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“Modern Dance Groups to Get Hurricane Sandy Aid.” By Daniel J. Wakin. New York Times. December 25, 2012. Among the huge outpouring of relief for damages from Hurricane Sandy nearly two months after it hit, a modest effort is on the horizon for the shoestring but vibrant world of modern dance in New York City. Starting in early January checks from $1,000 to $5,000 will go out to companies, choreographers and theaters knocked back on their heels by the destruction and flooding. Dance/NYC, which provides support for troupes in the city and is a branch of the national dance service organization Dance/USA, is distributing the funds to those that can demonstrate some sort of loss, even if outlined in a general way. The most tangible kinds of need are damaged sets, like the ones designed by Isamu Noguchi for Martha Graham and her company that were submerged in the basement of Westbeth, the downtown artists complex. But companies can also ask for money to cover unpaid fees to performers because of storm-related cancellations, extra travel expenses when artists were stranded outside New York or lost ticket revenue for companies or rental fees at theaters. The Mertz Gilmore Foundation is providing $200,000 toward for the grants, which are being awarded, first come first served. The foundation is a major source of money for choreographers and dance companies in New York and was named after the philanthropic couple Robert Gilmore and Joyce Mertz — Joyce, as in the Joyce Theater, a major dance performance space. Lane Harwell, Dance/NYC’s director, said about 40 applications have come in so far. Candidates include Brighton Ballet Theater, Dance New Amsterdam, Flamenco Latino, the Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance, the Paul Taylor Dance Foundation, Streb, the Kitchen and Thin Man Dance, according to Dance/NYC records. The inclusion of high-profile names like Taylor, Graham and Streb and the small sums being made available point to the precarious financial condition of contemporary-dance groups, which still manage to survive through economic ups and downs.
“Youth orchestra opens up new world for participants; What began as a free five-week program in June has continued. Many of the young musicians had never picked up an instrument or heard classical music.”

“Settlement May Deplete Folk Museum.” By Pia Catton. Wall Street Journal. December 26, 2012. The American Folk Art Museum in Manhattan may have to relinquish more than 200 artworks that were intended for its collection, the museum said Wednesday.The works were “promised gifts”—able to be exhibited by the museum, though not yet in its legal possession—from the collection of Ralph Esmerian, the former jewelry dealer who last year was sentenced to a six-year prison term on wire fraud and other charges. Mr. Esmerian, who owned the high-end jeweler Fred Leighton, had sold items that he pledged as collateral, which was used to partially secure $210 million in loans. A longtime collector of folk art and a benefactor of the Folk Art Museum, Mr. Esmerian had promised 263 works to its collection. In an effort to settle bankruptcy claims, the trustee for the case and the museum negotiated a settlement in which the museum would keep 53 of the 263 promised gifts. On Wednesday, the trustee filed a motion in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York to approve the settlement. A call to the trustee was not returned. Museum officials were able to choose which items were of high priority, according to spokeswoman Barbara Livenstein. The remainder—in many cases repeated examples of the same genre or media—are likely to be sold at auction, according to a statement released by the museum. If the settlement is approved, the museum will be able to keep items like the 1848 painting “Situation of America,” which is currently on view in the museum’s exhibition at the South Street Seaport Museum. High-quality examples of folk art genres such as needlework, fraktur (handwritten manuscripts) and scrimshaw, as well as portraits and sculptures, will also be retained. The rescinding of promised gifts to nonprofits is rare, said Melissa Berman, president of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors. “It can occur if someone makes a pledge for future payments and then the market collapses. There were examples of that during the financial meltdown,” she said. “Extenuating circumstances can occur, but by and large, this is unusual.”

ARTS & CULTURE

“Illinois: Field Museum Cuts Back.” No by-line. New York Times/Associated Press. December 19, 2012. The Field Museum in Chicago, a center of global scientific research, has announced plans to cut staff, overhaul operations and limit its research because of a high debt and the recession. The natural history museum may also change operating hours and increase admission prices to special exhibits, museum officials said Tuesday. The museum is known for its research into plants and animals and impressive collections, including Sue, the world’s largest and best-preserved Tyrannosaurus rex. Officials said they hoped to cut $5 million in costs and increase the museum’s endowment by $100 million. The Field’s president and chief executive, Richard Lariviere, said it has more $170 million in outstanding bonds.

“Struggling to attract visitors, historic houses may face day of reckoning.” By J. Freedom du Lac. Washington Post. December 22, 2012. The hilltop mansion at Berkeley Plantation has a sweeping view of American history, if you’re still into that sort of thing. English colonists settled the land along the James River a year before Plymouth and held one of the earliest recorded Thanksgiving celebrations there. The three-story Georgian home, built by the Harrison family in 1726, was the birthplace of a U.S. president and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Taps was even composed at Berkeley 150 years ago during the Civil War, when Union soldiers used it as a base. There is, then, an abundance of history at the home. Visitors, however, aren’t so plentiful anymore. Mirroring what’s happening to other historic house museums across the country, attendance is down 20 percent over the past five years at Berkeley Plantation, according to the national historic landmark’s private owner. The situation, he said, is bad and getting worse. “We’re scrambling right now,” said Malcolm Jamieson, whose late father personally restored the property, about 30 miles west of Williamsburg, then opened it to public tours several decades ago. “I think about the problem all the time. But I don’t know what to do.” Most house museums rely on admissions, gift-shop revenue and donations to cover operating expenses. A few have substantial endowments or receive government funding.

