“The Pew Charitable Trusts, one of the nation’s largest foundations, is taking steps to separate itself from Glenmede Trust Co., the money-management firm created in 1956 to administer the Pew family’s fortune and its charities.” The move is largely a financial decision, allowing the Pew to become a full-fledged non-profit corporation, creating a significant tax savings. Glenmede would continue to administer the Pew’s multiple trusts, but would no longer employ the Pew’s staff.
Blog
Booking Space At Ground Zero
“More than 10 well-known New York arts and cultural institutions are working on plans to be part of the new center that will be built at Ground Zero. The proposals, from institutions ranging from off-Broadway theaters to museums, are in response to the Lower Manhattan Development Corp.’s recent request for formal expressions of interest from cultural groups that wish to be part of the site.” Among the groups which have already declared their wishes to relocate to the site are the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, New York City Opera, and the Joyce Theater.
Iran’s Precocious Filmmaker
America may have more child stars than we know what to do with, but the film capital of the world has never produced what Iran has: a 14-year-old director whose first feature film is entered in the Venice Film Festival. “Hana Makhmalbaf comes from Iran’s most successful film family… Her first full-length film, Joy of Madness, will compete for the 100,000 euro [$115,000] prize for best debut. It is a documentary about her sister, Samira Makhmalbaf, making her latest film in Afghanistan, and has been chosen for the festival’s critics’ week.” Samira is no stranger to publicity, either, having competed for the top prize at Cannes at the age of 20.
The Man Who Painted San Quentin
It’s the last place you would expect to find serious art. But inside the dining hall at San Quentin State Prison in California sit “four epic murals… depicting California history from the building of the railroads to the post-World War II industrial boom… The astonishing sophistication of the work — imbued with leftist political imagery extolling working-class virtues at a time when McCarthyism was rampant — has for years been a source of intrigue to the few art historians and others familiar with the murals.” This month, the single ex-convict responsible for the murals will be welcomed back to San Quentin as an invited guest. His name is Alfredo Santos. He hasn’t seen his work in nearly fifty years.
Navel-Gazing: Not Just For American Writers Anymore
If every generation has a hallmark literary style, Generation X has certainly laid claim to the autobiographical essay. But the all-about-me style is not just an American phenomenon. A new generation of German writers are making a name for themselves with a similar style. “World War II and the Holocaust are no longer the dominant themes in these existential tales by the young writers. Instead, they are writing about the role of the artist after the fall of the wall, the life of the immigrant and, obsessively it seems, about the elusive nature of happiness. Some wonder if fiction should not have a longer memory.”
Getting Their Money’s Worth?
So now, the UK’s National Gallery is free to pursue the purchase of the Duke of Northumberland’s Raphael canvas. But was one painting really worth all the fuss, not to mention the £11.5 million the government doled out? The Guardian’s arts editor says yes, calling the painting “a spellbinding masterpiece with all the concentrated beauty of a miniature, coupled with the grandeur of a major Renaissance painting.” But the head of the National Art Collections Fund thinks it absurd to be spending such a wad of cash on “a piece of flagship culture,” especially one which has no specific relevance to Great Britain, and particularly when the National Gallery already owns eight other canvases by the same artist.
Savvy Art Deal Or Aristocratic Blackmail?
There’s little doubt as to the identity of the storybook villain in the battle to keep Raphael’s 9-inch square painting in the UK. The Duke of Northumberland, one of the richest landowners in Britain, has positively cleaned up on the deal, and, by playing the Getty Museum against the UK’s Heritage Lottery, he assured himself of a fat payday regardless of who won the ownership battle. For his part, the Duke has “denied that the cash will be used to pay for a £9 million Italianate garden his wife is designing at Alnwick as a part of what he calls a ‘public regeneration project’. Nor he insists, did he renege on a family agreement to give the gallery the first option to buy the Raphael.”
Teachers Strike Met Opera
“About 30 teaching artists employed by Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts’ Metropolitan Opera Guild went on strike Tuesday, demanding pension and health benefits.” The teaching artists train classroom teachers in opera education, and also teach children about the genre. They are seeking to have their status at the Met upgraded from independent contractors to full employees, an issue they say that Met Opera officials have refused even to discuss. They also wish to be represented by the American Federation of Musicians union local, a right granted to many other Lincoln Center employees.
How To Keep A Painting In Your Country
It is now all but certain that Raphael’s Madonna of the Pinks will be saved from the horrific fate of being exported out of Great Britain. But before the bidding war began, what options did UK officials have when the Duke of Northumberland first started talking about selling the Raphael to the Getty Museum? The answer is more complicated than you might think.
The Me(moir) Generation
Is there anyone left who hasn’t written their memoirs? Autobiography is a time-honored literary tradition, but lately, it seems as if anyone and everyone believes that their own life is so fascinating that the world cannot survive another minute without having it committed to paper. Linton Weeks is not a big fan of the trend: “I feel that the memoir is the genre of our generations. The Me Decades are stretching out into the Memoir Millennium. The I’s have it.”