“The Victoria & Albert museum in London will open its £30 million Medieval and Renaissance galleries as planned next year, its director has announced. Ten galleries, occupying an entire wing of the South Kensington landmark, will open in November 2009, said Mark Jones.”
Author: Laura Collins Hughes
After Pockmarked Big Bird, WGBH Sues Over ‘Digital Mural’
“First of its kind in the region, the state-of-the-art display covering the western wall of the new WGBH headquarters debuted amid fanfare last year, when it began beaming an ever-changing array of images … to the half-a-million Boston-bound motorists who pass by it each week on the Massachusetts Turnpike.” But the screen, “marred by dark spots,” was turned off in June, and WGBH is suing the maker of its “digital mural.”
Some Foundation Officials Keep Their Eyes Off Asset Levels
For now, that is. “Why officials are willing to avoid obsessive worrying can be attributed to the way formal grantmaking is calculated. Though assets and endowments determine the level of giving, endowment size is generally determined by taking a multiyear average. Such averaging – which is based on an endowment’s market value on a specific date, such as the end of the third or fourth fiscal quarter – tends to ‘smooth out’ market highs and lows….”
If You Build A Book Fair, Writers (And Readers) Will Come
The Miami International Book Fair, the nation’s oldest, was started 25 years ago — in part to counter Miami’s lack of reputation as a literary town.
How To Market A Dead Author
“The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is an unlikely best-seller — it’s the first book in a trilogy of thrillers written by Stieg Larsson, a previously unknown Swedish journalist who died of a heart attack in 2004. Knopf Editor-in-Chief ‘Sonny’ Mehta, who snapped up the rights to the thrillers, says he was attracted to the ‘absolute ambition’ of the trilogy. … Still, the fact that the trilogy’s author is dead complicated things.”
S.F. May Limit Exec Salaries At City-Funded Nonprofits
“As compensation for executives of large corporations has come under scrutiny nationwide, San Francisco lawmakers are considering a proposal to limit the salaries of executives at nonprofit organizations that receive city funds. The proposal by Supervisor Jake McGoldrick seeks to limit salaries and benefits for executives to six times the total compensation of their lowest-paid full-time employee.”
Social Networking Could Be TV’s Next Big Thing
“As television audiences migrate online, media companies are eyeing social networking as a possible killer app for hooking viewers through their laptops. From simple chat rooms to unique games, the race is on to develop content that complements traditional shows — the more creative and addictive the better.”
NEH Chairman Cole To Step Down In January
“Bruce Cole, the chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities for the past seven years, announced yesterday he is leaving in January to join the American Revolution Center in Valley Forge, Pa. His departure gives the incoming administration of Barack Obama the opportunity to name the heads of both national endowments.”
Smithsonian Nurtures Native American Composers
“For the last three years, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian has been mounting one of the more adventurous concert series in town, showcasing new classical music by Native American composers. Admit it — you didn’t know there was such stuff.”
SoHo Mural Needs Restoration (And Maybe A Cat Upgrade)
“Using only oil paint, the artist Richard J. Haas created an entire cast-iron facade in SoHo more than 30 years ago. Ever since, his five-story trompe l’oeil mural at 114 Prince Street, near Greene Street, has beguiled so many people that it might be thought of as New York’s first big two-dimensional architectural landmark. … Today, however, … Mr. Haas’s mural stands defaced, its entire second-story base covered by tags.”