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- Major critic slams the billionaire-funded Lucas Museum of Narrative Art’s entrance fee.
- Three public artworks by Banksy have cost UK taxpayers almost £150,000 in cleaning and security fees.
- David Hockney’s former lover, the artist Peter Schlesinger, says he no longer wants to be remembered as the late painter’s muse.
The Headlines
MAY THE FEES BE WITH YOU. Los Angeles is a city of stark inequality, which makes the arrival of George Lucas‘s billion-dollar Lucas Museum of Narrative Art especially charged, as Jori Finkel writes in the Art Newspaper. The museum promises ambitious programming and free gardens and public spaces, but it will charge $25 admission and offer memberships costing up to $600 a year. Critics have questioned why a billionaire-funded institution needs to solicit additional public support, particularly in low-income South Los Angeles, where free museum admission has become increasingly common. Unlike Crystal Bridges, Glenstone, the Getty, and the Broad, the Lucas Museum has not committed to universal free entry. Its location offers an opportunity to serve local communities, but its pricing risks undermining its claim to be “the people’s” art institution.