Starbucks is moving into selling and promoting books. “This is the next step of our entertainment strategy. Our plan has been to start with music, take the next step into film and add books as the third leg of the stool.”
Tag: 08.07.06
Russians Examine Museum Security
Russian authorities are scrutinizing security at the Hermitage Museum after recent thefts. “As authorities announce the return of some of the Hermitage items, attention is turning to the glaring lack of control at Russian museums since the 1991 Soviet collapse. Security and inventory systems are antiquated, with curators often keeping records by hand in notebooks.”
Barnes Foundation Gets A New Leader
He’s Derek Gillman, 53, “president and chief executive of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, a prestigious art school and museum known for its collection of 19th- and 20th-century American paintings. Trustees at the Barnes cited Mr. Gillman’s experience with complex museum expansion projects, a familiarity crucial to the Barnes as it charts the move of its fabled collection of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art from suburban Merion to a new building in downtown Philadelphia.”
Returned Klimts To Be Sold By Christie’s
Four of five Gustav Klimt paintings returned by Austria to a Los Angeles woman earlier this year, will be sold at Christie’s this fall. “Experts say the four paintings — three landscapes and a portrait executed between 1903 and 1916 — are worth about $100 million.”
Writing Drama, Not Propaganda, With A Political Conscience
What, John Heilpern wonders, makes good political theatre? “Brecht, the most overtly political playwright and propagandist of the 20th century, didn’t change a thing politically…. Nor has any play in history. Remember, no ‘Lysistrata’ ever stopped a war. No play or work of art ever changed the world. They change the way we perceive the world.”