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Autry Center expansion plans: L.A. says, 'Not so fast, pardner'

AutryMuseumThe Autry National Center got corralled at least temporarily on Tuesday in its bid for a $96-million expansion of its Museum of the American West in Griffith Park.

A panel of five City Council members — faced with a polite crowd of more than 200 people divided between those with “Yes!” decals urging approval of the Autry’s plans and others with multicolored paper “S.O.S.” buttons, for “Save Our Southwest” — voted unanimously to delay a decision for four weeks. It urged the Autry to provide legal assurances by then that the Southwest Museum of the American Indian in Mount Washington won't become just an afterthought to a larger, more comprehensive Griffith Park facility. 

One of the core objections to the expansion comes from a group of neighbors of the Autry-owned Southwest Museum who deeply distrust the Autry’s motives. They fear that it wants to strip the Southwest of its collection — a trove of Native American artifacts — so the Autry can provide a one-stop  Griffith Park experience involving cowboys, Indians and all the other players in the history of the West. The expansion in Griffith Park would include a new section for exhibiting Native American objects.

The Autry, named for singing cowboy Gene Autry, took charge of the financially tottering Southwest in 2003 in a merger that allayed fears that its collection might be sent elsewhere and thereby be lost to L.A. Except for the museum store, open on weekends, the Southwest has been closed since 2006 as it awaits repairs.

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U.S. House hikes arts and humanities budgets

USCapitol The House of Representatives today approved $170-million budgets for the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities in 2010: a 9.7% increase for each over their current $155 million. The vote was 254 to 173 for the Department of the Interior, Environment and Related Agencies budget bill, which includes the two cultural grant-making agencies.

Having won a $50-million battle in the Senate earlier this year, arts lobbyists plan another push in the upper chamber -- this time to pass $170-million operating budgets for the NEH and NEA.

The issue now: the Senate Appropriations Committee's budget proposal for the cultural agencies calls for $161.3 million each (President Obama's budget proposal included $161.3 million for the NEA and $171.3 million for the NEH).

So Americans for the Arts, the nonprofit advocacy group that helped lead the charge on Capitol Hill to convince senators that $50 million for arts jobs would have an economically stimulative effect, is again calling on arts lovers to send a message, this time for the $170-million operating budgets.

The House also approved $25 million for the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, an increase of $3.7 million, and $634.2 million for the Smithsonian Institution, a $40.8-million hike.

-- Mike Boehm

Related stories: Can Rocco Landesman make the NEA relevant again?

Obama picks former Rep. Jim Leach to head National Endowment for the Humanities

Photo: U.S. Capitol. Credit: Peter Gridley / Getty Images

LA Arts Town Hall 2009: D.C. keynote speaker debriefs

LA Arts Town Hall exterior More than 500 artists, art leaders, city and county government representatives and potential arts funders convened today at the Japanese American Cultural Community Center for the 2009 LA Arts Town Hall.

This morning, Culture Monster reported on a chat that took place earlier this week with keynote speaker Robert L. Lynch, president and chief executive of the Washington, D.C., arts advocacy organization Americans for the Arts.

And this evening, we caught up with a rather ebullient Lynch as he prepared to fly back to Washington after the day's activities.

"First of all, I thought there was a great turnout, lots of people — and that in and of itself is testimony to the value of the arts to this community," he said. Lynch was particularly pleased by the mix of people, which included not only the requisite representatives of arts organizations but also government officials and their staffers. "You also had folks from the private sector — a number of funders, which was absolutely terrific; it shows an interest in partnership with the arts community."  

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Obama White House to become Marsalis music academy for a day

The first family of the United States is scheduled to welcome the first family of jazz to the White House on Monday, along with 150 youngsters who'll come to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. not for a tour, but for a blue-ribbon music lesson.MichelleObama1

First Lady Michelle Obama will be the hostess for the White House Jazz Studio, the first in a series of three planned music education sessions this year at the White House, with the next two featuring as-yet unnamed country and classical musicians as guest instructors.

For the kickoff event, five members of the Marsalis family are on the bill as instructors for instrumental music students hailing mainly from music academies in Washington, but also from the Marsalises' hometown of New Orleans and other regions. 

