Dispatches

The Deaccessioning Debate: 1990-2020

by Harry Fisher-Jones, AEA Consulting

The disposal of objects from museum collections has been a source of controversy for decades. Did 2020 mark a turning point in the debate? (The Art Newspaper*)

Where Next for Museums? Four Key Takeaways from Louvre Abu Dhabi Symposium on the Post-Pandemic Future

The symposium offered an insight into how museums worldwide are grappling with the immediate financial and social challenges of the pandemic, but also raised questions about their longer-term future. (The Art Newspaper*)

Giving Closed Movie Theaters a Second Act

As the pandemic keeps audiences away, developers could soon face an adaptive reuse dilemma: What can you do with dead megaplexes? (Bloomberg CityLab)

How Theaters Reopened in South Korea and London

“There is no audience-to-audience transmission in Korean theaters and that should tell us that we are dealing with spaces that are uniquely controllable.” – Sammi Cannold (Broadway News)

Post-Covid Economics: Episode 289

From vaccines to changing patterns of employment, from action on climate to new tensions with China, Episode 289 of Talking Politics explores what the long-term effects of 2020 might be. (Talking Politics)

$1.46 Billion Allocated for Arts Precinct Transformation in VIC Budget 2020-21

In total, the Budget allocates a record $1.68 billion in Victoria’s cultural sector to assist in the state’s recovery from the COVID shutdown and future-proof some of Victoria’s best-known cultural institutions. (ArtsHub)

The British Council Launches the Digital Collaboration Fund

In response to increasing restrictions on global travel due to Covid-19, and rising concerns about the sustainability of face-to-face collaborations, the British Council is now looking for new ways to foster international artistic connections. (British Council)

Record Culture Budget Approved by German Parliament

The budget for 2021 allocates funding to preserve Berlin museum buildings, renovate the Bayreuth Festival theatre, boost provenance research and grant free admission to the Jewish Museum Berlin. (The Art Newspaper*) 

UK Facing Risk of ‘Systemic Economic Crisis’, Official Paper Says

The government has privately admitted the UK faces an increased likelihood of “systemic economic crisis” as it completes its exit from the European Union in the middle of a second wave of the coronavirus pandemic. (The Guardian)

Don’t Go Breaking My Art: It’s Time to Axe the Mood-Ruining, Bar-Scrambling Interval

Covid has forced pianist Stephen Hough to play at different times – without a break. And he’s loved it so much, he doesn’t want to ever go back. (The Guardian) 

Climate Crisis: How Museums Could Inspire Radical Action

While the scale and urgency of climate change can often seem overwhelming, museums are beginning to recognise that they have a crucial role to play in shaping and supporting society’s response to this crisis. (The Conversation)

Museums in Perilous Times

Robert Janes, Founder and Co-Chair of the Coalition of Museums for Climate Justice, gives the keynote address at the Ontario Museum Association's annual conference, assessing the combined threat of the climate crisis and the Covid Pandemic. (Coalition of Museums for Climate Justice) 

MoMA Launches a New Institute to Explore the Intersection Between Built and Natural Environments

The newly formed Emilio Ambasz Institute for the Joint Study of the Built and the Natural Environment will help spur global conversations on sustainability while also setting out to study how the design of our cities, buildings, and landscapes can be more effectively harnessed “in order to work toward an ecological future and environmental justice.” (The Architect’s Newspaper) 

‘All Arts Organizations are Media Companies Now’: How the Pandemic is Transforming Theater

As the theater’s biggest commercial motor, Broadway, has languished, resourceful artists and producers are making work that incorporates video, gaming and interactivity into hybridized digital-theater forms that, rather than serving as mere stopgaps, stand poised to endure even after the return of theater as we knew it. (Variety)

Circle Jerk’s Recipe for a Viral Theater Hit

Combining lessons from live television filming, advances in technology, and an extremely online sensibility, creators Patrick Foley and Michael Breslin made a show that could be a model for others. (Vulture)

Trying to Free Streaming Theater from Equity’s Headlock

Actor’s Equity Association and SAG-AFTRA announced on that they’d signed an agreement giving Equity the right to represent stage actors appearing in webcasts through the end of 2021, loosening the restrictions on webcasting that inhibits theater’s ability to survive during the pandemic. (The Wall Street Journal*)

Deloitte’s Art & Finance Panels | ArtCity 2020

Deloitte Luxembourg organized a series of virtual “Art & Finance Panels” in collaboration with ArtCity*, a novel interactive platform that replicates as closely as possible the in-person experience of a live art fair. (Deloitte)

OF/BY/FOR All – Chief Executive Officer

AEA Consulting is a global firm setting the standard in strategy and planning for the cultural and creative industries.

We are known for our candid and impartial advice that draws on deep knowledge of the cultural sector as well as robust research and analytical insight.

Since 1991, we have successfully delivered more than 1,000 assignments in 35 countries, helping clients around the world plan and realize vital and sustainable cultural projects.