Kalpen Modi, Associate Director, White House Office of Public EngagementI fear that my fears about a culture czar are being realized.Thankfully, we still don't have a cabinet-level Secretary of Culture, but we do have Kalpen Modi, Associate Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement, who, in a conference call last week, sought to rally the artworld troops behind … [Read more...] about “United We Serve”: Should the Arts be Politically Exploited?
Archives for September 2009
BlogBack: Author/Journalist Michael Thomas on Cleveland’s Repurposing of Acquisition Funds
Michael M. Thomas, author, journalist and verteran artworld commentator, responds to Bricks-and-Mortar Morass: Cleveland Desecrates Donor Intent: As someone who has been around the professional art world for 50 years (beginning, way back when, as a curatorial assistant in European paintings at the Metropolitan Museum), I must say I don't think Cleveland's action is cause for … [Read more...] about BlogBack: Author/Journalist Michael Thomas on Cleveland’s Repurposing of Acquisition Funds
Bricks-and-Mortar Morass: Cleveland Desecrates Donor Intent
Cleveland Museum of Art's new Viñoly-designed East WingThe Cleveland Museum last week filed for court permission (as first reported here by the Cleveland Plain Dealer's Steve Litt) to deviate from the terms of charitable funds established by four major supporters. The benefactors had stipulated that their gifts be applied to the acquisition of art, not bricks and mortar. … [Read more...] about Bricks-and-Mortar Morass: Cleveland Desecrates Donor Intent