“Oakland Zoo celebrates donation.” By Benny Evangelista. San Francisco Chronicle. December 22, 2012. A month after failing to convince voters to pass a parcel tax, the Oakland Zoo last week received a welcome surprise in the mail – a check for $1 million from an anonymous donor. “It wasn’t just a letter saying we’re going to get a million dollars, it was a letter and a check for a million dollars,” said Emma Lee Twitchell, the zoo’s director of development. The check arrived Monday from the San Francisco Foundation’s Serendipity Fund. The donor wished to remain out of the spotlight, only indicating the funds should be used for general purposes at the zoo. Zoo officials don’t have any good guesses about who the donor might be, Twitchell said. “Someone has reason to believe we’re doing a good job and we appreciate the vote of confidence,” she said. The zoo announced the donation on Friday after checking with the donor through the philanthropic foundation, hoping the news might prod other potential benefactors to follow the lead.

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“New Museum Really Adds Up.” By Jennifer Maloney. Wall Street Journal. December 12, 2012. Most people rarely use the words “mathematics” and “fun” in the same sentence, but Glen Whitney thinks he’s come up with a formula to change that. Mr. Whitney, a mathematician and former hedge-fund algorithm manager, is getting ready to unveil the sum of his past four years’ work: a museum devoted to math. It’s a romp through the unexpected quirks of mathematics, with exhibits designed to turn math into play. “You discover things that are beautiful and surprising,” Mr. Whitney said. “Youdiscover extraordinary things.” The National Museum of Mathematics, nicknamed MoMath, is scheduled to open Saturday on East 26th Street facing Madison Square Park. On a recent afternoon, construction workers and museum staff were racing to ready the facility. It’s a museum designed to surprise. Tricycles will roll on square wheels across a scalloped surface. Clear plastic cubes, when held just so in a curtain of laser light, will reveal hexagonal cross-sections. And little cars on a movable racetrack will reach their destinations faster on routes that aren’t straight. Many of the activities will allow visitors, through simple tinkering, to discover a shape or a pattern that may never have been seen before. Mr. Whitney, who is 43, sees math everywhere. He studied math at Harvard, then earned a Ph.D. in mathematical logic from UCLA. He began his career teaching at the University of Michigan, and in 1997 joined the hedge fund management company Renaissance Technologies as a quantitative analyst. He quit in 2008 and raised $22 million to create the museum, striking a chord particularly with donors, he said, “who owe at least part of their success to mathematics.”

“Met Opera Raises $100 Million in Bond Sale.” New York Times. December 14, 2012. [For story, go to Finance].

ARTS & CULTURE

“Nuts for ‘The Nutcracker’; The ballet’s not just a holiday mainstay, it’s plum cash no dance company can live without.” By Theresa Agovino. Crains New York Business. December 2, 2012. Black Friday not only kicks off the start of the holiday shopping season, it also marks the beginning of the annual run of The Nutcracker at the New York City Ballet. And it turns out that discounted cashmere sweaters and sugarplum fairies have much in common: They are both cash cows. Just as retailers count on holiday shoppers for a big chunk of their annual sales, the ballet company generates 45% of its yearly revenue, or about $12 million, from the extravaganza. “It is very important to us,” said Katherine Brown, executive director of the New York City Ballet. “I just couldn’t imagine us not doing it.” The Lincoln Center-based dance company’s version is without question the city’s most lavish rendition of the classic tale, with more than 120 performers sashaying across the David H. Koch Theater stage during the fantasy that’s famous for a Christmas tree that grows onstage. But it’s far from the only one. In fact, it’s one of 22 productions in the city this year, up from 17 last year and 14 in 2010, according to the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. The ballet’s proven popularity packs houses large and small, so theater and dance companies of all sizes have been creating their own versions to bring in audiences, in the hopes of raising revenue that can help sustain them during the year.

“National Geographic’s auction of images fetches $3.8 million.” No by-line. Washington Post. December 7, 2012. Twenty-five thousand dollars is nothing to sneeze at, but it’s quite sneezable at Christie’s, for this auction, for this particular photograph. The bids whoosh through the twenties, thirties, forties, eighties. “I must rush you now,” Andrew McVinish gently informs a prospective buyer stuck at the pesky number of $122,000. “There it rests. Now’s the time.” Only when the flying numbers surpass $130,000 does McVinish remind everyone: “I did say this was an important photograph. ”It is the photograph of photographs of photographs. The ragged red scarf, the scissors-sharp green eyes, the hungry, hunted, haunted beauty. “Afghan Girl,” taken by Steve McCurry, appeared on the cover of National Geographic in 1985, and you saw it and you remembered. On Thursday afternoon, it was for sale. A lot of it was, which is to say a small portion of it was. Specifically, 232 lots from the National Geographic Society’s 11.5 million-image archive were put up for bid in the society’s first auction in its 125-year history. The event was held in New York, but it — like everything else now — was live-streamed online for anthropoli-geeks around the globe. One hears this number and one thinks: Fire sale? Desperate measures? Why is National Geographic auctioning off some of its best stuff? But no. Maura Mulvihill, director of the National Geographic Image Collection, says finances were “not at all” a factor in the decision to hold the auction. “The idea came about as a way to celebrate our legacy,” Mulvihill says, and to connect the public with memorable images from the organization’s history. Along with the Smithsonians, National Geographic has become the Washington institution most synonymous with preservation — with, as Mulvihill says, “building a visual history of the world.” The proceeds will go toward preserving the archives and to supporting emerging photographers and artists. National Geographic retains the rights to publish the images, even if it doesn’t own the physical objects.

