Arthur Brand estimates that a work of art in the criminal underworld is worth about 10 percent of its value in the legitimate art market — so if a painting might sell for $10 million at auction, it can be traded among criminals for a value of about $1 million. Octave Durham said the value is even lower than that — about 2.5 to 5 percent of market value. – The New York Times
Author: Douglas McLennan
How The Blanton Museum Repurposed Its Staff And Avoided Layoffs
The maintenance man stopped worrying about paint touchups and HVAC repair and started assisting the development department by drafting thank you notes for donors, making use of his beautiful handwriting. Security guards were redeployed to add “alt text,” or descriptions for the visually impaired, to images on the museum website. Art handlers and event planners have been doing collection research about the museum’s lesser-known artists. – Artnet
The Last Of Paul Allen’s Arts Projects (Museums, A Theatre, Etc) To Lose Support
Many of the projects under Vulcan’s Arts + Entertainment division stemmed from Vulcan co-founder Paul Allen’s personal interests, and served as showplaces for his collections: his movie costumes and memorabilia at Cinerama; his vintage computer collection at the Living Computers: Museum + Labs; and his military aircraft, vehicles and artifacts at the Flying Heritage & Combat Armor Museum. – Seattle Times
How To Reopen Your Museum? Here’s What To Think About
The prospect of reopening under the current circumstances also raises vexing strategic dilemmas. In recent years, museums have developed a sophisticated understanding of the many barriers to entry they inadvertently create, and how to overcome them, in order to pursue agendas informed by equity and social justice. No one wishes to raise additional barriers now. But visiting museums will inevitably become more difficult, not less, for the foreseeable future, and this will affect some visitors more than others. – Artnet
How To Make A Theatre Season More Flexible? Here’s One Version
Exact performance dates will be announced for each offering throughout the year, along with such “details” as venue (Writers has two stages), and the names of the full casts and creative teams. In addition, patrons are advised, according to the theater’s press release, that “some titles and artists may change as the production schedule shifts for reasons of health and safety.” – WTTW
The Power Of Science And The Challenge Of Trust
Today, scientists are grappling with the problem of model uncertainty, as seen in areas like climate and medicine. These questions are increasingly challenging the basis of modern scientific knowledge itself, which is defined by a combination of mathematics and observation. – American Affairs Journal
Playwright And AIDS Activist Larry Kramer, 84
An author, essayist and playwright — notably hailed for his autobiographical 1985 play, “The Normal Heart” — Mr. Kramer had feet in both the world of letters and the public sphere. In 1981 he was a founder of the Gay Men’s Health Crisis, the first service organization for H.I.V.-positive people, though his fellow directors effectively kicked him out a year later for his aggressive approach. (He returned the compliment by calling them “a sad organization of sissies.”) – The New York Times
Do We Need A Different Way Of Categorizing Books?
A category only exists in relation to other categories, similarly constituted. You would need to establish a number of other clearly defined hierarchies of value, or centers of interest, generating distinct, or at least recognizable, types of plot and character interaction. For example, stories in which good and evil are absolute, not subordinated to the community, which in this case would matter only in so far as it fosters goodness, not vice versa. – New York Review of Books
COVID Upside: HUGE Increase In Consumption Of Online Arts
The huge numbers reported in watching and listening to streaming performances are in stark contrast with “decades of dire warnings and disheartening statistics about shrinking classical audiences — because of aging patrons, changing tastes, and more competition for the entertainment dollar.” – San Francisco Classical Voice
A Golden Age For Male Dancers
Why this wealth of talent has arrived right now isn’t easy to pinpoint, but they definitely spur each other on. There’s healthy competition – ballet boys can’t resist a pirouette-off; Corrales’ record is “at least 15” – but they all talk about how secure they feel because each dancer is very different. – The Guardian