What does Andrea Rich’s sudden retirement running the LA County Museum mean? “Everybody is trying to put the best face on the sudden “retirement.” LACMA still has tens of millions of dollars to raise for construction and endowment in its multiphase expansion plan, and now there are two big jobs to be filled, not just one. (Perhaps the nascent deputy will be promoted.) For that, unfortunately, LACMA will have to go to the back of a lengthy line; major director searches are already underway at heavy-hitters such as the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Cleveland Art Museum and the Minneapolis Art Institute. But what ended badly, started badly. The vacuum in professional conscience from both the boardroom (expected) and the director’s suite (unexpected) means LACMA has been a rudderless ship for longer than a decade.
Tag: 04.05.05
Christie’s Expands To Middle East
Christie’s is trying to tap into a wealthy Middle East market. “London-based Christie’s, which had auction sales of $2.5 billion last year, will open as many as four offices in the Middle East during the next five years, starting with Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.”
If They Call It Art, Is It Still Stripping?
Idaho law prohibits nude dancing unless it’s part of a performance with “serious artistic merit.” So an adult club “tried to beat the ordinance by distributing pencils and sketch pads to patrons during special twice-weekly ‘art nights,’ when the dancers performed nude.” Police didn’t buy the scheme and raided the place this week…
Alberta At Bottom In Arts Spending
A new study says that Alberta ranks last in Canadian provinces in spending on the arts. “Data from 2002-2003 — the most recent year available “– show the arts in this province receive 160-dollars per person. The national average is 236-dollars.”
Being Nice To The Big Bookers
Any theatre producer will tell you that the key to great sales is getting those people who book big groups to buy the tickets. Though The Lion King is a big world-wide hit, Australian producers are taking no chances as the show comes Down Under. Disney Australia chartered a plane and invited 216 big bookers from Victoria to come along. The hope is they’ll go back home and sell the show.
And The Scan Says: I Trust You
Scientists say they can use a brain scanner to tell whether one person trusts another person. “The results suggest that a brain region called the caudate nucleus lights up when it receives or computes data to make decisions based on trust.”
FCC Chairman To Cable Nets: Clean Up Programming
Kevin Martin, new chairman of the FCC, used the opportunity of his first major speech to tell cable TV execs to clean up their programming. “I think what you’re seeing is an environment in which consumers and parents are increasingly concerned. I think this is an opportunity for the cable industry to try to address it, not just speak to me but to speak to the consumers and parents.”
Are Discs Dead?
“Over the past decade, consumers have purchased well over 10 billion CDs and DVDs. And if you believe the electronics makers, optical discs are now entering their golden age. In the coming months, you’re going to hear a lot about two new disc technologies, Blu-ray and HD-DVD, and the powerful coalitions that aim to bring them to market.” But guess what? Neither format is going to be a hit. Why? It’s all online, baby…
The Bocelli Phenomenon
“No one can deny that he’s successful: Bocelli has sold about 45 million recordings worldwide, and maintains a permanent address on Billboard magazine’s top-classical-artists chart. Like all big stars, he’s become an industry, slickly packaged and watched over by agents, recording executives and concert promoters. His image is carefully managed: Any journalist who would interview him is advised by his handlers not to ask about his blindness or his personal life. In other words, there will be no questions about the loss of his eyesight to glaucoma at the age of 12, or about his divorce in 2001 from his wife, Enrica.”
Video Finds The Book Biz
“With the advent of services like VidLit, which produces short, humorous, animated Flash films about books, authors have a new way to reach online readers. Because of the viral quality of online videos, some writers are finding success at the end of the broadband pipe…”