Reimagining LACMA

Since he arrived at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art a year ago, director Michael Govan has been striving to create a distinctive identity for the museum, and he isn’t afraid to discard conventional ideas of what the backbone of an art collection should be. “Maybe our museum frames the encyclopedia, or the general museum, on one side by contemporary art, which is usually not a focus of an encyclopedic museum, and on the other end, the historical side, by pre-Columbian art. It doesn’t mean we’re not going to show Egypt, Greece and Rome. But the bookends — the frame, if you will for our museum — are different.”

The Popularity Problem

As museums (particularly those showcasing contemporary art) have grown in popularity, their mission has become more difficult to define, and their relationships with artists have grown complicated. “Art and its institutions have, we are told, grown increasingly democratic, more accessible to all. In fact, the more successful a museum grows, the more elitist it tends to become.”

All Eyes On The New

New York’s New Museum of Contemporary Art, which is in the midst of an ambitious $50 million building project, is a small institution by the city’s outsized standards. “But beyond the concrete and steel, the New Museum shows how a lesser-known institution can attract attention by taking chances. It hired an adventurous team of architects. It has diversified its board of trustees. It is doubling its staff, bolstering its exhibition schedule and greatly expanding its education activities. Combine that with the museum’s re-energized mission — to showcase the newest art — and the result is an institution that poses a bold challenge to established museums.”

Diablo Ballet On The Brink

Northern California’s Diablo Ballet is in danger of folding if $500,000 cannot be raised to cover debts and stabilize the organization. The company “was founded in 1994, and it has made its mark performing both ballet and contemporary dance, with experienced dancers often led by emerging choreographers.”

An Orchestra Of The New Turns 30

“In an ideal musical culture there would be no need for the American Composers Orchestra. Classical music programs in the United States would not be dominated, as they mostly are, by the works of dead European males.” But the ACO is turning 30 this week, and though new music is doing better in mainstream concert halls than it was when the orchestra was founded, Anthony Tommasini says that its mission remains critical.

Theatre Company Out At NY’s WTC Site

“In a new twist to the juggling act at ground zero, the city said yesterday that the Signature Theater Company would not be included in a performing arts center to be designed there by Frank Gehry, leaving the Joyce Theater, which presents dance, as the building’s sole resident. Estimates of the performing arts center’s cost were approaching $700 million, city officials said. Under the new plan, the center and a new Signature Theater are expected to come in at about $350 million combined.”