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John Updike is dead

At age 76. Globe story here. AP obit here. Like Andrew Wyeth, who died recently, Updike got some withering criticism from contemporaries and the critics, but he was one serious artist whose work was appreciated by a wide swath of the public. Although raised in Pennsylvania, he spent much of his adult life living first in Ipswich and then in Beverly Farms, and he wrote about Massachusetts almost as much as his home state. It was Updike who tagged Fenway a "lyric little bandbox," in his famous essay about Ted Williams' last game, "Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu." His 1960s bestseller "Couples" and many of his 1970s stories were set among the suburban train stations and salt marshes of the North Shore, and the Jack Nicholson film of his "The Witches of Eastwick" was shot on the South Shore.

More on Brandeis and the Rose

The Globe put the story of the Rose Museum closing atop page one today. Normally I would be happy to see arts news out there, but not under these circumstances. Greg has good background and insight. From afar it looks as if Brandeis administration is really trying to shove this through, knowing that nearly everyone in the art community and many university benefactors would be aghast. The Exhibitionist reports that there's already an online petition to save the museum and a sit-in planned.

So many questions ... Does Brandeis really have to sell off its treasures to pay short-term expenses? How much of this is fallout from the Bernie Madoff fiasco? Did some gifts to the museum come with conditions that would prevent the sale of some artworks? Will benefactors or overseers sue to stop the sale? And can the university even get the money it needs in an art market that, like every other market, seems to be at its lowest point in decades?

After the jump: Complete text of the email Brandeis sent to the university community last night and the public statement. My favorite part is the spin on the statement: "With vote to close art museum, Brandeis renews ‘unwavering’ commitment to students, research and academic mission."

We live in interesting times: Brandeis closing Rose, selling collection.

"By Geoff Edgers and Peter Schworm, Globe Staff | January 26, 2009
Rocked by a budget crisis, Brandeis University will close its Rose Art Museum and sell off a 6,000-object collection that includes work by such contemporary masters as Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, and Nam June Paik."

Read the Globe story here. There will be much more tomorrow. But this is terrible news in a terrible year for the arts (and everything else).

Here's a bad day on the job: "Rose Art Museum director Michael Rush declined comment this evening, saying he had just learned of the decision."

“This is not a happy day in the history of Brandeis,” President Jehuda Reinharz told the Globe in one of the year's great understatements, calling the museum a "hidden jewel" with poor foot traffic and limited space. "We felt that, at this point given the recession and the financial crisis, we had no choice.”

NSMT gets an infusion of state...expertise

The Salem News reports today that the financially desperate North Shore Music Theatre in Beverly will get an infusion of state money expertise. Area politicans met with NSMT leaders - the News gives the day as Friday and Saturday in different paragraphs - to offer assistance to the theater, which will close without an additional $500,000 by the end of the month, and a total $4 million by summer. By all they came up with was an offer of "technical assistance" through the Mass. Cultural Council to help the theater shape a new business plan. No cash is forthcoming, not a surprise given where the state's finances are at. (And in fact that makes you wonder what the state's expertise is worth at this point.) But it's getting close to midnight for the 55-year-old theater.

Change happens outside Boston too

At the end of last week, the news was about Tina Packer stepping down as artistic director of Shakespeare & Co. in Lenox, a position she's held since the company's founding in 1978. But there was a similar change late last week at a slightly lower profile arts organization in Lowell. The Revolving Museum announced that Jerry Beck will step down as executive director to concentrate on his own artwork and teaching. Beck has been the driving force behind the roving institution since its founding and led it in putting down roots in Lowell in 2002. He'll be replaced by former administrative director Diane Testa. I've emailed to ask if the change has anything to do with the down economy and I'll let you know the answer.

Sunday's must-read: Obama Hope artist

Make sure you pick up on Geoff Edger's Shepard Fairey profile in today's Globe. The artist behind the much-imitated Obama Hope image is coming to the ICA for a major exhibit Feb. 6, and you're going to be hearing a lot about him.