“Dallas Museum of Art Will Eliminate Entrance Fee.” By Carol Vogel. New York Times. December 7, 2012. Taking a page from government-supported museums in England, the Dallas Museum of Art is dispensing with its $10 general admissions charge. Starting on Jan. 21st, admission will be free though, like in museums in London including the Tate and the National Gallery, there will be a charge for special exhibitions. “We’re a public institution supported by the taxpayers of Dallas,’’ Maxwell L. Anderson, director of the museum, told The Dallas News. “And many of those tax payers don’t have the income to toss around for cultural endeavors. They’ve got to pay the bills, keep the kids clothed. They have serious issues. And I don’t want an admission fee to be an obstacle for them.’’ Mr. Anderson, who came to Dallas in January, is repeating what he did as director of the Indianapolis Museum of Art, which he ran from 2006 through 2010. Attendance more than doubled there after the admission fee was dropped.

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“New York’s Met museum sued over ‘recommended’ $25 admission fee.” By Philip Boroff. Independent/Bloomberg News. November 28, 2012. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York faces the possibility of tens of millions of dollars in lost revenue if a lawsuit over its allegedly misleading admissions policy succeeds. The museum’s “recommended” admission charges violate the terms of its lease with the city, according to a complaint filed on Nov. 14 in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan. “The Met is as much the property of citizens as the trustees who manage the art inside,” Theodore Grunewald, a trained architect and one of the suit’s plaintiffs, said in an interview. “The Met has engaged in deceptive practices.” Harold Holzer, a Met spokesman, called the suit frivolous because the city approved the Met’s policy. “I don’t know what this brouhaha is all about,” Holzer said. Admission and membership fees totaled $64.8 million in the year ending in June 2012 — more than a quarter of operating revenue — according to the Met’s annual report. The museum recommends on signs above admissions desks that visitors pay $25 to enter, or $17 for those 65 or older and $12 for students. The Met sells advanced tickets on its website for the full “recommended” charge. It still accepts as little as a penny at museum ticket booths.

“In Texas, Another Skirmish Brews at the Alamo.” By Manny Fernandez. New York Times. November 30, 2012. As the saying goes, Texans remember the Alamo. But one unlikely group is coming under renewed criticism for appearing to forget it — the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, the patriotic women’s group that has been the caretaker of the revered site in San Antonio for more than 100 years. The group’s 2007 master plan for the Alamo budgeted about $10 million to expand the organization’s library at the Alamo complex, but historic preservation of the Alamo itself was allocated a smaller sum: $1.6 million. The group’s Alamo budgets for the 2006 through 2009 fiscal years showed only $350 allocated for preservation-related projects each year. The organization’s failure to make the Alamo’s preservation a priority was one of several findings in a recently released report by the state attorney general’s office. The investigation of the nonprofit group, whose members are descendants of Texas pioneers, found that they failed to properly maintain the Alamo, misused state money for the organization’s benefit and hid the depths of the group’s financial distress from the Texas Legislature. The Daughters, as they are known, have been criticized in recent years after allegations of mismanagement at the Alamo. In response, Texas lawmakers voted last year to transfer custody of the Alamo to the state’s General Land Office. But the group continues to operate and manage the Alamo under a state contract, overseen by the land office. The investigation, by Attorney General Greg Abbott’s office, was documented in a report released Nov. 20 and could jeopardize the group’s contract with the state that is up for renewal next year.

ARTS & CULTURE

“Culver City’s Cold War museum is hoping for a victory; Wende Museum is negotiating with Culver City to lease the closed National Guard Armory to hold its massive collection of Cold War artifacts, which has a growing audience.” By Andrew Khouri. Los Angeles Times. November 11, 2012. In the corner of a drab Culver City business park, nestled inside a gray two-story building, treasures from the Cold War lie waiting for the historically curious. But times may be about to change. To accommodate a growing interest and collection, the museum has been negotiating to lease Culver City’s closed National Guard Armory — just a stroll from downtown’s restaurant hub. Three years ago, the decade-old museum joined with street artists to assemble a synthetic wall across Wilshire Boulevard, and then invited Angelenos to tear it down. That event — marking the 20th anniversary of the Berlin Wall’s demise — brought media attention and broadened the museum’s fan base to more than a constituency of professors, graduate students and historians, Wende Executive Director Justinian Jampol said. The Wende has run out of space. Its medley of Cold War artifacts is spread among three locations in Los Angeles County and one in Berlin. Less than 1% of its more than 100,000 artifacts are available for public viewing at a time, Jampol said. The empty armory is “a Cold War building,” said Mayor Andy Weissman, “so it’s sort of ideal for a Cold War museum. But it also has a number of Cold War elements and Cold War deficiencies that makes reuse of that building for something other than an armory problematic unless you have the money to do it.” Jampol, who founded the museum in 2002, said the Wende recently received a $5-million gift from a British foundation. The money would enable “us to use the [armory] to its full potential and impact, to care for our collections and to produce programs, projects and exhibitions,” Jampol said in an email.