Brothers Wynton, Branford, Delfeayo and Jason Marsalis will be among the faculty (sharing their expertise on trumpet, saxophone, trombone and drums, respectively), and Semonti Mustaphi, the first lady's deputy press secretary, said that piano-playing paterfamilias Ellis Marsalis is expected to be on hand as well.

The rest of the teaching crew includes trumpeter Sean Jones, saxophonist/clarinetist Todd Williams and singer-pianist Eli Yamin, all from Wynton Marsalis' musical circle as artistic director of Lincoln Center Jazz, and Stephen C. Massey, chairman of the music department for the Foxborough, Mass., public schools.

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D.C. arts advocate previews today's L.A. Arts Town Hall

Video and bob lynch 002 Robert L. Lynch -- president and chief executive officer of the Washington, D.C., arts advocacy organization Americans for the Arts -- always counts on trips to L.A. to add a burst of sunshine to his life. But when he hit town this week, he was instead met by our June gloom (which to Culture Monster always sounds like some glum Goth scenester).

Despite the gray weather, Lynch -- the keynote speaker at today's 2009 L.A. Arts Town Hall at downtown's Japan America Theatre -- was buoyed by Wednesday's arts news from the Hill: The House Appropriations Committee had approved a bill that sets the annual budget for the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities at $170 million each.

Earlier, President Obama had proposed increasing NEH funding to $171.3 million in 2010, a bigger boost than he was seeking for the NEA, which he would increase from $155 million to $161.3 million. The newly approved bill would put the NEA on par with Obama's proposal for the NEH, although it would still not meet the federal arts agency's all-time high of $176 million in 1992.

Culture Monster caught up with Lynch at downtown's Omni Hotel, where he was still scribbling his notes for this morning's address to the town hall, a daylong event presented by Arts for L.A. and the Center for Cultural Innovation in partnership with the NEA, the James Irvine Foundation, the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs and Los Angeles County Arts Commission.

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Monster Mash: Holocaust museum still closed; Eli Broad campaigns for MOCA; Murakami hearts Vuitton

Holocaust_museum

--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

Monster Mash: Cirque founder gets spacey, makeover for Esa-Pekka, 'Valley Girl,' the musical

Guy Laliberte

-- High-flying Guy: Cirque du Soleil founder Guy Laliberte to become Canada's first space tourist.

-- Like, totally: "Shrek: The Musical" director Jason Moore signed on to helm a film remake of "Valley Girl" as a musical.

-- NEH nominee: Former Iowa Congressman Jim Leach is tapped to head the National Endowment for Humanities.

-- New job, new look: Esa-Pekka Salonen gets a makeover.

-- Reviewing the reviewer: Should critics divulge their political leanings when writing reviews?

-- Star power: Annette Bening takes on "Medea" in UCLA Live season opener.

-- If I were a rich man: French billionaire Francois Pinault opens a new contemporary art museum in Venice.


-- Reality bites: Recession forces cancellation of major art exhibitions around the world.

-- Tracking audiences: LaJolla Playhouse and other theaters take social networking to a new level.

-- Investing in its future: Detroit Symphony Orchestra receives $1 million to be used to raise more money.

-- Copyright suit: Artist Chapman Kelley launches federal appeal over Chicago wildflower artwork.

-- More tragic news: Two more artists among the passengers feared dead in Air France jetliner crash.

-- Puppets make appeal: City Council grants landmark status to Bob Baker Marionette Theater.

-- Beauty in bathrooms: Shoji Tabuchi Theatre in Branson, Mo., Radio City Music Hall in New York and Tampa Theatre in Florida among contenders for best restroom.

-- Lisa Fung

Photo: Cirque Du Soleil founder Guy Laliberte. Credit: Kevork Djansezian / Associated Press

Obama picks former Rep. Jim Leach to head National Endowment for the Humanities* (updated)

Jimleach
President Obama is now two-for-two in making somewhat unorthodox choices for the top spots in the agencies that help set and fund the nation’s cultural agenda. After recently tapping Rocco Landesman, a Broadway producer and theater owner, to head the National Endowment for the Arts, Obama today picked a longtime former Republican congressman, Jim Leach of Iowa, to head the National Endowment for the Humanities.

“I don’t look at it as a partisan circumstance at all,” Leach said when reached at Princeton University, where since 2007 he has been a professor of public and international affairs, recently teaching courses on “Congress and Foreign Policy” and “The Conjunction of U.S. and Chinese Foreign Policy.”