Witkin named ICA Foster Prize winner

Boston's Andrew Witkin has been named the winner of the 2008 James and Audrey Foster Prize at the ICA. The Globe story is here. The ICA announcement follows:

THE INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART ANNOUNCES ANDREW WITKIN AS THE WINNER OF THE JAMES AND AUDREY FOSTER PRIZE

Boston, Jan. 22, 2009 -- Boston artist Andrew Witkin is the winner of the 2008 James and Audrey Foster Prize, the Institute of Contemporary Art announced today. This biennial award recognizing a Boston-area artist of exceptional promise includes a $25,000 prize and an opportunity for the finalists to present their work in an exhibition at the ICA. Andrew Witkin's poetic installation blurs the lines between his art and daily life, provoking questions about how these activities overlap and intersect. Witkin's exhibition, along with work by the three other finalists--Catherine D'Ignazio, Rania Matar, and Joe Zane--are on view at the ICA through March 1, 2009.

Symphony+. Hmmm. Well.

A "Project Runway"-style fashion design competition is among the festivities planned for the rest of this season's "Symphony+" evenings, programs designed to add to the experience of hearing the Boston Symphony Orchestra  with various pre- and post-concert events. A caviar tasting, themed dinners, film screenings and receptions with various guest artists are also on the schedule. Good luck staying awake through the concert after a three-course dinner at Brasserie Jo, complete with a glass of wine; I recommend the steak frites!

Clearly the BSO is trying to give more people reason to get out of the house and spend their post-Madoff dollars at Symphony Hall. In these trying times, it's hard to blame them, at least as long as they keep this stuff out of the actual concert programs. But still, I am not sure quite how to feel about this:

"The Boston Symphony Orchestra will present Project Mozart, a unique fashion contest featuring designs inspired by the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, scheduled in conjunction with upcoming BSO all-Mozart programs, February 12, 17, and 19, at Symphony Hall. The Project Mozart contest will feature evening wear designs by eleven talented fashion students affiliated with schools throughout the greater Boston area. Symphony Hall doors will open at 6:30 p.m. for pre-concert receptions on all three Project Mozart evenings, allowing patrons to view the dresses presented by professional models and enjoy a festive Symphony Hall atmosphere before taking their seats for the 8 p.m. concert. The winner of Project Mozart will be announced at a special post-concert reception in Higginson Hall, following the February 19 performance."

"...The winner of Project Mozart will be determined by a panel of fashion experts including Gretta Monahan of GrettaCole and Gretta Spa, Improper Bostonian’s Jonathan Soroff, reigning Miss Massachusetts Alison Cronin, fashion designer Denise Hajjar, and Tonn, executive director of Tonn Model Management, along with input from the audience. The Project Mozart winner will be featured in Boston Common Magazine and will receive a shopping spree complete with a personal shopper from Bloomingdales Y.E.S. department."

Very Tim Gunn. The students from Lasell, Mount Ida and Mass Art will find that their contest is wrapped around BSO programs of Mozart symphonies, many of them rarely heard here, conducted by James Levine (above, in BSO photo by Michael Lutch).

The complete Symphony+ press release is after the jump.

Singing to Save the Cervix, One Song at a Time

Yup. That's the Yellow Umbrella Tour to fight cervical cancer, which comes to Salem, Lynn and Boston over the next week. The tour was founded in 2002 by Christine Baze, a singer-songwriter based in the Boston area. Baze was diagnosed with invasive cervical cancer in 2000 and has become an activist for awareness and prevention of cervical cancer, founding The Yellow Umbrella.org. Most of the shows are free, except the one at the Paradise, which features Pat McGee, Chad Perrone, Casey Desmond, Boston Horns and others in addition to Baze. Details after the jump.

The Yellow Umbrella, by the way, comes from "Harold and Maude," the movie that helped lift Baze out of depression after her diagnosis and treatment.

Contemporary chamber music at Boston Conservatory

The Boston Conservatory Music Division hosts its seventh annual New Music Festival Feb. 5—8, with five free concerts of contemporary chamber music at Seully Hall. The festival is organized by the composition department, chaired by Andy Vores, who said, "This year's festival explores the eclecticism of contemporary music, placing recent works by younger American composers alongside masterpieces from the European and U.S. avant-garde.” For information call (617) 912-9240 or visit www.bostonconservatory.edu/performances. The complete schedule is after the jump.