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curated by sierra gonzalez 
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Smithsonian teams with QVC

The Smithsonian Institution has entered into a licensing agreement with QVC to develop a jewelry collection based on artifacts in the National Gem and Mineral Collection, a part of the National Museum of Natural History. According to the Washington Post, the line will include a "smaller version of the Hope Diamond", which will retail at $85.

Millions of people visit the museum each year, admiring its beautiful and rare jewelry and gemstone collection. Now our customers can share these national treasures in a very personal way as we give them access to owning jewelry based on items of great historical significance.

—Debra Puzio, QVC's director of merchandising

The Smithsonian's goal is to "create jewelry that is not only fashionable, but also serves to educate the public about the Smithsonian and the jewelry, gems and minerals found in its collections," according to Carol LeBlanc, director of consumer products for Smithsonian Enterprises. As with most other museum stores (see: the Met),  revenue from the Smithsonian's stores (the organization reported a 15% profit margin in 2007) goes back into the institution to support its programs and educational initiatives, but it's not clear if and how QVC would share the profits of this agreement. I also wonder whether shoppers agree with Carol LeBlanc and see their purchases as vehicles for personal edification--or whether it's instead about the perceived prestige of owning an authorized reproduction of a museum-worthy piece. (Or maybe it just looks nice. Who knows?) With the Smithsonian's move to sell their museum-inspired pieces through a third-party, home shopping TV network instead of directly to shoppers on site or online, it seems to dilute the messages of educational and cultural cachet. [Smithsonian and QVC Announce New Jewelry Line | CNN Money]

Filed under  //   branding   consumerism   cultural capital   merchandising   museum   museum store   smithsonian   television  

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Target for the arts

Art is integral to how we do business. It’s in our DNA.

Laysha Ward, Target’s president for community relations

According to Robin Pogrebin's NYTimes article on Target's philanthropy, the company continues to give 5 percent of its income (roughly $3 million a week) to causes in the arts, education, social services and volunteerism, despite the economic downturn. Pogrebin observes that many of Target's beneficiaries are arts institutions across the nation, who often hold "Target days" offering free or discounted admission to a program, performance or museum exhibition. Laysha Ward's comment above serves a dual purpose within the article: it reminds readers both that Target supports arts organizations through philanthropy, and that they strive for beautifully designed products on their shelves (Ward cites the work of Michael Graves as an example of their commitment to creativity in Target's stores).

Other interesting articles in the NYTimes' Giving section online cover SFMOMA's challenge to find space for Don Fisher's collection, raising awareness (and funds) using social media, and the look of cause marketing during the recession.

Filed under  //   economy   museum   nonprofit   philanthropy   sfmoma   target  

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SFMOMA plans to expand

The San Francisco Chronicle's art critic announced today that SFMOMA hopes to double its exhibition space by adding to its current footprint. However, the museum is still in the exploratory phase and is investigating the necessary permits and funds to make the expansion possible. Says museum director Neal Benezra,

It's an optimistic announcement, but we're being very modest about it. It's important that people don't think we're announcing a capital campaign in the middle of a recession.

Filed under  //   economy   fundraising   museum   museum expansion   san francisco  

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"Price less" works of art [NYPost]

I feel that the museum respects that you can pay what the economy allows you to pay. That way, you can come more often.

Retired Long Island teacher Joan Smyth, 60, who normally pays the full $20 "suggested admission" at the Met but on Monday decided to pay half

Filed under  //   economy   museum   museum admission   new york   value of art  

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NYTimes annual museums special highlights economic hardships

The annual NYTimes section on museums has a predictably somber tone: in these economic times, how do these organizations cope? I haven't read 'em all, but these are the stories directly linking museums and the current economy. Of course, there are articles on other topics too, but grouping these articles together gives a sense of the big-picture impact and the areas of museum management that must develop strategies for survival.

