Austria: The Albertina in Vienna has lost €2m in funding for acquisitions from major private donors since the beginning of the year. It has also had to go ahead with two exhibitions (Gerhard Richter and 'The Age of Rembrandt')without being able to secure sponsorship. The museum's budget has been cut by €12m over the next 3 years.
China: The Chinese government is seeking the return of two Qing Dynasty bronze sculptures being auctioned from the estate of the late Yves Saint Laurent.
The two animal heads (a rabbit and a rat) were severed from a water fountain at Beijing's imperial Summer Palace when British and French troops plundered the palace in October 1860. The 1995 United Nations Unidroit Convention limits claims on stolen cultural artefacts to within 50 years of their theft.
China/Taiwan: The National Palace Museum in Taipeh, which holds a significant part of the Chinese imperial collections, is in talks with the Beijing Palace Museum about loans for a forthcoming exhibition. This is the first official contact between the two institutions since 1949 and signals mainland China's desire to show a more conciliatory stance via cultural collaboration.
France: The Louvre is creating an endowment with the €175m it received from France's deal with Abu Dhabi. It will get an additional €250m from the Gulf emirate between now and 2027. The funds will be used to improve access, build a storage and conservation centre and to open new galleries.
France: In his new year's address President Sarkozy announced that admission charges to national museums and monuments would be scrapped for the under 25s from 4 April.
Greece: The official opening of the new €100m Acropolis Museum, originally due for completion in time for the 2004 Athens Olympics, has been scheduled for 20 June.
Switzerland: Plans to build a new museum of art in Lausanne have been abandoned after a referendum saw 52 per cent of the electorate vote against funding the €42m project. This will result in the city foregoing a major bequest of a private art collection that was dependent on the project going ahead.
US: A survey of 40 art museums across the US has revealed widespread plans for budget cuts of 5-20 per cent in 2009 and deeper cuts in 2010. Even the richest institutions have been affected by sharp falls in the value of endowments and a fall off in corporate and private funding support.
Compiled by Magnus von Wistinghausen.
China: The Chinese government is seeking the return of two Qing Dynasty bronze sculptures being auctioned from the estate of the late Yves Saint Laurent.
The two animal heads (a rabbit and a rat) were severed from a water fountain at Beijing's imperial Summer Palace when British and French troops plundered the palace in October 1860. The 1995 United Nations Unidroit Convention limits claims on stolen cultural artefacts to within 50 years of their theft.
China/Taiwan: The National Palace Museum in Taipeh, which holds a significant part of the Chinese imperial collections, is in talks with the Beijing Palace Museum about loans for a forthcoming exhibition. This is the first official contact between the two institutions since 1949 and signals mainland China's desire to show a more conciliatory stance via cultural collaboration.
France: The Louvre is creating an endowment with the €175m it received from France's deal with Abu Dhabi. It will get an additional €250m from the Gulf emirate between now and 2027. The funds will be used to improve access, build a storage and conservation centre and to open new galleries.
France: In his new year's address President Sarkozy announced that admission charges to national museums and monuments would be scrapped for the under 25s from 4 April.
Greece: The official opening of the new €100m Acropolis Museum, originally due for completion in time for the 2004 Athens Olympics, has been scheduled for 20 June.
Switzerland: Plans to build a new museum of art in Lausanne have been abandoned after a referendum saw 52 per cent of the electorate vote against funding the €42m project. This will result in the city foregoing a major bequest of a private art collection that was dependent on the project going ahead.
US: A survey of 40 art museums across the US has revealed widespread plans for budget cuts of 5-20 per cent in 2009 and deeper cuts in 2010. Even the richest institutions have been affected by sharp falls in the value of endowments and a fall off in corporate and private funding support.
Compiled by Magnus von Wistinghausen.
Links
Seen in: artsjournal.com; Bloomberg; The Art Newspaper
Seen in: artsjournal.com; Bloomberg; The Art Newspaper
