Hasta La Ideas

It seems like just over a year and a half ago that the Smithsonian was announcing that Wayne Clough was taking over as the head of the organization. And that’s because it was just over a year and a half ago that that happened. Clough had come in right in the middle of a tough time for the Smithsonian, with the past few years of big financial hurdles and scandals perpetrated by people like W. Richard West Jr. and Lawrence Small and his cadre of big spenders. All of that, of course, was followed the museum-punishing economic plummet, which hasn’t been nice to any cultural institution. Fortunately, Clough seems to have been weathering the storm fairly well thus far and that’s the subject of this interesting AP piece, looking back at his first year at the Smithsonian and what he’s done to keep things moving forward and afloat, despite all those things attempting to weigh the institution down. It’s a uniformly positive piece, not choosing to talk to people who have less-sunshiny opinions about what he’s done in his first year (there are always some, surely), but it serves as a nice recap and a look at where the Smithsonian is currently headed.

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A quick round-up of interesting museum news. First, the news outlets are continuing their research into top museum officials’ salaries, this time finding Bloomberg focusing on Ellen Futter, the present of the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Despite major cutbacks in endowments, resulting layoffs, and raised ticket prices, Futter reportedly brought in over a million dollars in combined salary, bonuses, and perks. Though they do mention that she also took on a five percent pay cut this year, but we don’t see that really appeasing any readers who will get worked up about how much she’s being paid (is that the point of all these recent pieces?). Second, with museums across the country suffering, the NY Times reports that massive financial institutions like Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase have been putting together their own pre-packaged exhibitions to give to hurting museums, useable for a small fee and with the understanding that the lending company will have its branding everywhere. This has museum people, of course, a little on edge, but surprisingly generally positive about the whole thing, just so long as they have some involvement in getting to finalize how the exhibits function. And last, moving outside, the Metropolitan Museum of Art‘s war on food vendors has kicked up a notch. Just weeks after the high-profile removal of a long-time hot dog cart owner, the Met (via the city) has taken aim on each of the vendors surrounding the building, giving them $1000 tickets for not being in the right areas (too close to the curb or too far from the curb) and the museum saying they’re pushing due to complaints from visitors that “they are finding it increasingly difficult to enter the building and almost impossible to exit at the end of the day.” It also keeps more people eating at the museum’s cafes, but we’re sure the two things aren’t related.

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A few weeks back, this writer was traveling through western Michigan and perhaps the highlight of the trip was passing by one of the Herman Miller factories. Not that there was anything to see — it was just a building with a sign out front — but there’s something exciting about being so close to all that fancy product design and assembly. What’s more, this is the second time we’ve done this — the first being in Atlanta last year, when we also passed by one of their offices (this writer’s wife’s response to both instances of said excitement was a halfhearted “That’s nice”). For those of you who share our odd enthusiasm, or for you normals who just enjoy their products on a purely wholesome level, you’ll be keen to know that the company will be hitting the road soon. Or, rather, the local Muskegon Museum of Art, will be heading out on tour soon with their collection of Herman Miller artifacts and history lessons, with “Good Design: Stories from Herman Miller.” It will feature illustrations, early sketches, and photographs, and will be displaying a number of items on loan from The Henry Ford Museum that have never been exhibited before. “Good Design” has just opened in Muskegon and will run there until early November, after which the museum will begin its first traveling exhibition, hitting as many as 15 cities over the next four years. We’re thinking another trip up to western Michigan is definitely in the cards soon, but if you aren’t in close proximity, here’s the list of the other museums the exhibit will stop at that have already been booked:

After the exhibition’s Muskegon run, it will head to the Goldstein Museum of Design in St. Paul, Minn., and then to Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Chester said. Other locations already scheduled include: San Francisco Museum of Craft and Design, San Francisco; Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum in Wausau, Wis.; Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, N.Y.; and Hunter Museum of American Art, Chattanooga, Tenn.

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What’s the main problem with New York City-based museums? According to writer Fred Bernstein, it’s that their content warning signs aren’t nearly large enough to ward off parents with children. Bernstein filed this report for the NY Times‘ City Room blog, sharing a few stories of running into not so child-friendly exhibits at places like P.S.1 and the Brooklyn Museum, both of which found the writer quickly covering eyes and pushing toward the nearest exit. Fortunately, he seems to have a sense of humor about the whole thing, and each experience feels written to emphasize the shock at each locale. As said above, Bernstein doesn’t call for art museums to turn into child-safe zones, like so many science museums, but instead just take the time to give parents a heads up, unlike at P.S.1, which has a very, very tiny sign warning of “graphic content,” one that’s likely missed by 98% of museum attendees. No matter your level of agreement with Bernstein, it’s an interesting thing to think about, the museum’s role in conversing with its patrons and how that’s handled.

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Like with the Guardian deciding to investigate Prince Charles‘ architectural meddlings after his most recent battles made such a stir, the same is now happening to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art‘s Michael Govan. Following his high-profile cutting of the museum’s weekend film program and then the sudden influx of donations to keep it afloat, the LA Times has decided to look into just how much of a cut Govan gets from their shrinking endowments. Turns out he’s doing pretty well for himself, between nearly $1 million in salary and additional benefits like rent-free housing and car allowances. This is certainly nothing unheard of, as we reported the other day on museum head’s salaries (at larger institutions, that cool million is about the standard), but art critic Christopher Knight has a bone to pick with one particular in his paper’s breakdown of Govan’s perks: that the director can be paid $36,000 per year to live in his home in New York City, or $1,000 per night, which he has done. Knight’s criticism isn’t over the fee so much as asking why Govan should be spending more than a full month across the country, away from his museum. “The time invested in another city is what seems inexplicably steep.”

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