“Composers and Performers Unite in a Young Music ‘Lab’.” By Larry Blumenfeld. Wall Street Journal. November 14, 2012. One November night at the Baryshnikov Arts Center in Hell’s Kitchen, a bassoon rested against a wall. Beside it, a dancer held a handstand. The open workshop that followed, rehearsing a piece titled “Mesh,” brought instrumental music and movement together in a manner intended to upend convention. During a break, Claire Chase, the 34-year-old flutist who is the group’s artistic director and CEO, described ICElab, a year-old initiative, as a response to frustration. With ICElab, the ensemble selects six composers each year to partner with its musicians through intensely collaborative incubation residencies. The composers spend an initial week with ICE musicians—”that’s our time together in the sandbox,” Ms. Chase said—and then maintain close connection on matters ranging from composition to concert promotion. Two ICElab composers, Tyshawn Sorey and Carlos Iturralde, will demonstrate the fruits of such a process with performance premieres at Boerum Hill’s Roulette on Sunday. ICE is something of an invention itself, sparked by a concert Ms. Chase produced in 2000, while a student at Ohio’s Oberlin Conservatory; roughly a third of the ensemble’s current musicians are former classmates. In 2002, while living in Chicago, she scraped together $603 from holiday catering-job tips and mounted the International Contemporary Ensemble’s first official concert. She chose “contemporary” less for its associations within the concert world and more as a synonym for “contemporaneous.” “I liked that it was a process,” she said. In the decade since, the ensemble has presented more than 650 premieres; its current budget tops $1 million. Ms. Chase was also recently awarded a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, an unrestricted award of $500,000, distributed quarterly over five years. “She’s a visionary, pure and simple,” said Mikhail Baryshnikov, who was on hand

“Philharmonic Establishes Partnership With Shanghai.” By Daniel J. Wakin. New York Times. November 13, 2012. China long ago emerged as a kind of promised land for classical music, and two of America’s great orchestras are wading in with big projects and very different approaches. You could call one the Philadelphia flier and the other the Big Apple plod. The New York Philharmonic is planning to publicize on Wednesday a four-year partnership with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra. It will include a 10- to 14-day residency in China and a stake in an orchestra training program. The Philharmonic’s involvement in training will begin in the fall of 2014, after the details are worked out, and its residency is scheduled to begin the following summer. Then there is the Philly way. The Philadelphia Orchestra beat the Philharmonic to the punch, descending on Beijing and provincial cities last spring with a menu of master classes, lessons, concerts, and visits to parks, schools and hospitals. The tour was part of a partnership with the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing. Explosion may not be too hyperbolic a word for the increase in concert halls, orchestras, instrument making and classical music study in China during the past decade. Audiences are growing in tandem. Many concert presenters are hungry for top international ensembles to fill the gleaming new auditoriums. At the same time, with government determination to build culture as a form of national power, and willingness to spend on the effort, Chinese officials are happy to import Western cultural expertise.

“Warhol Foundation Auction Rakes In $17 Million.” By Robin Pogrebin. New York Times. November 13, 2012. Going, going, gone for more than $1.2 million: that was the price paid for Andy Warhol’s print “Endangered Species: San Francisco Silverspot” on Monday in the first of several auctions to be held at Christie’s to raise money for the artist’s foundation, The Associated Press reported. In September the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts announced that it would disperse its entire collection of Warhols, donating some and selling others through Christie’s, as it shifted almost exclusively into a grant-making organization. Monday’s sale brought in more than $17 million for 354 works ranging from prints to photographs, some of which have not been seen by the public. Online auctions will begin in February. Other featured lots included “Jackie,” a screen print and paper collage of Jacqueline Kennedy that sold for more than $626,000, more than double its high estimate of $300,000. Warhol’s “Self-Portrait in Fright Wig,” estimated at $12,000 to $18,000, brought $50,000.
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“Warhol works fetch $17M at Christie’s auction; The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts in New York will use the money raised at the auction, which featured more than 350 works, to expand its grant-making capacity.” Crains New York Business. November 13, 2012.

”Amid Recovery, “Reports of Sandy’s Damage to Art Institutions Keep Coming.” By Allan Kozinn. New York Times. November 13, 2012. “We’re beginning to see progress,” Linda Blumberg, the executive director of the Art Dealers Association of America, said on Tuesday morning. “Galleries are reopening, albeit sometimes in raw states, but they are rebuilding, and putting their best foot forward. We’re determined to bring this community back and get people down there.” Ms. Blumberg was speaking of West Chelsea, the gallery district that experienced up to five feet of flooding when Sandy passed through the region. Last week, her association announced a $250,000 fund to help flooded galleries get back into action, and within 24 hours David Zwirner, who owns a gallery on West 19th Street, and the gallery Mitchell-Innes and Nash (which operates on West 26th Street and on Madison Avenue) each donated $50,000 to the fund, , and on Tuesday, the association announced that Art Basel, the Swiss organization that runs contemporary art fairs in Basel, Miami Beach and Hong Kong, had donated $50,000 as well. All told, the association’s initial fund has nearly doubled. Monday that Christiane Fischer, the president and chief executive of AXA Art Insurance, estimated that her company’s loss would be around $40 million. And the Web site DNAinfo.com reported on Tuesday that hundreds of works were damaged when the East River flooded into the Noguchi Museum in Long Island City.

“Flea-market Renoir reignites tensions between museum and art donor’s descendants.” By Ian Shapira, Washington Post. November 15, 2012. Susan Helen Adler paced the corridors of the Baltimore Museum of Art, searching for objects that once belonged to her great-great-aunt, the late Saidie Adler May. In one room, she encountered about a dozen pieces, next to plaques that read “Gift of Saidie A. May.” But Adler, hungry to see more May donations on display, quickly grew upset with how much she thought should be there. She was already frustrated that one of her great-great-aunt’s paintings, a small Renoir, had turned up in a box of junk at a West Virginia flea market. The painting, she eventually learned, had been stolen from the museum in 1951 and then largely forgotten. How could that have happened? Saidie spent her life dedicated to art and educating the public, but other people have made the decision about her legacy. The museum has hundreds of her items in storage. I don’t even know what they have,” said Adler, as she stood inside the museum last month. She wore a white T-shirt with a picture of the stolen Renoir and the words: “How Did I End Up At A Flea Market?” Behind every museum’s art collection, behind every terse “Gift of” plaque on a museum wall, are the little-known, often fraught histories between museums and their donor families. On one hand, museums feel obligated to keep donor families happy so that other wealthy collectors might give but, on the other hand, feel entitled to exercise their curatorial judgment.

