{"id":344,"date":"2009-10-08T12:19:45","date_gmt":"2009-10-08T12:19:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp\/?p=344"},"modified":"2009-10-08T12:19:45","modified_gmt":"2009-10-08T12:19:45","slug":"cant_you_see_that_i_am_not_afr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/2009\/10\/cant_you_see_that_i_am_not_afr\/","title":{"rendered":"Can&#8217;t you see, that I am not afraid?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Via fellow ArtsJournal blogger <a href=\"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/culturegrrl\/2009\/10\/the_latest_in_visitor-friendly.html\">CultureGrrl<\/a> via <i><a href=\"http:\/\/www.theonion.com\/content\/news\/struggling_museum_now_allowing\">The Onion<\/a>, <\/i>this attendance-boosting initiative from the Metropolitan Museum of Art:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>NEW YORK&#8211;Hoping to boost attendance and broaden its base of<br \/>\nsupporters, the Metropolitan Museum of Art launched a new initiative<br \/>\nthis week that allows patrons, for the first time ever, to prod and<br \/>\nscratch at the classic paintings in its revered collection.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Though it contains more than two million pieces and represents a<br \/>\nprofound legacy of artistic achievement, most people remain completely<br \/>\nindifferent to our museum,&#8221; Met director Thomas P. Campbell said. &#8220;So<br \/>\nwe decided to try something a little different and give visitors a<br \/>\nchance to experience our timeless works of art up close and personal.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Added Campbell, &#8220;Please, bring the whole family and smudge up our paintings as much as you want.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>And the response?<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Gerard Schmidt, a retired banker who lives near the Met, said he had<br \/>\nnever much cared for museums until he was given the chance to manhandle<br \/>\none of Monet&#8217;s <i>Water Lilies<\/i>. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;At first it just looked like a picture of a bunch of lily pads, but<br \/>\nthen I started scraping at it with my pocket knife and the whole<br \/>\npainting just sort of spoke to me,&#8221; Schmidt said. &#8220;For the first time,<br \/>\nI finally understand what Monet was trying to get across in her work.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>A new trend?<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>And the cash-strapped Boston Symphony Orchestra has created a<br \/>\nspecial &#8220;Jam Night&#8221; during which audience members can come up onstage<br \/>\nto play along with the orchestra, improvise lyrics, or just twirl<br \/>\naround waving colored scarves.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Via fellow ArtsJournal blogger CultureGrrl via The Onion, this attendance-boosting initiative from the Metropolitan Museum of Art: NEW YORK&#8211;Hoping to boost attendance and broaden its base of supporters, the Metropolitan Museum of Art launched a new initiative this week that allows patrons, for the first time ever, to prod and scratch at the classic paintings [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-344","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-main","7":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=344"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}