In the Arts: Last-Minute Challenge to Barnes Move Dismissed; Tentative Labor Pact for Philly Orchestra
October 7, 2011 | Read Time: 2 minutes
A Pennsylvania judge has denied a last-ditch attempt to block the Barnes Foundation from transporting its priceless are collection from suburban Philadelphia to a new downtown museum, The Philadelphia Inquirer writes.
Montgomery County Orphans’ Court Judge Stanley Ott ruled Thursday that Friends of the Barnes, a group opposed to the move, had no legal right to pursue the matter, as he had ruled in a similar lawsuit in 2008.
Judge Ott also rejected the organization’s claim that The Art of the Steal, a 2009 documentary about the Barnes controversy, offered new evidence that state officials had intervened inappropriately to facilitate the move.
A new home for the collection of Impressionist and early Modernist works, long kept at the foundation’s headquarters in Merion, Pa., is under construction in central Philadelphia.
In other arts news:
• The Philadelphia Orchestra and its musicians have reached tentative agreement on a new contract, The Philadelphia Inquirer reports.
Pending agreement on a “host of minor issues,” the deal announced Thursday would go before the orchestra’s board and the players’ union next week. It would still have to be approved by the judge handling the orchestra’s bankruptcy case.
Details of the agreement remain confidential until it is filed with the bankruptcy court.
A lawyer for the orchestra declined to say whether it dealt with the key issue of the musicians’ pension fund. The American Federation of Musicians and Employers’ Pension Fund has said it will sue to block the contract if it is not retained as the players’ retirement plan.
• An ambitious Mexican American cultural center started six months ago in downtown Los Angeles has already cut its staff by more than half and is having difficulty paying its bills, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Since opening, the $36-million La Plaza de Cultura y Artes has fired its CEO amid allegations of mismanagement and let 16 of 28 employees go. The center has held few events, garnered little philanthropic support, and has averaged fewer than 700 paid visitors a month.