“Foundations to Help Artists After Hurricane Sandy.” By Robin Pogrebin. New York Times. November 16, 2012. Three art foundations have teamed up to help artists and nonprofit arts organizations in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation and the Lambent Foundation announced the effort on Thursday. The Warhol foundation will give $1 million to affected visual arts organizations and $1 million to individual artists. These funds will be augmented by the Rauschenberg foundation and by the Lambent Foundation, a project of the grant-making Tides Center, that explores the intersection of arts, culture and social justice. Through a Web site called Emergency Grants, the Warhol foundation will make its grants to visual arts organizations; the Rauschenberg foundation to other cultural organizations. The three foundations will jointly assist individual artists through the New York Foundation for the Arts, which will administer those grants. The grants are made possible in part by the Warhol foundation’s increased art sales, including this week’s sale at Christie’s, which brought in more than $17 million. “Every effort helps in a state of emergency,” Christy MacLear, executive director of the Rauschenberg foundation, said in a statement. “We are struck by the scope of need.”

“Met Museum Is Being Sued Over Admission Fees.” By Randy Kennedy. New York Times. November 15, 2012. Two members of the Metropolitan Museum of Art have sued the museum, contending that it misleads the public into thinking that its admission fees – $25 for adults, and less for seniors and students – are mandatory and not simply suggested. (The museum’s original lease with the city specified that it had to be accessible free of charge several days of the week, but the museum says that changes in city policy in the 1970s allowed it to institute a voluntary admission fee.) The museum members, Theodore Grunewald and Patricia Nicholson, who filed suit in state court in Manhattan, argue in court papers that the museum makes it difficult to understand the fee policy, a practice intended to “deceive and defraud” the public. The suit, reported by The New York Post, cites a survey commissioned by Mr. Grunewald and Ms. Nicholson in which more than 360 visitors to the museum were asked if they knew the fee was optional; 85 percent of visitors responded that they believed they were required to pay. Their suit asks the court to prevent the museum from charging any fees. Signs above the museum’s admissions desks include the word “Recommended” in small type below the word “Admission,” and on the museum’s Web site, an additional phrase is included: “To help cover the costs of exhibitions, we ask that you please pay the full recommended amount.” (There is no extra charge for entry to special exhibitions; 250,000 New York City schoolchildren visit for free each year as part of the museum’s programs.) When the recommended fee was first instituted in the 1970s, signs over the cashiers’ desks included the phrase: “Pay what you wish, but you must pay something.” Harold Holzer, a spokesman for the museum, called the suit “entirely frivolous.”

“Academy of Art land use violations ignored.” By John Coté. San Francisco Chronicle. November 15, 2012. Academy of Art University, one of the largest landowners in San Francisco, has had “consistent and repeated violations” of city land-use rules, yet the city has repeatedly refused to fine the for-profit school, even after it missed two compliance deadlines, according to a confidential letter by City Attorney Dennis Herrera. The academy “is engaged in a game of obfuscation and delay,” and the city’s Planning Department has refused to issue notices of violation that could result in fines, despite those citations being ready to go, Herrera wrote in a confidential letter to planning Director John Rahaim obtained by The Chronicle. Rahaim’s inaction has left the city open to assertions that it is selectively enforcing its Planning Code, Herrera wrote. “I find it inexplicable that despite the (academy’s) repeated disregard of you, your department, and the laws you are charged to enforce, you would allow the (academy) to continue to violate the law without consequence,” Herrera wrote in the letter dated Tuesday. The city has maintained for years that the academy has purchased and then illegally converted buildings into classrooms or housing. The academy insists it never meant to break any rules and is negotiating in good faith. Rahaim on Thursday defended his position. “Right now, we have one of the largest property owners in San Francisco at the negotiating table, and we are making progress,” Rahaim said in an e-mail. “Nothing less than full compliance will be acceptable.” An academy official also said that “real progress has been made in the last several weeks.”

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“City Opera Is to Shed Its Past, Not Store It.” By Daniel J. Wakin. New York Times. October 2, 2012. New York City Opera, which has been seeking to forge a new identity since casting off from Lincoln Center two seasons ago, now appears ready to shed some of the tangible — and expensive — vestiges of its venerable past: the sets and costumes of many of its old productions. City Opera has asked the Glimmerglass Festival, which jointly produced about two dozen City Opera shows, to come and claim those production materials. The company also told the Portland Opera, which is renting its 2009 “Don Giovanni,” to dispose of it. And City Opera is in talks with a broker about selling other productions. “The big picture is, we are looking at more cost-efficient models for storing our revival productions going forward,” said George Steel, City Opera’s general manager and artistic director. At a cost of more than $500,000 a year, the warehouse in North Bergen, N.J., that contains the old productions is, Mr. Steel said, “an extremely expensive way to store things.” He left open the possibility that some sets would be thrown away, but declined to say how many productions would be disposed of, or which ones would be revived. City Opera’s financial difficulties prompted the move from the David H. Koch Theater in Lincoln Center, along with shrinking the season to just 16 performances and 4 productions, a far cry from the 15 or so productions and scores of performances just a decade ago. The company also moved its administrative offices to less expensive quarters in Lower Manhattan. Most of its administrators and artistic personnel have turned over. The paring down makes sense, given the company’s need to save money and its new focus as a forward-looking presenter of new productions.

