Mile-High Musings on Arts, Culture, Creativity and Philanthropy

The Art Gallery at City Hall recently opened our newest exhibition, in partnership with Fresh Artists - "Mini-Masterpieces from the Barnes Foundation" - and it is a stunner. The show features an array of pictures created by Philadelphia School District children (from Hancock and Henry elementary schools) that are inspired by the iconic paintings of the Barnes Foundation collection. Originally developed to be reproduced and installed on panels affixed to the construction fencing that surrounded the site while the Barnes on the Parkway was being built, this installation now brings the work of these talented young people into City Hall, installed and hung in "Barnesian ensembles" that include student-made replicas of the metal hinges and objects that Barnes famously included in his ensembles. We have even painted the walls of our gallery beige to replicate the color of the wall covering in the Barnes galleries. Fresh Artists is a unique non-profit social busin...

This past Friday, our local PBS station, WHYY , profiled the work of me and the Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy on its monthly arts news-magazine program, "Friday Arts". The episode also featured a segment on the wonderful Wharton Esherick Museum , The Fruit Guys (a business devoted to promoting fresh fruit as an alternative to junk food in workplaces and schools), and Orchestra 2001 (a contemporary/new music ensemble that is associated with Swarthmore College. The embedded video below only features my segment but I encourage you to click through and watch the entire episode. Watch the full episode . See more Friday Arts. It may seem like shameless self-promotion, but since many may have missed the episode, and since those outside of the Philadelphia market were not able to tune in, I thought it would be helpful if I included the segment in my blog. I do think it captures pretty well the work that we are trying to do here. It also highlights some ...

A few months ago (in October of 2009) I wrote about the Barnes move and included two videos of Tod Williams and Billie Tsien describing the new building on the Parkway. The new movie, The Art of the Steal , which I have now seen, motivates me to share some thoughts on the issue. One important point of clarification. This was a "done deal" by the time I came to town, and by the time Mayor Nutter took office, so I cannot speak with any knowledge about things that took place before my arrival. What I can share are my reactions to the movie, and my involvement in this debate for the past 18 months. First, as has been widely reported, the movie is distinctly one-sided. Because it was clear that the filmmakers and producer had a point of view that opposed the move, all the leading players on the other side of the issue - with the exception of Governor Rendell - refused to participate. Nobody viewing the movie should be under the illusion that they are getting a balanced represe...

This is a second video that has Williams and Tsien demonstrating the model, and also shows a number of renderings.This is a wonderful way to come to understand and appreciate their design, I think, short of having them personally walk you through it. They did a very successful presentation earlier this week to a few hundred cultural and civic leaders, along with landscape architect Lori Olin. I think this design is about as good a solution to this challenge as is imaginable. The existing Barnes is a very special place, but I think this new facility will come pretty close to replicating that experience, or even (dare I say it) enhancing it, while at the same time making the collection much more accessible and accommodating more visitors, adding a new temporary exhibition gallery, more classroom and support space, an auditorium, and a beautiful landscape addition to the Parkway. If construction proceeds on schedule the building should be done by end of 2011 and ready to open to the publ...

Here is a video created for the Philadelphia Inquirer's Web site that has Tod Williams and Billie Tsien explaining their design for the new Barnes on the Parkway. A great way to see and understand the philosophy behind this extraordinary new building.