Vancouver

Out For Lunch Friday noon concert series awarded. “Representatives of the Vancouver Heritage Foundation awarded a commemorative plaque to North Vancouver resident Gene Ramsbottom at the Out For Lunch Friday noon concert series event Dec. 16 held at the Vancouver Art Gallery. The series was created as a Centennial Project for Vancouver's birthday in 1986 and has since showcased thousands of local and international musicians at its home base of the Vancouver Art Gallery. North Shore News, January 11, 2012

A new PuSh for the arts. “Nothing heralds the beginning of a new year’s cycle in the cultural life of this city than the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival…There has been expansion into local art galleries this year with the Vancouver Art Gallery, Centre A, Contemporary Art Gallery and the Grunt participating.”  The Province, January 11, 2012

Organizing cutting edge PuSH festival is an art in itself. “For the curators who travel the world to select the works for the annual PuSh Festival, liking a performance is just the first step in bringing a show to Vancouver.”  Vancouver Sun, January 12, 2012

Painting the stage Red. “When Canadian actor Jim Mezon was preparing for his stage role as the brilliant American abstractionist Mark Rothko, he sat for hours in the Art Gallery of Ontario, staring at that institution’s collection of Rothko paintings.”  Georgia Straight, January 12, 2012

Alliance for Arts and Culture greets gaming announcement with "cautious optimism".  “The Alliance for Arts and Culture's new executive director is hailing the provincial government's reversal of a "devastating" cancellation of eligibility as the most positive new out of a gaming-grant announcement today.”  Georgia Straight, January 11, 2012

Alliance Responds To Gaming Grant Announcements. “The arts community has endured tremendous funding challenges over the past three years, and we are grateful to receive some news of positive steps.” Alliance for Arts and Culture (Blog), January 12, 2012

The government's sleight of hand doesn't fool charities. “Wednesday's press conference to announce the government's response to the Community Gaming Grant Review was held, of all places, in the Port Moody Arts Centre, which surely had nothing to do with an upcoming by-election there.”  Vancouver Sun, January 12, 2012

New report compares municipal cultural investments in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Ottawa and Montréal. “In the five cities combined, the average total net cultural investment amounted to $35 per resident in 2009. Vancouver ranked second, with a net amount of $47 per person invested in the cultural sector in 2009.”  (See below for full report).  Hills Strategies Research, January 10, 2012

Victoria

Aboriginal curators look at art from a new perspective. The Audain Aboriginal Curatorial Fellowship, endowed to the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria on what will be an annual basis, is intended to support B.C. First Nations curatorial work.  Times Colonist, January 11, 2012

Calgary

Fate of Occupy statue in limbo. The future of the Occupy Calgary sculpture remains up in the air, with the artist acknowledging he is undecided over his aspirations for the steel structure and is contemplating asking the city for its return.  Calgary Herald, January 12, 2012

Toronto

Toronto lags in municipal funding for the arts: study. A study of municipal investment in culture in five major Canadian cities indicates that Toronto, our largest metropolis, is faltering in efforts to increase per capita funding. (See below for Hills Strategies Research report).  Globe & Mail, January 11, 2012

Retrospective: Cultural Icon Will Munro at the Art Gallery of York University.  “As the show makes clear, Munro’s life and career were one and the same: Will was, to attempt a defining term, a social/cultural/political hub, a remarkable, gifted bi-part creative engine and easygoing charm machine with the effortless gravitational force to pull the like-minded into close orbit.” Toronto Star, January 12, 2012

Canada

Municipal Cultural Investment in Five Large Canadian Cities. “This report compares the municipal cultural investment in five of Canada’s largest cities: Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, Ottawa and Montréal.”   Hills Strategies Research, January 10, 2012

Arts education. The latest issue focuses on arts education and children’s arts experiences, including an American report on arts education and arts participation, a study of the arts education activities of Toronto performing arts organizations and a report on the participation of young Canadian children in arts and reading activities outside of school.  Arts Research Monitor (Hills Strategies Research), January 11, 2012

New York

Warhol's Banana in Lawsuit The 1960s rock band formed by Lou Reed and John Cale accused the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts of trademark infringement, claiming in a lawsuit that the banana design is synonymous with The Velvet Underground.  Wall Street Journal, January 11, 2012

Blockbuster Exhibits Make A Win For The Met, But MoMA Attendance Slumps The Alexander McQueen exhibit boosts the Met Museum's attendance, but MoMA can't quite regain the banner numbers of 2010. Still, both museums have good news about the recession - for them, it's pretty much over. Business Week (Bloomberg) January 12, 2012

A Lisbon Architect Brings His Skills to MoMA — Q&A Pedro Gadanho has been hired as a curator for the museum’s department of architecture and design.  New York Times, January 12, 2012  

Boston

First Look At The Gardner Museum's New Wing "The Gardner's new wing is next to the Venetian-style palazzo, connected by a glass passageway. The new building, designed by Italian architect Renzo Piano, includes galleries, a restaurant, a 296-seat concert hall, space for educational programs, a greenhouse, and artist residences. The 70,000-square-foot space will also serve as the museum's new entrance." Boston Globe, January 11, 2012

San Miguel de Allende, Mexico

Canadian war artist Leonard Brooks, 100, made Mexico his home Feeling underappreciated in his native land, he ‘brought magic' to an artists' colony in San Miguel de Allende.  Globe and Mail, January 12, 2012

British Virgin Islands

John McWhinnie, an Expert in Rare Books, Dies at 43 Mr. McWhinnie was a rare-book dealer and gallerist known as a champion of words and images on paper in an age of electronic reading.  New York Times, January 12, 2012

Helsinki

Guggenheim Proposes New Museum In Helsinki "Helsinki city councillors are expected to decide on the $180 million US project in February. If approved, the earliest the museum could open in the city of 600,000 people would be in 2017." CBC, January 11, 2012