Shovels sit idle as some projects are delayed: economy forces museums to downsize and delay projects

Wish you were here: as resources dwindle, museums pioneer new ways to reach out

In zoo cuts, it's man vs. beast: budget cuts are forcing zoos to make tough decisions

They didn't love Lucy: In Seattle, Lucy's famous fossils fail to attract crowds

The good stuff in the back room
: Showcasing archives, museums bring out the good stuff

Taking a step-by-step approach to growth: In San Francisco, a museum director takes a pragmatic approach to growth

New York's local museums feel the pinch

Filed under  //   art market   economy   museum   recession  

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Slow growth at the Gardner


Because the will of museum founder Isabella Stewart Gardner stipulates that nothing in the collection ever be moved and no new works brought in, the frame of a Rembrandt stolen 19 years ago still hangs empty today. Photo credit: Keith Meyers/The New York Times

If a painting were stolen out of a contemporary art gallery where the walls are all white, you might say it’s a shame for that artwork. But the way that people who visit this place feel violated, it’s like somebody stole this art out of their own living room.

Ulrich Boser, author, The Gardner Heist: The True Story of the World’s Largest Unsolved Art Theft

Last Sunday's New York Times looked at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston and some of the difficulties it faces due to its founder's strict will, which basically requires that no changes be made to the collection and the building that houses it. A recent ruling from the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts allows the museum to begin plans for a new expansion designed by Renzo Piano; this "reasonable deviation" from the will allows the museum to protect the current building from too much wear and tear.

The New York Times profile also dives into the story of the theft of 13 artworks that have remained missing for 19 years. In accordance with Gardner's will, the frames that housed the missing paintings are displayed bare. Gardner's wishes also preserve her curatorial eye and personal arrangements, and the missing paintings evoke an intimate and emotional response as hinted in the picture above.

Filed under  //   art theft   art market   boston   museum   museum expansion  

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"Unearthing the Truth" in the Brooklyn Museum


On display at the Brooklyn Museum: Frieze of Animals in Plant Scrolls. Egypt, possibly from Herakleopolis Magna, 4th century C.E. Limestone, traces of paint.

The Brooklyn Museum started to research an exhibition of Coptic and Pagan (worship of ancient Greco-Roman deities) sculpture and realized that eight of the selected pieces were actually forgeries. On the museum's blog, curator Edna R. Russmann recounts the discovery:

Some of the forgeries appear to have been carved in pieces of stone that had been salvaged from destroyed antiquities. Others are fashioned in a very porous stone that would not have been used in ancient times; it has been suggested that these forgers thought the small natural holes would resemble ancient damage!

Unearthing the Truth: Egypt's Pagan and Coptic Sculpture opened in mid-February, and judging from the exhibition comments online visitors have been pleasantly surprised by the museum's transparency in displaying the forgeries alongside the ancient artifacts.

The museum also has an interesting feature on its website where you can test your ability to identify between Ancient, Near Ancient and Modern (i.e., fake) artifacts. However, I would have loved to first see a brief background on the distinguishing features of each time period to make the quiz more compelling (what should I notice in the materials? craftsmanship? depictions of human figures? religious motifs?). I understand the exhibit's focus on authentic Coptic and Pagan pieces, but even a visual example of each of the three categories would help turn this online activity from a guessing game to a more meaningful memory/assessment game. (In the PDF teacher packet on the exhibition web site, there are two helpful examples of how to "read" an image and evaluate its authenticity. Also, cheers for including related activities in art, history, economics and science!)

Filed under  //   ancient art   authenticity   brooklyn   forgery   museum   quiz   transparency  

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Scaling down the Met brand

As if responding to my suggestion of the Met's interest in thrifty marketing, the museum announced Monday that its endowment has taken a 25% hit, membership and attendance is down, and Emily Rafferty, the Met’s president, said that “we cannot eliminate the possibility of a head-count reduction.” This falls in line with experiences at other cultural institutions, but the Met is also responding to the economy by curbing one of its most unique assets: its nationwide retail operation.

