Monster Mash: Holocaust museum still closed; Eli Broad campaigns for MOCA; Murakami hearts Vuitton
--Aftermath: The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington remains closed today after a security guard was fatally shot in the entranceway Wednesday by a gunman with neo-Nazi ties.
--Stumping: Museum of Contemporary Art's attempt at a comeback has its biggest backers, including Eli Broad, pounding the pavement in Europe.
--Bloghilde: Seattle Opera has hired a 19-year-old to video blog about the company's latest production of Wagner's Ring Cycle.
--Dance on Broadway: "Burn the Floor," a show featuring Latin and ballroom dancing, has landed a 12-week run at Broadway's Longacre Theatre.
--My kingdom for an oil well: An Arabic-language adaptation of Shakespeare's "Richard III" is gaining a lot of attention during its limited run at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
--If you build it: The shortlist for Britain's top public architecture prize has been announced and the finalists include designs by Building Design Partnership, Wilkinson Eyre Architects and Ramboll.
--No surprise here: Charitable giving by Americans fell 2% in 2008, with contributions to arts, cultural and humanities organizations decreasing 6.4%.
--Appointment: The Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach has named Cecilia Fajardo-Hill as its new chief curator.
--Do they have surround sound? Mark Swed ponders the promotional placement of cars in front of classical music concert halls.
--Superflat: Takashi Murakami's latest short video celebrating his collaboration with Louis Vuitton is a viral hit. (See the video below.)
--Welcome to the club: Significant delays hit the planned Miami-Dade Cultural Arts Center, which means the $38.8-million complex may not open til 2011.
--Congress and the arts: A House subcommittee has advanced a bill that sets the budgets for the NEA and NEH at $170 million each for fiscal 2010, up from the current appropriation of $155 million each.
--Celebrity purchase: Brad Pitt buys a Neo Rauch painting at Art Basel, with a little help from Eli Broad.
--No Tony Awards, but ... : Dolly Parton will release the cast album of "9 to 5: The Musical" in mid-July on the Dolly Records label.
--David Ng
Photo: Flowers stand in front of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington. Credit: Mark Wilson / Getty Images
