Real Clear Arts

Judith H. Dobrzynski on Culture

Thelma Golden Adds New Duty To Director’s Role

As if museum directors don’t have enough to do, Thelma Golden — director and chief curator of the Studio Museum in Harlem — has generously decided to be a consultant to artists.

thelmagIt is, of course, an attention-getter (and good for her on that score). Golden plans to hang up a consultant’s shingle at the museum at an event on Feb. 9 for artists living or working in Harlem. For three hours, from noon to 3 p.m., Golden will hold 15-minute meetings with artists — a bit like speed-dating — where she will review their work and assess their talent.

Only ten artists will merit this treatment, and to be one of them, you have to apply, with winners chosen in a lottery. (If you qualify, send your name, home or studio address in Harlem and phone number to holdingcourt@studiomuseum.org by 6pm on Friday, January 31.) “Winners” will be notified by Feb. 4 and asked to bring a resume, 10 images (not originals) and an artist statement.

The event “celebrates the exhibition Radical Presence: Black Performance and Contemporary Art and the Museum’s ongoing commitment to the Harlem arts community,” per the release — the latter I get, and am therefore happy to spread the word.

Would this work at other museums? Some. Will it spread? Somehow, I don’t think so.

 

Day’s Wrap-Up For DIA: Settlement Link To Pensions Is The Key

Michigan governor Rick Snyder made a statement this afternoon affirming, as predicted this morning, a settlement that would probably rescue the DIA, though some details need to be worked out.

detroit-institute-ofAnd it seems that whoever, several weeks back, made the link between saving the museum from selling art and ensuring that pensioners got paid provided the key to the settlement in the legislature. Snyder said — addressing the press in Lansing today (The Detroit News has a video of the occasion, as does the Free Press) that that was a condition, as well as the promise that “the state could not be held liable for future legal claims by retirees.”

As he has said before, the state would pledge $350 million in state funds over 20 years, essentially matching foundation money, to “protect both city retirees and the priceless collection of the Detroit Institute of Arts,” as the Free Press put it.

The DIA issued a statement, saying:

Governor Snyder’s announcement is continued good news for the City of Detroit, its pensioners and the DIA. Support from the Governor and legislative leadership, the foundation community and our supporters underscores the importance of the DIA in building a strong, healthy city and state. We are working hard to play an active and thoughtful role in this ongoing process that will allow for a significant contribution to this effort and ensure long-term support for the City’s pension funds and sustainability for the DIA. While there has been a great deal of speculation as to the DIA’s participation in this effort, the DIA remains focused on continuing conversations with the mediation team, state, county and city officials, our board members, staff and supporters to determine how we can be as productive and supportive as possible in this process, with the ultimate goal of a balanced, achievable solution that provides for strong DIA involvement in this emerging plan and ensures the museum’s ability to meet its immediate budget commitments and long-term endowment needs.

Earlier in the day, various people had criticized the DIA director Graham Beal and Executive Vice President Annmarie Erickson for saying that the museum could not raise the $100 million that was expected as part of the deal (on top of the $300 million they must raise in 10 years for an endowment to replace the tri-county millage currently providing operating funds).

Much of the state’s contributed funds would come from the tobacco settlement state reached with cigarette manufacturers in 1998.

This is what I hoped would happen last month.

Obstacles definitely remain: Snyder said, as the Free Press put it, that the “state’s contribution would be conditional on “independent fiduciary management” of Detroit pension funds. It also would have to be part of a settlement of the bankruptcy that included the unions and retirees and ended court cases.” Also, bankruptcy judge Steven Rhodes has to approve it.

No surprise, Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr (who was appointed by Snyder) is going along, according to the Free Press:

Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr said “we now have an unprecedented commitment of public and private resources to help the City of Detroit fulfill its commitments to retirees and preserve one if its cultural jewels, the Detroit Institute of Arts.”

“The level of proposed investment by the philanthropic community and the state will go far in helping reach a timely and positive resolution of the city’s financial emergency,” Orr said.

Also today, judge Steven Rhodes turned down a request by the city’s creditors for another evaluation of the DIA’s city-owned art; they had complained that the evaluation by Christie’s was too low. And he “raised questions about whether he would even allow the sale of DIA art to settle city debt — while also emphasizing that he had not yet made up his mind on the matter,” the Free Press said.

Bottom line: the conversation re: the DIA has turned the corner, but the museum is not home free. Requiring the DIA to raise $400 million in ten years, plus the money it now raises for operating funds the millage doesn’t cover (in the neighborhood of $7 or 8 million annually if memory serves), could simply kick the museum’s problem down the road.

