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Weekly Roundup: Museums in the News 8/04/2017

Category: Alliance Blog

1. For 25 years the Getty Foundation‘s Multicultural Internship Program has funded paid internships for underrepresented minorities at dozens of cultural organizations across Los Angeles in an effort to develop museum professionals who better reflect the diversity of the city. Changing the city’s cultural profile is slow work – but it’s making a difference according to Getty Foundation Deputy Director Joan Weinstein.

In its 25th year, the Getty’s Multicultural Internship Program is changing the face of arts leadership in L.A.

In summer 1999, Edgar Garcia took an internship at the Los Angeles Conservancy that helped change the course of his life. Born in Hollywood and raised in Lincoln Heights, Garcia is the son of Mexican immigrants who, when he was accepted at Yale University, hoped he might study something “practical.”


2. This interview provoked a lot of ire in my social media feeds due in part for how Philippe de Montebello, former director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, seems to blame contemporary art and the scale of digital projects for recent troubles at the Met. So… what’s your opinion?

Philippe de Montebello on How the Metropolitan Museum of Art Can Reclaim Its Glory | artnet News

A grandee in the annals of American museum history, Philippe de Montebello is, at 81, an institution in his own right-as venerable and encyclopedic as would befit the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which he led for three decades.

3. AAM and the Association of Art Museum Directors (AAMD) have issued a statement opposed to the Berkshire Museum’s plans to sell works from its collection to provide funds for its endowment, to make capital investments, and to pay for daily operations. This article from WBUR provides additional context on the situation.

Museum’s Plan To Sell 40 Works Has Art World Up In Arms

A museum in Western Massachusetts has found itself as the focus of a recurrent discussion in the art world: Is it ever okay for a museum to sell some of its works for financial reasons? For Van Shields, executive director of the Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield, the answer is a firm yes.

4. Last week fans of Snooty the manatee mourned the death of this 69-year-old animal from the Parker Manatee Aquarium of the South Florida Museum. The museum has announced that it will seek outside experts for a third-party review to determine what could have prevented the drowning of the manatee.

Outside experts will look into the death of Snooty, museum says

One day after the South Florida Museum announced they would consider seeking outside help to determine what, if anything, could have prevented the drowning of Manatee County’s beloved mascot Snooty, museum officials have determined they will seek a third-party review. “The museum is pursuing a third-party review of our care procedures and facility,” Communications Manager Jessica Schubick said Thursday.

5. Let’s roundup the Roundup on a lighter note – check out these uses of augmented reality from museums around the world.

Five Augmented Reality Experiences That Bring Museum Exhibits to Life

smithsonian.com Imagine being surrounded by a world of ghosts, things that aren’t there unless you look hard enough, and in the right way. With augmented reality technology, that’s possible-and museums are using it to their advantage. With augmented reality, museums are superimposing ther virtual world right over what’s actually in front of you, bringing exhibits and artifacts to life in new ways.


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