museum, due to open on November 7 with work by the likes of Es Devlin and James Turrell on show, included a three-week launch festival and late opening hours which would see it operate from 9am to 9pm seven days a week.

But both those ideas now face being dropped as the Sydney Morning Herald reports they are likely to fall victim to the government's scramble "for cost savings just weeks ahead of the museum's ribbon-cutting".

Madrid's Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza and the Mauritshuis in The Hague are simultaneously swapping 25 works each from their collections for a pair of collaborative shows.

Among the 25 going from the Netherlands to Spain is Johannes Vermeer's View of Delft while works by Jan van Eyck, El Greco and Albrecht Durer will go the other way.

The project was described by a Mauritshuis spokesperson as "a once-only exchange" and the "first time such a simultaneous art exchange has ever taken place between two international museums".

Madrid opens its show on October 9, just ahead of the parallel show in The Hague which opens six days later.

1 - Yehudit Sasportas and Belu-Simion Fainaru are among more than 250 artists taking part in this year's Jerusalem Biennale. The event, which opens on September 24, asked contributors for "curatorial ideas that address the ongoing war and its impact on Jewish communities in Israel and abroad".

2 - A group of artists who lost homes and studios in the Los Angeles fires last year have banded together to raise funds to send other LA fire survivors to an artist residency near Stockholm. The Los Angeles Wildfire Survivors are currently raising money to send more Californian artists to Sweden and have also funded another residency closer to home in Washington State.

3 - Museums in Valencia, Malaga and Valladolid are among those to benefit from a police raid on a villa in Marbella which recovered works illegally transported across Europe. The works, including pieces attributed to Amedeo Modigliani and Pieter Bruegel, were shared between different Spanish museums by the country's Ministry of Culture.

4 - Two oil paintings by artist Eastman Johnson have been found almost 50 years after they were stolen in New York. The Art Newspaper reported they were found after Long Island-based art dealer Brandon Levine spotted them in a private estate collection and contacted the auctioneers.