 

 

Detroit Relief? Deal Said To Be Coming Today

Gov. Rick Snyder of Michigan apparently has his political ducks lined up.

Detroit-Institute-ArtsBoth Detroit newspapers are reporting that Snyder met yesterday with state legislators and reached a bipartisan deal to provide state support to the Detroit Institute of Arts and protect pensioners. But it could still come undone.

The Detroit Free Press said that “The DIA also is widely expected to contribute to the rescue fund,” resurfacing an idea floated last week that the DIA would have to raise $100 million as part of the deal. DIA director Graham Beal has said that was impossible, given the $300 million the museum must raise in the next ten years to increase its endowment for the time when tax revenues from three surrounding counties, voted in in 2012, runs out.

A few details:

Said The Detroit News:

The main proposal under discussion is Snyder’s initial pitch a week ago to commit $350 million over 20 years to a fund to soften the blow to pensioners and protect the Detroit Institute of Arts, said House Speaker Pro Tem John Walsh.

“I haven’t heard anybody asking for more or offering less,” said Walsh, R-Livonia. “They are trying to work toward (a consensus plan) that we can take to our four caucuses and see what a vote might look like.”

Discussions center on how to fund the state’s potential contribution using tobacco settlement money or long-term bonding secured by state funds in the $250 million annual fund from the 1998 settlement with tobacco companies.

The Free Press noted:

As part of the deal, the DIA would be spun-off from city control into an independent nonprofit.

And:

Some lawmakers have said they want greater public access to DIA artwork around the state, and greater state control over how Detroit’s General Retirement System is managed as part of any agreement involving state money.

“I’d like to expose more people to that culture throughout the state,” [Senate Majority Leader Randy] Richardville said last week. “I would cheer that kind of effort.”

Under any deal, “the state is going to have some say-so,” Sen. Mike Kowall, R-White Lake Township, said last week.

So it’s not perfect, but the movement is encouraging.

Don’t Regret Missing “Civilisation” — Not Anymore

KClarke'sCivilisationI never saw Civilisation. But I — and you — can easily access it now on a free website, along with 492 other documentaries about art, and hundreds more about science, history, war, Britain, America and so on.

The site is called DocuWatch, and I have no idea how new or old it is. It was called to my attention today by a Facebook friend, and — considering the snow that is paralyzing much of the Northeast corridor and some other parts of the country, it seemed like to perfect time to share it with RCA readers. Maybe you’ll have Wednesday off.

The landmark BBC series, Kenneth Clark’s Civilisation, which was aired in Britain in 1969  (I don’t know when it ran in the U.S.), is there in 13 episodes (It was remastered in HD in 2011). So is an 18-part art history series, a 36-part series on Italian Renaissance artists, 24 episodes on Impressionism, plus a different series on eight Impressionist artists, two on Hitler’s museum, 10 Sister Wendy’s, Robert Hughes’s The Shock of the New, Who the *$&% Is Jackson Pollock? and much more.

Hundreds of hours of free programming about art! 

Live From Lincoln Center: Jed Bernstein

There’s a new guy running Lincoln Center, as of next Monday: Jed Bernstein takes over from Reynold Levy then, and we should expect some changes – though not necessarily visible ones in the near future.

JBernsteinBernstein, a one-time ad man and Broadway producer who ran the Broadway League for 11 years, totally reinvigorating it, and most recently brought the Buck County Playhouse back to life, won’t be programming. He’ll be managing. Among his top goals is getting the Center’s constituent groups — the Philharmonic, the Metropolitan Opera, the NYC Ballet, etc, — to collaborate more and compete a little less.

He told me this in a recent interview, which I’ve written for the Winter issue of Gotham Magazine.

Bernstein is expected by outsiders to seek more corporate sponsorships, and we discussed some of that. Aside from what is in my article, he said: “There is an opportunity to get into the world of …marketing partnerships…The transaction is marketing-motivated… and it means you have to have something to give in return… I will do an asset inventory. ..find out what are people’s tolerance for it.” One of the “accommodations” that may be necessary, he said, involves “signage.”

I hope he does not follow what the Tate does in the U.K. — see here and here, for example.

Bernstein has fond memories of the way his parents took him as a child to art performances and exhibitions and — this is essential — briefed him on what they were going to see in advance, in discussions. Since, he said, parents no longer fill that role — or maybe some do, but fewer — arts groups  have to do it themselves. “We need to provide people with information about what they’ll see,” he said. 

Bernstein also talked about adjusting the timing of events and concerts, more earlier, like rush hour, and more later, like 10:30, for night owls.

He’s going to be interesting to watch.