In a statement, Obama described Leach as “a valued and dedicated public servant” who can carry on the NEH’s “vital mission of ... giving the American public access to the rich resources of our culture.”

If confirmed by the Senate, Leach, 66, would succeed Bruce Cole, a former Indiana University art historian who served seven years after his 2001 appointment by then-President George W. Bush, making him the longest-tenured chairman the humanities endowment has had since it was created in 1965. Carole M. Watson is serving as interim director of the $155-million-a-year agency, whose grant-making casts a wide net in backing researchers, authors, documentary filmmakers, exhibitions and education in history, literature and arts.

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Monster Mash: Backlash over Obama's Broadway trip; Susan Boyle hospitalized; Lester Horton Dance Awards

-- Costly night out: Republicans grumble about taxpayers footing the bill for Barack and Michelle Obama's trip to Broadway.

-- In need of a break: Scottish singer Susan Boyle reportedly suffers an "emotional breakdown" after losing "Britain's Got Talent" contest to dance group Diversity. Her brother says she's "fine" but perhaps "a wee bit homesick." 

-- Local troupes honors: Method Contemporary Dance Company wins outstanding achievement honors from Lester Horton Dance Awards.

-- A new type of toy story: Universal Pictures is in a deal with Mattel to create a live-action musical film based on a monster toy. Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman ("Hairspray") will do the music. 

Frank Romero mural -- In court: Chicano artist Frank Romero sues Caltrans over a painted-over mural on the Hollywood Freeway.

-- Financial turnaround: After a decade of financial uncertainty, Mass MOCA appears on track to breaking even.

-- Kent Nagano's new home: Design is unveiled for $259-million Montreal Symphony Orchestra concert hall.

-- Grand (re)opening: The Huntington unveils its newly expanded Virginia Steele Scott Galleries of American Art, one of a number of museum galleries dedicated to American art. Christopher Knight reviews.

-- Raising awareness: New York painter Eric Fischl organizes "America Now + Here," a planned cross-country exhibition of art, theater, music and poetry.

-- Still available: An oil painting depicting a nude Madonna and ex-husband Guy Ritchie fails to sell at auction in Scotland.

-- Heading east: Goodman Theatre's double bill of O'Neill's "Hughie" and Beckett's "Krapp's Last Tape" sets April 2010 Broadway opening.

-- As expected: Geoff Nuttall named artistic director of Spoleto Festival USA chamber music series.

-- New leadership: Philip Seymour Hoffman, John Ortiz and John Gould Rubin step down as artistic directors of LAByrinth Theater Company.

-- Something's fishy here: Chicago's Shedd Aquarium offers a course in sushi making.

Photo: Frank Romero in front of his mural "Going to the Olympics" before it was painted over by Caltrans. Credit: Bob Chamberlin / Los Angeles Times

Muralist Frank Romero sues Caltrans for painting over freeway work

 GoingtotheOlympics

Frank Romero, a noted muralist and pioneering Chicano painter, is suing Caltrans for painting over a mural he created along the Hollywood Freeway downtown in conjunction with the 1984 Olympics.

Last year, muralist Kent Twitchell won a $1.1-million settlement against the U.S. government and others for painting over his portrait of fellow artist Ed Ruscha on a federally owned building in downtown L.A.

Romero's suit, filed Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court, contends that sometime after June 1, 2007, a Caltrans work crew painted over his 102-foot-long, 20-foot-high mural, "Going to the Olympics," erasing it from a wall at Alameda Street. The episode took place, the suit says, without Romero having been given the advance notice required under a 1980 state law protecting artists' "moral rights."  The notice provides 90 days for the artist to save or relocate works of public art before a building's owner can have them removed.

Romero, who could not be reached Friday, is seeking a court order to have the mural restored and then maintained at the transportation department's expense. If restoration is not possible, he wants the mural removed to another, presumably safer spot. The suit also asks for restitution and damages, including punitive damages that, under state law, the judge would award to a nonprofit fine arts organization.

Patrick Chandler, spokesman for Caltrans District 7,which includes Los Angeles County, said Friday that he could not comment on "something going through the legal process now." He also declined to say whether Caltrans is concerned it could be vulnerable to other "moral rights" suits by artists over freeway murals.

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