A scandal may be brewing over a well-intentioned exchange program between the Louvre and two leading American museums, Chicago’s Terra and Atlanta’s High. Under the proposed plan, all three museums would loan some art across the pond, and American corporate sponsors would pay part of the cost of refurbishing some of the government-owned Louvre’s galleries. And therein lies the problem: “Many in France’s cultural establishment have what might be called an ideological distaste for linking public art and private money. And while in practice French museums routinely seek corporate sponsorship for exhibitions, anything approaching the American model of privately-financed culture sets off alarm bells.”
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Walker Expansion Draws Praise, But Not People
It’s been a year since Minneapolis’s Walker Art Center opened its massive addition to the public, and the museum has gotten great press and serious local buzz ever since. Donations are also up, but the uptick in attendance the Walker had hoped for hasn’t materialized. “The figures for the first post-expansion year are somewhat unexpected since museums often see a substantial upswing in visitors when they open a new wing, especially when it is designed by a high-profile firm such as Herzog & de Meuron.”
9/11 Films: Ready Or Not, Here They Come
“As the nation nears the fifth anniversary of the terrorist attacks, a growing debate is emerging in Internet chat rooms and elsewhere over Hollywood’s decision to tackle elements of that day in “United 93,” set for release April 28, and Oliver Stone’s planned August release of “World Trade Center”… The key points of contention: whether the films are coming too soon for a nation still trying to sort out its emotions and whether Hollywood is guilty of callousness in using victims’ stories for studio gain. Yet both movies were produced with the help and support of those most closely affected, suggesting that the families of those who died that day could be farther along the healing path than some of the rest of the nation.”
Toronto’s Unlikely Arts Veterans
Leading a cultural institution is one of the more challenging jobs a person can take on, which is why many don’t last very long in the role. “Fifteen years ago, both Peter Simon and Robert Sirman took on jobs that probably only enemies would have wished on them, so daunting were the prospects for success. On paper, the jobs sounded prestigious, top-of-the-line — in Simon’s case, the presidency of the Royal Conservatory of Music, in Sirman’s the administrative directorship of the National Ballet School of Canada, each based in the heart of the country’s largest city. But beneath the fancy-pants titles were organizations in deep trouble.” Somehow, both men are still in place, and both organizations are now models of cultural success.
Toronto To Refurbish Old Venues
Hot on the heels of some very high-profile cultural development projects which have been completed in the last year, Toronto is now making public plans to renovate and update three of the city’s oldest, dowdiest venues: The Hummingbird Centre, the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts and Massey Hall.
Canadian TV’s New Anti-Bureaucrat
“Entertainment-industry veteran Dave Forget has been appointed Telefilm Canada’s newly minted go-to and fix-it man for national television. As the federal funding agency’s first director of Telefilm’s Television Business Unit, the 45-year-old Forget will be the main point man/overseer of the millions handed out annually through the Canadian Television Fund. His appointment is part of an effort by the CTF and Telefilm to cement a union that started a year ago to become a one-administration funder for TV and film projects — a move designed to get rid of the red tape that has frustrated producers and broadcasters for decades.”
Da Vinci Excerpts To Go On Display – Good Luck Seeing ‘Em
A selection of drawings, sketches, and jottings from the notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci will go on display for the first time this fall at London’s Victoria & Albert Museum. “The display of these small, delicate, detailed works will present a challenge to the V&A, which expects up to 150,000 visitors in a year of unprecedented interest in Leonardo.”
Who’s Afraid Of A Film Shoot?
The film adaptation of Edward Albee’s classic play, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, has become a classic in its own right. But 40 years ago, when filming began, not everyone was thrilled about the production, particularly some alumni of New England’s Smith College, where much of the movie was shot.
Grading Museums On A Curve
The shortlist is out for the 2006 Gulbenkian Prize, which honors Britain’s best museum of the year, and one of the judges says that the experience has been eye-opening. “There are so many different museums that sometimes it’s like comparing oranges with apples. And yet, when you get the measure of a place, there are a few magic ingredients. Top of the list is the sort of enthusiasm that’s catching: an enthusiasm that means you turn up somewhere knowing little about a subject, and leave feeling inspired by it. Beyond that, there are things like how welcoming a place is; how easy it is to access information; how much sense the layout makes; in a nutshell, how user-friendly it is.”
The For-Profit Jesus
This Sunday is Easter, of course, and even if you’re not particularly religious (or Christian,) odds are good you’ll have trouble avoiding Jesus this weekend. In fact, Christianity is not only on the rise in the U.S., it’s taking over the bestseller lists. That’s fine for the fiction list, but “over on the nonfiction list, the laughable ‘Jesus Papers’ debuts at the No. 5 spot. ‘Misquoting Jesus,’ a proto-academic howler, ranks No. 8, followed by the conversational ‘Home With God’ at No. 10, and Garry Wills’s ‘What Jesus Meant’ at No. 16.” Alex Beam sees a trend emerging, and it isn’t nearly so much about religious piety as it is about a cynical attempt to make millions off of gullible readers who will buy anything with the word Jesus on the cover.