Is seeing that Renoir essential? In the pandemic, cities differ.
In an undated image provided via Art Institute of Chicago, inside the Art Institute of Chicago. Arizona has allowed its museums to remain open despite a deadly outbreak, while in cities and states with far fewer cases, the doors have been closed. Via Art Institute of Chicago via The New York Times.
by Julia Jacobs
(NYT NEWS SERVICE)
.- On a recent afternoon outside the Art Institute of Chicago, there was no trace of the line that typically snakes down the museums granite steps and along Michigan Avenue as visitors wait to enter the grand home of Edward Hoppers Nighthawks and Grant Woods American Gothic. Every so often a passerby paused on the desolate sidewalk to take a selfie with one of the bronze lions guarding the museum, but there was no reason to go further: The doors were locked.
Art behind locked doors: How galleries continue to suffer during COVID-19
Museums around the world are struggling to cope under COVID-19 lockdowns. While some have turned to online exhibits, others are doubting whether they can survive.
Located near Hamburg s famed but now shuttered fish market, the Hamburger Kunsthalle museum is in lockdown yet its walls are freshly adorned with paintings by Italian master Giorgio de Chirico (1888 to 1978). His dreamlike cityscapes painted between 1909-1919 were a forerunner to surrealism, and can now be enjoyed via a virtual online tour. The exhibition opening was also live streamed to the public.
De Chirico is the painter of empty spaces, the painter of nightmares in the midst of society, said Kunsthalle museum director Alexander Klar at the opening of the Magical Reality exhibition.
BUY Cloth · 152 pp. · 5 × 8 · ISBN 9780813945620 · $19.95 · Feb 2021
For some in our society, diversity is a threat. Others feel society should be more inclusive, if only out of fairness. But as Johnnetta Cole argues in her new book, embracing diversity and inclusiveness is more than a virtuous ideal; it is essential to a healthy, productive society. Focusing on higher education and other arenas of cultural development, Cole explores our institutions’ vulnerability to the influence of racism and the wider implications for American society. At the core of Cole’s argument is the belief that increasing the representation of historically marginalized groups on college campuses, and in museums, media, and other institutions is, like the liberal arts, vitally important to social progress. Accompanying Cole’s urgent calls to implement social change are vividly rendered experiences from her own remarkable life. Cole issues a challenge for courageous conversations about race a
Nonprofits Urge Targeted Executive, Legislative Policies
February 1, 2021
While nonprofits were included in coronavirus relief legislation, a group of 75 charitable organizations has sent a letter to President Joseph R. Biden and top Congressional leaders, urging them to enact provisions that specifically address their needs.
Within the letter, the group acknowledged the Families First Act, the CARES Act and the COVID relief law contain provisions that help charitable nonprofits.
“However, we note that those Acts often did so by inserting nonprofits into existing or predetermined programs designed for for-profit businesses that face very different challenges,” the signators asserted in their Jan. 22 letter, which was sent to President Biden, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.