A New Director Has El Museo Del Barrio Wondering If It Can Build A Bridge Between The Art World And Its Activist Founders

There are budget problems, and the museum is about to close for seven months for renovations. How will El Museo stay connected and current? New executive director Patrick Charpenel “said he would organize panel discussions and publish books to ‘open a bridge of knowledge’ about the cultural contributions of Latinos and to explore subjects like immigration, exclusion and diversity.”

At The Kennedy Center Honors, No Stand-In For An Absent President

The absence of the president in the president’s box “is notable for several reasons. The gala is a fundraising event for the national arts center, and having a sitting president in attendance is a significant draw. In addition, the lasting image of the annually televised event features the first couple seated alongside the smiling honorees. This year’s celebration of the performing arts will air at 9 p.m on Dec. 26 on CBS.”

Top AJBlogs Posts From The Weekend Of 12.03.17

Mundell Lowe, 1922-2017
Guitarist Mundell Lowe died today. He was 95. Lowe’s career began at 13 when he frequently went from his home in Laurel, Mississippi, to work at clubs in New Orleans’ French Quarter. … read more
AJBlog: RiffTidesPublished 2017-12-02

Quad Cinema Hosts Wyler Festival
WNYC’s Sara Fishko has produced a terrific audio piece about William Wyler and two of his best films — “Dodsworth” and “The Best Years of Our Lives” — both of which are playing among the … read more
AJBlog: Straight|UpPublished 2017-12-02

Amazon Cashes in on AIDS
Modified (but only slightly) from Amazon’s full-page ad in the NYTimes [12/1/2017] … read more
AJBlog: Straight|UpPublished 2017-12-02

Unsettled at the Met: Breuer Building, Southwest Wing, Director’s Search
With the benefit of hindsight, it seems obvious that the Metropolitan Museum, under Tom Campbell‘s directorship, got way ahead of itself in making ambitious plans to undertake a $600,000 makeover of its Southwest Wing for … read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrlPublished 2017-12-01

Rolling Stone, Music Journalism, and the Baby Boom
A LOT of people I know have just finished — or are still deep into — the biography of Rolling Stone founder Jann Wenner. Sticky Fingers is more than just the story of one … read more
AJBlog: CultureCrashPublished 2017-12-01

The ‘Digital Organism’ In A Dutch Forest (That’s Actually A Responsive Art Installation)

Whoa: “Each battery-powered light, called a ‘Pixie,’ is nestled on a diamond-shaped wooden plaque, and contains a microprocessor that sends signals to other Pixies in the forest. Each microprocessor is equipped with certain ‘behavioral rules’ that tell the Pixies how often and how quickly they should send signals to surrounding Pixies.”