In the Arts: United States Artists Fellows Named, Calif. Museum Faces Ax

The author of the novel on which the acclaimed film Precious is based is among the 50 winners of the latest batch of United States Artists fellowships, says Bloomberg.

The novelist, who goes by the name Sapphire, was the highest-profile recipient among the 50 fellows, including sculptors, filmmakers, choreographers, fashion designers, and other artists, each of whom will receive $50,000 to use as he or she sees fit. The philanthropists Eli and Edythe Broad, the first contributors to the fellowship program in 2006, were also honored for their arts patronage.

In other arts news, the Fresno Metropolitan Museum, in Calif., could shut down as early as next month amid plunging donations and a cash crisis, reports the Fresno Bee. The museum has defaulted on a city-backed loan taken out to finish a three-year, $28-million renovation completed last year.

Also, the Smithsonian Institution has lost $12.3-million worth of property since 2005, according to The Washington Post. A. Sprightley Ryan, the Smithsonian’s inspector general, told a Congressional committee that management has been ineffective in holding employees accountable for pilfering Smithsonian property. The losses, primarily of office equipment, have included 89 laptop computers.

And the nation’s biggest nonprofit theater, New York’s Roundabout, will begin renting out one of its five stages as declining donations and the possible loss of a major corporate sponsor spur a search for new revenue sources, Crain’s New York Business reports.

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