WHEN THE GOING GETS TOUGH, THE TOUGH GET FEDERAL POSTS

As the recession continues to gin up turmoil for arts institutions across the country, the art world may finally have a new champion--and possible antihero--in the person of Rocco Landesman, the hard-knuckled former Broadway impresario who was sworn in as chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts this week. Already Landesman, who entered Obama's government with a slew of other arts leaders, has been pushing a more aggressive line on federal arts funding, calling the current $155 million allotment "pathetic" and battling the long-held conservative opinion that arts are frivolous. “Someone who works in the arts is every bit as gainfully employed as someone who works in an auto plant or a steel mill,” he told the New York Times. “We need to have a seat at the big table with the grown-ups. Art should be part of the plans to come out of this recession.” Landesman, whose new departmental slogan is "Art Works," has also already created his first tiff, making a crack about prioritizing funding for the country's highest-quality programs instead of spreading it equally to small repertoires in places like Peoria. Now he's heading off to Peoria to smooth things over.

CUTBACKS... SURPRISE!

Peeved small-towners, of course, are the least of the N.E.A.'s worries, as economic troubles abound. Colleges and universities all over the U.S. are sharply cutting back arts programs, trimming hundreds of millions of dollars worth of teachers and courses from their budgets. (At least they won't have to worry about employing Leipzig School star Neo Rauch, who recently quit academia.) The Cleveland Museum of Art has suffered a new round of layoffs as the institution continues to deliberate whether they complete their half-finished $350 expansion--a project now in the hands of interim director Deborah Gribbon, a former Getty honcho who signed on to take over for outgoing director Timothy Rub. One institution that definitely won't go through with an expansion is Los Angeles' Autry National Center of the American West, where the singing cowboy's estate's massive collection of American Indian artifacts will have to remain in storage now that their planned $175 million wing has been shelved. Also in L.A., LACMA has been fighting criticism over their move to cut the museum's 40-year-old weekend film program, a decision no less a film buff than Martin Scorsese has called "profoundly disheartening."

ASHES, CHINOS, AND MUGS

Speaking of disheartening, a tragedy of art-historical proportions occurred in Washington, D.C., when a fire destroyed the home of art patron Peggy Cooper Cafritz, who had owned one of the most important collections of African American art. Faced with the loss of more than 300 works by artists from Jacob Lawrence to Kara Walker and Nick Cave, Cafritz says she plans to start slowly rebuilding her collection. In a less poignant tale of adversity, Gap founder Donald Fisher, who has been trying to build a museum for his thousand-piece-strong collection of contemporary art in San Francisco's historic Presidio national park district, says he'll probably take his art elsewhere due to opposition from preservationists. Some people handle bad news well... others not so much. In Paris, a Russian woman who was refused French citizenship expressed her disappointment by hurling a ceramic mug against the Mona Lisa, shattering it on the painting's bulletproof glass. Louvre authorities released the woman after she underwent psychological examination.

GOOD NEWS, GREATER NEW YORK

There has been some good news, though! Frank Lloyd Wright admirers have rescued the architect's last existing hotel from demolition, funding a $18 million restoration for the Park Inn Hotel in Mason City, Iowa, which Wright finished in 1910 and which at one point was home to a strip club. (Maybe the strippers used a cantilevering pole?) Meanwhile, in New York, Senator Chuck Schumer has put forth a bill that could reinstate the charitable incentive known as fractional gifts, which encourages donors to give artworks to institutions by giving them generous tax deductions based on the value of work as it appreciates over the years. This could be a boon for institutions like MoMA, making director Glenn Lowry happy--perhaps almost as happy as he is to be the most highly-paid museum director in the country, according to Bloomberg News, which pegged his 2008 compensation at $1.32 million. Let's say for now he deserves it, since MoMA and its new partner P.S. 1 have provided the week's best news: "Greater New York," the star-making survey of the city's emerging artists that took place under former P.S. 1 director Alanna Heiss in 2000 and 2005, will be returning next spring, officially making it a quinquennial.

Related Articles:

"Arts and Humanities Chairmen Are Sworn In" [via the New York Times]

"New Endowment Chairman Sees Arts as Economic Engine" [via the New York Times]

"Mr. Landesman Goes to Peoria: Invitation Accepted?" [via CultureGrrl]

"Arts Programs in Academia Are Forced to Nip Here, Adjust There" [via the New York Times]

"NEO RAUCH: PROFESSOR NO LONGER" [via Artforum.com]

"Museum of Art lays off 14 in effort to balance budget" [via the Cleveland Plain Dealer]

"Veteran curator will take helm of Museum of Art for one year" [via the Cleveland Plain Dealer]

"Autry Center Drops Plan for Museum Expansion" [via the New York Times]

"Martin Scorsese: An open letter to Michael Govan and LACMA" [via the Los Angeles Times]

"In Collection’s Ashes, a Heritage’s Seeds" [via the New York Times]

"S.F. art community fears loss of Gap founder's massive collection" [via the Los Angeles Times]

"Woman hurls mug at Mona Lisa after being refused French citizenship" [via the Guardian]

"Iowa group to renovate Frank Lloyd Wright hotel" [via the Associated Press]

"Restoration Work on Gifts of Art" [via the Wall Street Journal]

"Museum of Modern Art’s Lowry Earned $1.32 Million in 2008-2009" [via Bloomberg]