Updated March 11, 2008

Wall Street Financier Donates $100 Million to Library
Stephen A. Schwarzman, Chairman, CEO and Co-Founder, The Blackstone Group, New York, NY, and a library trustee, donated $100 million to the New York Public Library as lead gift to a $1 billion expansion campaign. In honor of his gift, the largest unrestricted gift to a cultural group in New York City, the Central Library on 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue will be named the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building. For information, www.nypl.org.

Thomas Krens to Step Down
Thomas Krens will step down as Director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, a position he has held since 1988. Upon naming a successor, Krens will assume the role of Senior Advisor for International Affairs developing and overseeing all aspects of the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi. Under his leadership, the Guggenheim established three new museums, the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, the Deutsche Guggenheim and the Guggenheim Hermitage Museum Las Vegas. For information, www.guggenheim.org.

Bruce Nauman Chosen for Venice Biennale
The Federal Advisory Committee on International Exhibitions, a group organized by the National Endowment for the Arts, chose conceptual artist and sculptor Bruce Nauman to represent the United States at the 2009 Venice Biennale.  The Philadelphia Museum of Art was chosen as the commissioner for the 2009 United States Pavilion.  For information, www.nytimes.com.

Pepy Succeeded Rigaud at ADMICAL
Guillaume Pepy, the Director General of SNCF, has succeeded Jacques Rigaud as President of ADMICAL, the Paris-based association founded in 1979 that promotes alliances between business and the arts.  For information, www.admical.org.

Deutsche Bank Shares Work with Guggenheim
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation has accepted a donation from Deutsche Bank that gives the museum 50% ownership of 60 contemporary works by five artists commissioned by the two institutions.  For 10 years, the Guggenheim Foundation and Deutsche Bank have collaboratively commissioned artworks, with the Guggenheim choosing the artists and the bank financing the creation of the artwork, exhibition and catalogue.  For information, www.nytimes.com.

Eli and Edythe Broad Donate $26 Million to MSU for New Art Museum
Michigan State University alumnus Eli Broad, and his wife, Edythe, donated $26 million – $18.5 million for construction and $7.5 for endowment and acquisitions – to MSU to create a new museum focused on modern and contemporary art post 1945.  Designed by architect Zaha Hadid, the museum is expected to open in the fall of 2008 and will be named the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum.  For information, www.msu.edu.

Los Angeles County Museum of Art Receives $10 Million Gift
A foundation established by art collectors Jane and Marc Nathanson agreed to donate $10 million to LACMA for acquisitions and exhibitions of contemporary art.  A first floor gallery in the museum’s new building, the Broad Contemporary Art Museum, will be named for the Nathansons.  Jane Nathanson is a museum trustee and a psychotherapist and Marc Nathanson is a cable television and investment company executive.  For information, www.nytimes.com.

Collector Gives Modern Art Collection to 16 Museums
Richard S. Zeisler, a private investor who amassed more than 110 works by modern art masters, bequeathed his collection to 16 museums including the Metropolitan Museum, the Museum of Modern Art and the Guggenheim Museum.  His collection, valued at approximately $100 million, included works by Miró, Magritte, Kandinsky and Picasso.  For information, www.nytimes.com.

New Directors of the Phillips Collection and Vatican Museum
Dorothy Kosinski, senior curator of painting at the Dallas Museum of Art, will replace Jay Gates as the Director of the Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C. Pope Benedict XVI has selected Antonio Paolucci to replace Francesco Buranelli as director of the Vatican Museums.  For information, www.nytimes.com.

Safeco Insurance Foundation Grants $1.5 Million to Seattle Organizations
The Northwest African-American Museum, The Wing Luke Asian Museum and Seattle Parks Foundation, all in Seattle, WA, each received a $500,000 capital campaign grant from the newly created Safeco Insurance Foundation.  The foundation was established in 2006 by Safeco Insurance with an endowment of $90 million.  For information, www.safeconews.com.

Bank of America Charitable Foundation Makes $1 Million Grant to Asian Art Museum
The Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, CA, received a $1 million grant from Bank of America Charitable Foundation to underwrite The Bridge Program, a series of initiatives that will expand access to high-quality K-12 teaching materials about Asia.  The museum offer a day of free admission and family activities on December 1 to celebrate this funding milestone.  For information,
http://newsroom.bankofamerica.com.

Cuyahoga Arts and Culture To Distribute Cigarette Tax Funds
Sixty-eight arts organizations in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, which includes Cleveland, will receive operating support raised through a cigarette tax approved by voters last year.  $15 million will be distributed in each of the next three years to arts organizations in amounts based on budget size.  For information,
www.cacgrants.org.

Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Approves $15.125 Million for Arts Initiative
The Nonprofit Finance Fund announced a record $15.125 million grant from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.  The grant will launch a new national initiative, Leading for the Future: Innovative Support for Artistic Excellence, which will provide capital resources, technical assistance and advisory services to leading contemporary dance, jazz, theater and presenting organizations for up to five years.  For information, www.nonprofitfinancefund.org.