“A $10 Million Gift for Museum of Natural History.” By Robin Pogrebin. New York Times. October 3, 2012. A $10 million gift from the Richard S. and Karen LeFrak Charitable Foundation will enable hundreds of thousands of New York City schoolchildren and summer campers to visit the American Museum of Natural History free, the museum is to announce on Thursday. The schools chancellor, Dennis M. Walcott, is to attend a ceremony on Thursday honoring Richard S. LeFrak, a developer and trustee of the museum, along with his wife Karen, and sons Harrison and James. The museum will name its fourth-floor special exhibition gallery — the newest and largest temporary exhibition space — the LeFrak Family Gallery. The free-admission program will apply to students and campers who are on group visits to the museum. The gift represents the second major donation from the LeFrak family. In 2001, Mr. LeFrak’s parents, Samuel J. and Ethel LeFrak, provided the money for a refurbishment of the museum’s IMAX theater, known as the Samuel J. and Ethel LeFrak Theater. “We hope that the hundreds of thousands of New York City students who come here throughout the year will be inspired to begin lifelong journeys of discovery,” Richard LeFrak said in a statement, “and to reach for the stars.”

“ArtsBeat – New York Times Blog: Ari Emanuel Joins Board of Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles.” New York Times. October 3, 2012. The Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, which has been battered in recent months by the departures of board members critical of the institution’s direction, announced Wednesday that Ari Emanuel, the agent and Hollywood power broker, has been elected to its board. The move – which comes at the same time as the re-election of a former board member, Maurice Marciano, a prominent art collector and a founder of the Guess clothing line – is intended as a signal by the museum that it is trying to broaden its base of support in the Los Angeles establishment beyond that of Eli Broad, the billionaire collector who saved the museum from financial ruin in 2008. Mr. Emanuel, co-chief executive of the William Morris Endeavor agency, is not known as an art collector and is not deeply involved in the Los Angeles art scene. But he has been active in P.S. Arts, a nonprofit organization that works to bring art education programs to Southern California schools, and he has also helped the museum establish MOCAtv, a dedicated YouTube art channel that began operating on Monday. Mr. Marciano, who served on the board for a few months in 2008 but left along with other trustees as the museum’s finances worsened, has donated important works to the museum’s collection over the past two years. The new trustees still leave the board – which has been deeply involved with the careers of living artists since it opened in 1983 – without any artist members, after John Baldessari, Catherine Opie, Barbara Kruger and Ed Ruscha resigned in July, saying they believed that the museum’s director, Jeffrey Deitch, was taking the museum too far in a pop-culture direction.

“Streep Donates $1 Million for Public Theater Renovation.” By Allan Kozinn. New York Times. October 4, 2012. At a reception on Thursday night to mark the completion of the Public Theater’s $40 million renovation of its Astor Place home, the theater was scheduled to announce another reason to celebrate: the actress Meryl Streep has donated $1 million to be put toward the cost of the reconfiguration. “I give this gift, ” Ms. Streep said in a statement, “in honor of the founder of the Public Theater, my friend and mentor Joseph Papp, and in remembrance of one of the theater’s Board members and greatest supporters, my friend Nora Ephron.” (Papp died in 1991; Ephron died in June.) Ms. Streep’s association with the company goes back to her 1975 Broadway debut in Papp’s staging of “Trelawny of the Wells” (the cast also included Mandy Patinkin and John Lithgow). She has also appeared in Shakespeare in the Park productions of “Henry V” and “Measure for Measure,” and more recently, “The Seagull” and “Mother Courage and Her Children.” The Public Theater’s renovation includes an expanded lobby, a new mezzanine-level cocktail lounge called the Library, a lobby snack bar meant to encourage theatergoers to congregate, a new entrance to Joe’s Pub and an expanded box office.

“President of Museum to Quit Her Post.” By Patricia Cohen. New York Times. October 5, 2012. After 15 years of working to build a permanent home for the Museum for African Art in Manhattan, the museum’s president, Elsie McCabe Thompson, announced on Friday that she was stepping down “to pursue other career opportunities.” The decision comes after more than three years of financial troubles that have repeatedly delayed the museum’s opening of a new site at Fifth Avenue and 110th Street, on the northern tip of what is known as Museum Mile. The museum needs an additional $10 million to finish construction of its new space in the bottom of a 19-story condominium designed by Robert A. M. Stern. A statement released by the museum announcing Ms. Thompson’s departure said it was “in discussions with several funders to ensure that the project is completed successfully.” The space was originally scheduled to open in 2009, and no new opening date has yet been set. Since its establishment in 1984, the museum has occupied a variety of temporary spaces, most recently a gallery in Long Island City, Queens, that closed in 2005. Ms. Thompson, who has been president since 1997 and who referred to the museum as “my baby,” said in the release that she planned to join the museum’s board of trustees. She could not be reached for additional comment. The deputy director and chief operating officer, Kenita Lloyd, will temporarily oversee the museum, while a committee that will include trustees, advisers and Ms. Thompson undertakes a nationwide search for a replacement, the statement said.

