In the Arts: Smithsonian Head Presses Effort to Expand Institution’s Reach

After completing a year in office as head of the Smithsonian Institution, Wayne Clough is seeking to expand the Smithsonian’s reach beyond its 25 million annual visitors, mainly by expanding the institution’s research capabilities and its use of technology, reports the Associated Press.

In contrast to his predecessor, Lawrence Small, who focused on maximizing the tourist appeal of the Smithsonian’s 19 museums and the National Zoo, Mr. Clough, a former president of Georgia Institute of Technology, has forged research alliances with universities, created an office to work with elementary- and secondary-school programs, and started the Smithsonian’s first major capital campaign, seeking to raise $1-billion and reduce the organization’s reliance on federal appropriations.

(Mr. Clough was interviewed for 30 minutes on Sunday’s C-SPAN’s Newsmakers program by the author of the Associated Press article, Brett Zongker, and by the editor of the Chronicle, Stacy Palmer.)

In other arts news, officials at Northern California’s Willows Theatre Company say they will have to close one of its two performance spaces if the group can’t raise $350,000 in the next two months, reports the San Francisco Chronicle. The Contra Costa County company is the latest in a line of Bay Area theaters that have had to close or institute emergency campaigns in recent months.

Also, a former accountant at the Tucson Museum of Art was sentenced last week to five years in prison for stealing nearly $1-million from the institution, reports the Arizona Daily Star. Ruth Sons pleaded guilty last month to taking museum money for at least five years to support her gambling habit.