According to the New York Times, the Met had 23 stores across the country last year; now, they're scaling down to 8, with plans to focus on their online and catalog sales (they also have a handful of international locations). I've always been curious about the business/marketing decision to take the Met store off site, and even thousands of miles away from the museum. It might be that the Met earned $90 million annually in store revenue with a gross margin of about 50 percent, as James Twitchell reported in 2004.*

Museum stores are curious things: as part of non-profit institutions, store revenue directly supports the operating costs of the museum, including maintaining collections and organizing educational programs. On the other hand, museum stores put a discrete price on culture: you can buy reproductions of Egyptian jewelry, copies of Buddhist sculptures, and Art Nouveau-inspired perfume bottles, all carrying the additional cultural cachet of museum approval. (Curators and art historians OK all store products before they hit the shelves to ensure "authenticity.") Bradford Kelleher, who built the Met Store empire, once said, “Our test is whether the curator concerned with the object can tell the reproduction from the real thing.”

Some museums have national brands (like MoMA/SFMOMA) or even international reach (the Guggenheim and the Louvre are both planning outposts in Dubai), but they've all got multiple museum locations. Not counting the Cloisters (the Met's Manhattan branch dedicated to medieval art) the Metropolitan Museum of Art is using its store—and not the original objects in its collection—to build international awareness. Kelleher said, “If it’s a faithful reproduction, it has educational value and it’s a way of giving the object wider circulation outside of the museum."

*Twitchell's Branded Nation, p. 250; net income for the Met Stores is around $1 million.

[Sorry for the lengthier post, I reverted to my grad school days a little bit here.]

Filed under  //   cultural capital   economy   merchandising   museum   new york   store  

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"It's time we Met" on Flickr

The photographs for the latest ad campaign at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York aren't from the museum's archives or commissioned photographers--they're submissions on Flickr from average museum-goers, and they're causing quite a stir.

As with many photos culled from Flickr for commercial use, professional (or aspiring) photographers are raising concerns over fair compensation for the photographs used in the "It's time we Met" campaign.  The comments on the NYTimes Arts blog covering the story neglect the fact that the photos are part of a voluntary contest that requires photographers to license their submissions (using Creative Commons) for use. While I don't think permissions is a problem, the campaign brings up some interesting points:

What will the quality of the museum visit be like with visitors snapping photos left and right? Will this inspire (or even condone?) visitors posing like Greek statues for the sake of a good photo? Does this lessen the respect for the art, or does it encourage visitors to take a closer look at what they're seeing?

How does this change the Met's relationship with photographers? Some professional photographers see the contest as a penny-pinching way to grab marketing creative and are resentful of the museum's perceived lack of support for their industry. (On the other hand, as a non-profit, the Met's advertising budget may require cost-saving tactics.) Other photographers are grateful that the Met has embraced picture-taking in most of its galleries, since many museums do not allow photographing art (for various reasons).

What does this mean for museums on the web? The Met's embrace of social media shows that they're keeping tabs of communication trends and open to learning from their visitors. (The museum's participation--along with over a dozen other art institutions--in Wikipedia Loves Art is another great example.) Is online content for museum websites on its way to being user-driven?

Filed under  //   advertising   creative commons   flickr   marketing   museum   photography  

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Saved by Science: Behind the scenes at AMNH


Waiting Room, Justine Cooper, 2005.

As part of Seed's birthday celebration for Charles Darwin, Carl Zimmer went behind the scenes at the American Natural History Museum in New York to look at the history of collecting science collections. Justine Cooper's accompanying photographs capture some haunting vignettes of the museum behind the curtain.*

*I had the Wizard of Oz in mind when I wrote that, but now it reminds me of Charles Peale's self portrait that reveals his personal collection--America's first museum--behind a red curtain:

The Artist in His Museum, Charles Willson Peale, 1822.

Filed under  //   behind the scenes   museum   new york   photography   science  

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