Topical Musicals Reach Critical Mass At Edinburgh Fringe

“Alzheimer’s, 9/11, Asbos, the Yorkshire Ripper, the ‘war on terror’, the apocalypse – there’s no shortage of provocative topics on the Edinburgh Fringe this year. The extraordinary thing is they are all being tackled in musicals. It’s striking that song-and-dance extravaganzas can be staged out of such sensitive subjects. How did a ‘low’ artform get so grown-up?”

How Much Is That Plane Ticket To New York?

Broadway junkies just can’t seem to get a proper fix in the Twin Cities. “There’s much to brag about in local theater, from the reported number of seats sold to the fact that we have three Tony-winning regional playhouses in Minneapolis: the Guthrie, which is completing its $125 million, three-stage complex on the Mississippi River; the Children’s Theatre, which will soon unveil its own $24 million expansion, and Theatre de la Jeune Lune, whose inventive creations have drawn a growing international following. But the upcoming seasons in Minneapolis and St. Paul, each without a pre-Broadway show or buzz-heavy blockbuster, make us look as if we are in the sticks.”

Native Americans In Venice: Progress Or Tokenism?

“The Venice Biennale is the world’s oldest and most important survey of contemporary art. When artists have been chosen for the Biennale, you know they’ve truly arrived. This year, two native North Americans had prominent spots in the exhibition. Does this mean that native art in general has reached a new level of art-world recognition? Or is it a fluke, or even the kind of tokenism that could disappear again?”

Beneath The Radar, Collecting Inexpensively

At San Francisco’s Lost Art, the experience of buying art is deliberately “anti-gallery”: unintimidating and — gasp — affordable. “There are no pristine white walls or fancy track lighting. Instead, framed paintings by unknown artists and others on the cusp of stardom occupy nearly every inch of available wall space in the cozy salon, which is dolled up with midcentury furnishings to feel more like some cool bohemian aunt’s living room than a place of business.”

LACMA Keeps Eyes Peeled For Ice Age

“Much of the public discussion surrounding an upcoming expansion of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s mid-Wilshire campus has been about money. So far, not much has been said about fossils. In March, the museum announced it had raised $156 million, enough for a first phase of construction — a turning point for LACMA, which had to abandon an earlier, more sweeping plan as too expensive. But now, as the campus readies for new construction, the issue is pre-history: The 23-acre Hancock Park property, which includes LACMA and the county-owned Page Museum at La Brea Tar Pits, contains one of the richest Ice Age fossil sites in North America.”

Expanded Huntington Feels Newly Vibrant Yet Familiar

Things are both changing and staying (mostly) the same at the Huntington Library, Art Collections and Botanical Gardens, where several new spaces are transforming visitors’ experience of the institution. “I am extremely keen that people shouldn’t think the Huntington has only two paintings, (Lawrence’s) ‘Pinkie’ and (Gainsborough’s) ‘The Blue Boy,'” said John Murdoch, director of art collections at the Huntington. “There is a terrible danger if you’ve got world-famous paintings that people will say, ‘I’ve seen that. I don’t need to go there again.'”

You Get Part Of The Painting This Year, Part Next year…

Since the American federal tax law changed in 1969, arts institutions can benefit enormously from fractional giving. “And donors like it because they can spread their tax write-offs over a longer period of time while also continuing to enjoy the artwork. The museum and donor sign an agreement called a deed of gift.” The donor reaps write-offs while gradually giving small percentages of paintings and other art objects to a museum, which eventually takes ownership of the artwork.”