“The campaign’s moral hole.” By E.J. Dionne. Washington Post. October 7, 2012. But there are forces working to make the campaign about something more than a suffocating battle to influence tiny slivers of the electorate. One of my favorite pressure groups, Nuns on the Bus, will be launching a five-day tour on Wednesday through the red, blue and purple parts of Ohio. Who better than a group of women who have consecrated their lives to the Almighty to remind us that our decisions in November have ethical consequences? Those who serve the impoverished, the sick and the dying know rather a lot about what matters — in life, and in elections. If some of the nation’s Roman Catholic bishops often give the impression that they constitute the Republican Party at prayer, the activist nuns often seem like Democrats at the barricades. And it’s quite true that a struggle is on for the political soul of American Catholicism. Those among the faithful who see the abortion issue as trumping all others are in a quarrel with their brethren who place more emphasis on the church’s long-standing commitment to social justice. Nuns on the Bus, led by Sister Simone Campbell, are very much players in this dialogue, and Sister Simone addressed the Democratic National Convention last month. Yet she was careful in her speech to emphasize that what she has been saying about government’s obligation to the poor — and about the problems with Rep. Paul Ryan’s budget — reflected what the bishops have been saying, too. They argued that the economy is not only failing to “provide sufficient jobs for poor people to earn a decent living to support themselves,” but is also offering fewer “resources for government to do its part for Americans in need.” The situation, they concluded, is “devastating to struggling families throughout the country.”

“Auditions to Kick Off Harlem Choir.” By Jennifer Malony. Wall Street Journal. October 7, 2012. Five years after the Boys Choir of Harlem stopped performing amid a sexual-abuse scandal and financial collapse, an effort to resurrect the group has taken an important step forward, with auditions planned next week for a new set of singers. The world-renowned choir was founded in 1968 and trained young people from underprivileged backgrounds to sing in the world’s great concert halls, from Carnegie Hall to the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. The auditions on Oct. 15-17 and Oct. 22-24 at the Church of the Ascension on West 107th Street in Morningside Heights mark a launching point in the fitful restart of the choir, which provided music instruction, academic tutoring and counseling to generations of young men and, later, women. About 40 to 60 boys in fourth through 12th grades will be selected for a new boys’ choir. A girls’ choir is planned after that is formed.

ARTS & CULTURE

“9/11 Museum Will Rise.” By Ted Mann. Wall Street Journal. September 10, 2012. On the eve of the 11th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, city and state officials struck a deal to break the impasse that has long delayed completion of the museum at the site of the World Trade Center. The accord appeared to finally end a longstanding struggle among a nest of parties with intertwined political, emotional and financial interests in the city’s most hallowed site—including Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Govs. Andrew Cuomo of New York and Chris Christie of New Jersey, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and the National Sept. 11 Memorial & Museum foundation. Under the deal, the foundation, a private charity headed by Mr. Bloomberg, will forgo $17 million it believes it is owed—in the form of waived reimbursements and expenditures—from the Port Authority, which owns the site, and had largely halted construction on the museum in a fight over who should cover escalating construction costs. In exchange, the Port Authority, which is controlled by the two governors, will resume construction on the museum as soon as the end of this month, and won’t stop work until it is complete. The agencies will also form a trio of new task forces to smooth the interaction of competing interests at the site—from the planning of future commemorative events to day-to-day management of the 16-acre grounds, which include not only the museum and memorial plaza but also the nearly completed One World Trade Center, the tallest and most heavily fortified office building in the city. In addition to the creation of the eight-member Advisory Committee—two members appointed by each governor, four by the memorial foundation—the memorandum of understanding provides for the Port Authority to receive regular briefings on the foundation’s financial plans and budgetary outlook. Key operational details at the museum, including admissions policies and fees, will remain “the sole decision of the Memorial,” the agreement states.

“Long-Forgotten Picasso Is a Museum’s Windfall.” By Patricia Cohen. New York Times. September 12, 2012. When Arlan Ettinger, the president of Guernsey’s auction house in New York, first called the Evansville Museum of Arts, History and Science back in February to ask about a layered glass mosaic by Picasso that he had traced to the museum, officials there said, in effect, “Sorry, wrong number.” They had never heard of it. A day or two later the museum called back, Mr. Ettinger said. Spurred by his query officials discovered that this rare work was there in Indiana after all, mislabeled and stashed in an old shipping crate for more than 40 years. Rather than display their newfound Picasso treasure, however, officials have decided to sell it, using Mr. Ettinger’s company. It is nearly impossible to put a price tag on the piece, “Seated Woman With Red Hat,” since this kind of work has not been on the market for nearly half a century, experts say. But Mr. Ettinger said he hoped to sell it for $30 million to $40 million, more than five times the museum’s entire $6 million endowment. The potential windfall has raised a grab bag of questions for museums large and small beyond, “Have you checked the basement lately?” What responsibility, for example, do institutions have to hold on to donated works and display them? And how should valuable art be handled when it threatens to tax an institution’s resources and confuse its mission?

