guardianofgimcracks:

doodleology:

A museum in Italy has started burning its artworks in protest at budget cuts which it says have left cultural institutions out of pocket.

Antonio Manfredi, of the Casoria Contemporary Art Museum in Naples, set fire to the first painting on Tuesday.

“Our 1,000 artworks are headed for destruction anyway because of the government’s indifference,” he said.

The work was by French artist Severine Bourguignon, who was in favour of the protest and watched it online.

Mr Manfredi plans to burn three paintings a week from now on, in a protest he has dubbed “Art War”.

This makes me sick to my stomach

Crazytown. Italians are so emotional.  But he has a point.  Why prolong the inevitable?

While I agree completely that museums need funding and are a value to society, this is not in any way the solution. We are supposed to be stewards of our collections, and as far as I know that does not include destroying them to make a point. Although this particular artist may agree with having his art destroyed, does the museum plan to only destroy artworks by living artists who agree? Perhaps they are using this as a way of clearing out their collections without dealing with those pesky deaccessioning papers. This is not in any way, shape, or form, responsible conservation or education. What message are you giving the public? To me, this says that your collections are so expendable that you can burn them up. What does this prove? Even if the museum had to close, would the collections really be destroyed? Or would other museums who are capable of caring for them step up and take these works into their collection? It does not matter if your museum is closing tomorrow, you still have a responsibility to do your best for your collections. 

This chart has come up time and time again in my coursework. In the not-for-profit world, we have to talk a lot about where our money comes from and where we spend our time. How much time does your institution spend working for money from foundations or corporations? I think it would be very effective to look at how a chart of donations to your organization compares to one of other institutions in your area. 

This chart comes from the Giving USA Foundation, which publishes annual reports on the state of donations in the US. Their report is available online for free, and I highly recommend checking it out. 

jgorehampenney:

nparts:

Make Museums Free: What we can learn from Britain and Washington
After two or three centuries in business, public museums have developed into one of the splendours of democracy, the only places where private taste meets elite scholarship and we all pursue our own passions at our own pace. It’s an arena of opinion that permits individualism and innovation to come magnificently alive.

Just one thing is wrong: Going to a museum in Canada costs money. Unlike parks, libraries and cathedrals, museums have box offices. If two adults take three teenagers to the National Gallery in Ottawa, they pay $18. That’s to enter a building that their taxes built, to see art that they, being citizens, own. The Vancouver Art Gallery, which charges $17.50 for an individual ticket, offers a family rate (maximum two adults and four children) for $50, plus tax. Paddy Johnson, a Canadian curator who runs an art blog from Brooklyn, recently wrote: “I’ve never thought the public should be charged to see their own belongings.”

That’s also the British view. In Britain most of the national museums are entirely free, most of the time. In Washington the array of museums run by the Smithsonian Institution on the Mall proudly advertises “admission always free.”

Unfortunately, while charging money at the door supports the running of a museum, it also strengthens the wretched idea that the arts and sciences are the business of a few specialists and the well-to-do. Although many museums have free days or free hours, the existence of a regular ticket price sets the tone. It especially discourages those who find museums a shade intimidating.

I loved that the big national institutions in England didn’t charge an admission fee.  I hope that some day, people can visit the CMC and other institutions free of charge.