American Symphony Orchestra League Changes Name to League of American Orchestras
The American Symphony Orchestra League will now be known as the League of American Orchestras.  The name was changed in conjunction with a new strategic plan that enables the League to better assist orchestras with training, research and development, leadership and advocacy. For information, www.americanorchestras.org.

Metropolitan Opera to Offer Performances via On-Demand Television
A new agreement with In Demand Networks will offer eight Met Opera performances to On-Demand television subscribers.  These performances are part of the second season of the Metropolitan Opera: Live in High Definition series which transmitted operas to movie theaters.  For information, www.metoperafamily.org.

Americans for the Arts Announces 21st Annual Nancy Hanks Lecture on Arts and Public Policy
Daniel Pink, author of the best-selling book, A Whole New Mind and author of the Harvard Business Review article, The MFA is the New MBA will present the Nancy Hanks Lecture at Americans for the Arts’ Arts Advocacy Day 2008.  The lecture will take place on Monday, March 31, 2008 at 7:30 p.m. at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C.  For information, www.artsusa.org.

New Director Named at Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago
The Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, named Madeleine Grynsztejn, a former curator at the Art Institute of Chicago, as its next Director.  Grynsztejn will succeed Robert Fitzpatrick in 2008 when he completes ten years as the museum’s Director.  For information, www.chicagotribune.com.

American Symphony Orchestra League Announces Change in Leadership
The American Symphony Orchestra League has announced that its current President, Henry Fogel, will retire at the conclusion of his five-year term in June, 2008.  Executive Vice President and Managing Director, Jesse Rosen, will assume the post as President in July 2008.  For information, www.symphony.org.

Companies Lead Campaign for New Cultural Facilities in Charlotte
Wachovia, Bank of America, and Duke Energy have all made leadership grants to the Charlotte Campaign for Cultural Facilities, directed by the Arts & Science Council (ASC).  This campaign will support the development of a 1,100-seat theater, a modern art museum, a consolidated Mint Museum of Art and the relocated Afro-American Cultural Center.  For information, www.artsandscience.org.

Study Reveals Economic Impact of the Arts in Northwest Ohio
The arts and other creative industries generate more than $2.4 billion in economic activity in northwest Ohio, according to “Arts and Regional Prosperity: Economic Impact of the Creative Industries in Northwest Ohio”, a recent study conducted by the Center for Regional Development at Bowling Green State University.  The study also asserted that creative industries support 33.426 jobs in the region.  For information, www.toledoblade.com.

Doris Lessing Recipient of Nobel Prize in Literature
Novelist, playwright and nonfiction author Doris Lessing is the recipient of the 2007 Nobel Prize in Literature.  The award, announced in Stockholm by the Swedish Academy, includes an honorarium of approximately $1.6 million.  For information, www.nytimes.com.

Day of Free Admission at San Diego Museums
In a San Diego Union-Tribune op-ed piece, Derrick R. Cartwright, Director of the San Diego Museum of Art, and Hugh M. Davies, Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, announced a day of free admission for visitors to their respective museums in celebration of National Arts and Humanities Month.  For information, www.signonsandiego.com.

Michigan Museum Adopts Eco-Friendly Design
The Grand Rapids Art Museum, Grand Rapids, MI, could become one of the first art museums to receive a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.  The new 125,000 square foot space was built from 10% recycled materials, is situated in a part of town easily accessible by public transportation, and the facility utilizes recycled rainwater in its restrooms, plant irrigation and in a reflecting pool.  For information, www.gramonline.org.

Free Admission to New Perelman Building at Philadelphia Museum of Art
Wachovia, Charlotte, NC, is sponsoring free admission to the newly renovated and expanded Ruth and Raymond G. Perelman Building of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA, through December 31.  The Perelman Building renovation is the first step in a major plan to update and enhance the museum.  For information, www.philamuseum.org.

Four Artists Among MacArthur “Genius Award” Recipients
Twenty-four individuals were named recipients of this year’s MacArthur Foundation “Genius Awards”.  Among the recipients of the unrestricted fellowship - $100,000 annually for five years - are 11 women and 13 men.  Soprano Dawn Upshaw, playwright Lynn Nottage, writer Stuart Dybek and installation artist Whitfield Lovell.   For information, www.macfound.org.

Joffrey Ballet Announces New Artistic Director
The Joffrey Ballet, Chicago, IL, has named Ashley Wheater as its new Artistic Director and successor to co-founder Gerald Arpino.  Wheater is currently Ballet Master of the San Francisco Ballet, San Francisco, CA, and was formerly a dancer with the Royal Ballet, London.  For information, www.joffrey.com.

National Indian Museum Announces New Director
The Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) has named Kevin Gover as its new Director.  Gover is currently a professor at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, and is a member of the Pawnee Tribe of Oklahoma.  He succeeds W. Richard West, who is retiring.  For information, www.nytimes.com.