President Joe Biden announced Tuesday that he would appoint four new commissioners to the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, ousting committee members appointed by former President Donald Trump. Earlier in the day, the White House had sent letters to the serving commissioners asking them to submit their resignations. The Commission of Fine Arts approves design and architecture of proposed federal buildings in Washington, D.C. Trump’s commissioners had been involved in drafting a controversial executive order that would have mandated that all new federal buildings be built in a neoclassical style, incensing architects and artists across the country. Among Biden’s nominees are the architect of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, a partner from the firm that designed the Barack Obama Presidential Center, and a Howard University architecture professor.
