The museum world is casting a wary eye on Clear Channel Communications, according to this LA Times report (username: ajreader@artsjournal.com, password: access). The multi-mega-media company, with efforts in radio, outdoor advertising, concert production and promotion, and other industries is touring its third museum show.

It's a bit of irony that the company's third touring show focuses on Greece and Troy, where the Trojan Horse had its first incarnation (remember Odysseus and his fellow Greek warriors hiding inside the sculpture, waiting for Troy to go to sleep?). The argument over the company is much like the conversation must have been in Troy...is this a gift or a tool of war?

Clear Channel's first show -- works of the Vatican -- had all the trappings of a gift to the museums that hosted it, offering a full-blown exhibit without the usual 'participation fee' required of nonprofit touring blockbusters. According to the article:

Clear Channel's Vatican show, by contrast, required no upfront fees, and Heath Fox, acting director of the San Diego Museum of Art, says his institution expects to reap $600,000 to $700,000 from its share of the receipts, with ticket prices going as high as $18. Clear Channel will pay an additional $800,000 or so to cover the museum's extra staffing costs and other special expenses related to a big show with projected attendance of 150,000 to 175,000 people -- many of them newcomers the museum can try to convert into regular attendees.

But some curators and critics are wondering if the money and attendance are worth the price. Gary Vikan, director of the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, is one voice of concern:

'In Cincinnati, they blew the place away in raw attendance. That makes people nervous, because we're all competing for market,' Vikan says. 'Museums like to believe they deal in authenticity. Clear Channel deals in illusion. If they don't do a good job, it makes the genre to which I belong, the display of art, something less sterling in the public's eyes.'

Faithful readers may recall that Clear Channel was also behind the Radio City Christmas Spectacular that was giving local productions of 'The Nutcracker' a run for their holiday revenue across the country.

Whether Clear Channel finds any form of profit or gain in the touring artifacts market remains to be seen. They may well discover that it's a black hole of cash and energy. But in the meantime, it will be fascinating to watch the local cultural reaction and response to the incursion by a major for-profit player. The touring Rockettes changed how many local ballet companies promote and produce their work (one group added a kick line to their production, and stopped using the word 'ballet' in their promotions). The for-profit tours may have a similar effect on the museum market.