This post continues an ongoing conversation with local arts leaders about how the economy is impacting their business. (Read the first in this series of posts here or an even earlier post here.)
The national media are starting to pick up the broader story about the effects of the recession on arts organizations and the art market. This Boston Globe article opens with the bittersweet account of a patron requesting an extended donation payment plan; in the past week, more ominous stories about art museums and the Frieze Art Fair hit the New York Times. All three articles suggest that the worst may be yet to come.
On the other hand, this story about the $69 million economic impact of Olafur Eliasson’s Waterfalls hit NYC newspapers this afternoon—a glimmer of good news that emphasizes one of the many ways in which we value art (i.e., by its nifty tendency to attract tourists).
As of three weeks ago, representatives from both the Salvador Dali Museum and the Tampa Museum of Art told me their building projects are on track to meet previously set opening dates (fall 2010 and fall 2009, respectively). And Lights on Tampa 2009 remains set to take place during the Super Bowl. (I assume it will play a role in luring Super Bowl visitors to Tampa’s downtown—what those visitors will think of the city’s core when they get there is another question.)
Thoughts from other players in the Bay area arts community:
This article appears in Oct 15-21, 2008.