ARTS & CULTURE

“Dispute Over Costs Delays Opening of 9/11 Museum.” By Charles V. Bagli. New York Times. September 8, 2012. A dispute between Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo over the $1 billion museum at ground zero has dragged on for so long that the museum will not open in time for the 11th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks — or even for the next one. Aides to Mr. Bloomberg and Mr. Cuomo have so far been unable to resolve their differences over which government agencies will pay the operating costs of the museum, which is intended to document the terrorist attacks of 2001 and honor the nearly 3,000 victims. The two sides also remain at odds over who will have oversight of the museum and the surrounding memorial. The negotiations are further complicated because Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey must sign off on any agreement before it can take effect. Mr. Cuomo and Mr. Christie together control the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns the World Trade Center site. Mr. Bloomberg is chairman of the Sept. 11 foundation, which controls the National September 11 Memorial and Museum, and oversees commemorative events at the site. With work on the museum at a standstill for nearly a year, fund-raising and donations have fallen, and exhibits are gathering dust in fabrication shops in Buffalo and Santa Fe, N.M., according to museum executives. The delay means that the museum may not open before construction on 1 World Trade Center, formerly known as the Freedom Tower, is finished in early 2014. Aides to Mr. Bloomberg and Mr. Cuomo said they hoped that the 11th anniversary, on Tuesday, might create pressure for a last-minute deal. Late last week, the two sides began circulating proposals to resolve the yearlong impasse. Still, earlier agreements have fallen apart. “It would be catastrophically sad if they can’t find a solution,” said Ira M. Millstein, a board member of the Sept. 11 foundation and a prominent commercial lawyer. “They really ought to sit down in a room and look at each other. It can’t be solved with e-mails.”

ARTS & CULTURE

“Museum Defends Antiquities Collecting.” By Randy Kennedy. New York Times. August 12, 2012. Over the last five years, the Cleveland Museum of Art has been at work on one of the largest building programs of any art institution in the country, a $350 million project that has been unveiled in sleek new stages and will be completed by 2013, adding 35,000 more square feet of gallery space. But the museum has also been building in less visible ways and is set to announce on Monday the acquisition of two high-profile ancient artifacts that seem certain to draw attention not only to the institution’s expansion but also to the complicated long-running debate about antiquities collecting by museums. The world of antiquities collecting has been reshaped fundamentally over the last several years, after battles between American museums like the Metropolitan Museum of Art and countries like Italy that have demanded the return of pieces they say were illegally taken from their soil. In 2008, the Association of Art Museum Directors adopted standards that led most of its member museums to stop collecting artifacts that were not demonstrably in legitimate public or private collections before 1970, an internationally recognized cutoff date. Objects that surfaced later are more likely to have been stolen from archaeological sites or illegally exported. But those guidelines allow for discretion. “Recognizing that a complete recent ownership history may not be obtainable for all archaeological material and every work of ancient art,” the museum directors’ group says, its members “should have the right to exercise their institutional responsibility to make informed and defensible judgments about the appropriateness of acquiring such an object.” It adds: “The museum must carefully balance the possible financial and reputational harm of taking such a step against the benefit of collecting, presenting and preserving the work in trust for the educational benefit of present and future generations.” While the collecting guidelines are a worthy way to try to discourage looting and black-market trade, Mr. Franklin said, museums also need to consider carefully the long-term effect on their curatorial strengths. “What drives most curators is the desire to purchase and to build a collection,” he said, “and if all they’re going to do is provenance research day after day, it’s necessary but it’s certainly not inspiring, especially for young curators.” Such a view of acquisitions alarms those who feel that museum collecting continues to be a catalyst for the black market.

“Stars Shine Brighter When They’re on the Board.” Wall Street Journal. August 14, 2012. [For story, go to Governance].

“Museum Tries to Shine.” By Jim Callaghan. Wall Street Journal. August 14, 2012. A fully operational National Lighthouse Museum near the St. George ferry terminal on Staten Island remains a glimmer in the eyes of lighthouse lovers, but they hope there is light on the horizon. Backers are trying to win approval to begin museum operations on renovated city property formerly used as a Coast Guard depot near the ferry landing. The group, which says it needs $600,000 for the “pilot” museum facility and another $400,000 for first-year operations, has raised $180,000 so far. Lighthouse enthusiasts want to open the National Lighthouse Museum at the former Coast Guard depot near St. George in Staten Island in the building at center above. They hope to expand to the building at right later. A decision by city’s Economic Development Corp. to use one building at the former depot could come in September. If approved, the group could seek grants from organizations such as the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The group is aiming for a May 2013 opening. Eventually, backers hope to take over an adjacent, far-larger building on the 10-acre city site. The larger facility would require a major renovation and an investment of some $15 million. Creating a museum on Staten Island has long been a dream of lighthouse advocates. Previous museum efforts have foundered over a lack of funding, leading to a new board taking over leadership of the local group in 2010.

“Nonprofit proclaims: The fat lady sings here; Opera America, a nonprofit, is opening the National Opera Center next month to provide subsidized rehearsal and performance space.” By Miriam Kreinin Souccar. Crain’s New York Business. August 15, 2012. Opera America, a nonprofit service organization, is opening the National Opera Center on Sept. 4. The center, encompassing 25,000 square feet on two floors of a former fur factory on Seventh Avenue and West 29th Street, will provide the opera industry with subsidized rental space for rehearsals, auditions and even performances. It is similar to the recently opened DiMenna Center for Classical Music, which offers orchestras a state-of-the-art home for rehearsals, auditions and recordings. The opening of the Center marks the realization of Opera America’s multi-year plan, which began when the organization relocated to New York City from Washington in 2005. The organization raised $14 million for the project, with $6 million for construction, $6 million for an operating endowment and $2 million to cover its relocation costs. The Center will have an audition hall, which can be used for readings of new works and press conferences; a rehearsal hall that can also accommodate master classes; 10 vocal studios with new pianos; a recording studio and media center; and recording and research libraries; among other amenities. Opera America will also provide its own programming at the center. In the first three months after the center’s opening, it will present its Salon Series, performances of selections from new North American operas, which can be seen by producers and artists; and Making Connections, a number of professional development and networking events for emerging artists in the field. Executives at Opera America said this is the first facility of its kind for opera.