In the Arts: Maltz Foundation Gives $20-Million to Cleveland Orchestra

The Maltz Family Foundation has donated $20-million to the Cleveland Orchestra to start an ambitious effort to broaden the audience for classical music, The Plain Dealer writes.

The gift, announced Tuesday, creates an endowment for the organization’s Center for Future Audiences, which will offer free admission to patrons under 18 and discounts for young professionals, among other plans to make classical music more accessible and boost the orchestra’s long-term viability.

The Maltz family is a major supporter of cultural institutions in northeast Ohio, with past gifts benefiting the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, the Cleveland Museum of Art, and the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage.

In other arts news, a collector who alleged the Andy Warhol Foundation sought to inflate the value of its inspiration’s works by limiting authentication of Warhols, is dropping his lawsuit against the organization, according to Artinfo.

Joe Simon sued the foundation in 2007 for refusing to say whether a Warhol self-portrait he owned was indeed by the artist. Mr. Simon said he lacks the financial resources to keep pursuing the case in the face of numerous motions filed by Warhol lawyers.

And Utah’s Ballet West will build a new $32-million dance center in downtown Salt Lake City while renovating its Capitol Theatre, The Salt Lake Tribune says. The new facility will be located on a now-vacant lot next to the Capitol and will include six studios connected to the existing venue, as well as meeting and banquet spaces.