Monster Mash: MoMA’s financial difficulties; Art Basel Miami rebounds; ‘Fela’ biopic

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-- Money trouble: New York’s Museum of Modern Art has frozen pay and reduced benefits for its employees after its investments fell more than 17% in the last fiscal year. (Bloomberg)

-- Flying off the shelves: Galleries at Art Basel Miami report sales have rebounded from 2008, with 75% of galleries reporting revenue rose 15% or more over last year’s fair. (Miami Herald)

-- Send your resume: Nicholas Martin will step down as artistic director of the Williamstown Theatre Festival after the summer 2010 season. (Playbill)

-- Prestige biopic: A film about the life of musician Fela Anikulapo-Kuti is in the works and will be directed by Turner Prize-winning artist Steve McQueen, but the movie won’t be related to the current Broadway production, ‘Fela!’ (Variety)

-- Nice guns: Baritone Nathan Gunn, who is currently performing in the ‘The Barber of Seville’ at L.A. Opera, reveals his workout routine. (The Wall Street Journal)

-- Art stash: Italian authorities have seized an art collection worth an estimated $148 million from the convicted founder of Parmalat. (BBC News)

-- Recognizing young artists: A new $100,000 prize for artists under the age of 35 is being announced by the Victor Pinchuk Foundation. (The New York Times)

-- Visa problems: The Australian government has denied entry to artists from North Korea. (Art Info)

-- Spending mood: The Speed Art Museum in Louisville, Ky., is thinking big after receiving a $10-million donation. (The Courier-Journal)

-- Sold: A photograph depicting a nude Roman Polanski and Sharon Tate has sold at a Christie’s auction in New York for $11,250. (Reuters)

-- And in the L.A. Times: Architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne discusses Peter Zumthor‘s vision for LACMA as well as new developments surrounding the proposed football stadium in City of Industry; artist Richard Wright has won this year’s Turner Prize.

-- David Ng