Come November, when the Museum of Modern Art* opens an exhibition on Tim Burton, director of Edward Scissorhands and Sweeney Todd, among other movies, it plans to try something I recommended here back in April: variable pricing. The museum is calling its initiative "Tim Burton Tour Nights," and it works this way: On certain nights during the show, which runs from November 22, 2009, to April 26, 2010, people can pay $75 per person for a one-hour "VIP group tour" after the museum closes to the public, and a reserved "preferred … [Read more...]

I nearly hit myself in the head and asked 'why didn't I think of that?' when I learned what the University of Pennsylvania was requiring of its incoming freshman class this year. Furthermore, why didn't anyone else who loves the visual arts? Anyone concerned with arts education? With visual literacy? Instead of reading a common book, to be discussed on campus, freshmen have been asked to study and be ready to discuss a painting, The Gross Clinic, by Thomas Eakins. Here are the details, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer: The portrait … [Read more...]

Bloomberg published an article the other day about the pay afforded by some large museums, and although the reporter, Philip Boroff, was measured, the story obviously raises questions about whether such pay is appropriate. As it happens, Charity Navigator just released its own pay survey for non-profits, including arts groups, that put the Bloomberg piece in context. To review, according to Bloomberg, Glenn Lowry, director of the Museum of Modern Art* (left, in 2005), took home the biggest pay-and-benefits packet last year: $1.32 million -- … [Read more...]

What can one say about an exhibit -- Afghanistan: Hidden Treasures From the National Museum, Kabul -- that has been on tour in the U.S. since May, 2008, and on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art*, its last stop, since June 23? Newspapers, magazines and other AJ bloggers have written about this show, too, including Chloe Veltman in Lies Like Truth (here), who described the poignancy: To stare at the soberly-lit glass cases filled with such objects as a glowing pair of gold shoe soles found in the tomb of a nomadic … [Read more...]

You know that line about the Federal Reserve Chairman -- that it's his duty to come along and take away the punchbowl just as the (economic) party is revving up? That's how I feel right now. Much of the arts community is euphoric about what Rocco Landesman told The New York Times the other day (link): It was straight talk; he said many things that needed saying; with a few remarks, he extracted the cultural world from the defensive crouch arts organizations always seem to be in. Artists do need to be considered in economic … [Read more...]

Friday's marvelous You've Cott Mail tipped me off to a very provocative conversation about experimentation in theater that's going on simultaneously on two websites. The debate could easily apply to all of the arts disciplines. It all began last Monday when the Lark Play Development Center* blog invited playwright Theresa Rebeck to write a post called "Can Craft and Creativity Live on the Same Stage?" The headline doesn't really do her commentary justice, however. Here is what David Cote, writing on Time Out New York's Upstaged … [Read more...]

We have chairmen! The Senate today confirmed the nominations of both Rocco Landesman (right) to be chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts and Jim Leach to be chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Apologies for reporting earlier this week (here) that the NEH confirmation was moving along faster than the NEA. My only excuse is that's what sources told me. So they were wrong and so was I. The NEA posted this press release earlier today (link) and posted his bio, too (here). (I'm a little late catching up because I've … [Read more...]

Little did I know when I was writting about the lack and/or poor quality of data-based information in the arts (here, here, and here) that The New York Times was about to provide reinforcement. It came in the form of a Page One article in yesterday's paper, which for most of the day and even now is the most-emailed story: "For Today's Graduates, Just One Word: Statistics." It doesn't mention the arts or culture, but it does say this: "We're rapidly entering a world where everything can be monitored and … [Read more...]

A recent trip to the Guggenheim got me thinking about one organizing principle for exhibitions that's seems to be going around -- showing works acquired by, or during the term of, a museum's director. The trend seems to stem both from happenstance and anniversary-marking. The Metropolitan Museum honored Philippe de Montebello on his retirement; the Philadelphia Museum of Art honored Anne d'Harnoncourt soon after her sudden, unexpected death. The Cleveland Museum of Art recently opened an exhibition honored its … [Read more...]

Americans for the Arts, the advocacy group, has a lot on its plate, including, once a week, sending out an email of news items called ArtsWatch. Last week's edition, which arrived on Wednesday, July 29, has been nagging at me. The numbers in the articles just don't make sense. I've written the press office asking for an explanation, but have received no reply. So I'm posting the three items here -- perhaps I'm crazy, and the numbers are right; if so, please explain. If not, these are more examples of funny … [Read more...]