The Anchorage Museum expansion project celebrated its grand opening on May 22, the culmination of efforts that have taken years and millions of dollars to accomplish. I stopped by as soon as the doors opened and came away impressed with the results.
The museum has long wrestled with its identity. Was it to be an art museum? A history museum? A technology museum?
There was some concern over whether the addition would do anything to improve display space for Alaska art and whether the addition of the Imaginarium science wing would detract from the aesthetic mission. Doubt grew over the past couple of years as the old display space was closed for Imaginarium construction and the new addition was used for "blockbuster" shows like "Gold" and "Star Wars."
At the opening, finally, I could appreciate the service-to-art vision in architect David Chipperfield's matrix of amplitude and focus.
The Native culture exhibit of the Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center is certainly intriguing, not just because of the historic items on display, but because of the interactive screens that let you zoom in on any given object and see it in full light, rather than the subdued museum lighting. It's hard to keep your hands off the screens.
Around the corner, Rebecca Lyon's "Women of the North," three full-size replicas of regalia made from metal, welcomes you to the Conoco Phillips Gallery of contemporary Native Alaskan art. This is a wonderfully laid out section with work by modern artists like James Schoppert, John Hoover, Sonya Kelliher-Combs and big pieces (like Lyon's) that require space to be appreciated. One section displays masks by living or recently deceased artists and makes a powerful companion to the historic masks behind the cases of the Arctic Studies exhibits.
The third floor may be my favorite right now. The All Alaska Juried Art Exhibit is set out with elbow room and lighting that has not always been the case in years past. In adjacent space is a really marvelous show of craft-inspired art from the museum's permanent collection. Some of these things haven't been out for a decade or more, by my recollection.
For instance: I don't think I'd ever seen Clarissa Rizal's stunning "Copper Woman" before. This appears to be a traditional Tlingit blanket, purse, apron and headpiece at first. But one quickly sees that while Rizal used Tlingit weaving techniques and materials, she's tweaked each element in a lively, cross-cultural way. The piece won Best of Show at a Hearst Museum exhibit in 2000 and was acquired by the Anchorage Museum the following year. It's apparently spent most of the time since then in the closet.
Other pieces by top Alaska artists from Alex Combs to Dolly Spencer to Fran Reed are also part of this remarkable series of rooms.
The way things can now be shown with room to breathe makes walking up the big black staircase a pleasure.
Kiska + 68
Today is the 66th anniversary of D-Day. It's also the 68th anniversary of the Japanese invasion of Kiska. Though that may not be clear.
In last week's story regarding an exhibit about World War II in the Aleutians now at the Anchorage Museum, some readers noticed that both June 6 and June 7, 1942, were given as the date when the Japanese took over the island. I probably should have settled on one and stuck with it; but the fact is both are correct. The American military dated records on this side of the international date line. The Japanese war office recorded dates on their side -- that is, tomorrow. Our June 6 is Japan's June 7.
Dirk Spennemann, who took the contemporary photos in the exhibit, revealed this in his lecture at the museum in April. It gives historians the fits, he said. Several authoritative sources give both dates without explaining the discrepancy.
If one date must be used, I like June 6, in part because of the D-Day tie-in. But Spennemann prefers June 7. I defer to the expert.
Tips for arts management
A crowd of slaves of the arts showed up at the Discovery Theatre to hear John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts president Michael Kaiser speak on May 20.
Kaiser -- author of "The Art of the Turnaround: Creating and Maintaining Healthy Arts Organizations," and dubbed "The Turn-Around King" for his work with struggling companies from the American Ballet Theatre to London's Royal Opera House -- spoke on ways that arts groups can better manage their budgets and finances to overcome the current economic downturn. Of course, for arts groups, the current economic downturn is sort of a perpetual condition.
But it doesn't need to be that way, said Kaiser, who has successfully taken over a series of groups with serious cash flow shortfalls and left them deficit-free.
Among his advice for money-troubled presenters:
• Don't cut programming.
• Don't stop planning for the long-term future
• Don't revert to "safe" and uninteresting offerings. "We need to do the work we think is excellent and important. It's not our job to follow the dictates of the public."
He expanded those basic themes with 10 rules addressed in his book, which is one of the few to specifically address arts from a business management perspective.
1. There must be a leader.
2. The leader must have a plan.
3. You can't save your way to financial health.
4. Focus on today and tomorrow, not yesterday. Fuming over who had some expensive or boneheaded idea three years ago "is useless for solving problems."
5. Extend your planning calendar; take time to plan for big events. For Kaiser, planning meetings are part of his daily agenda.
6. Marketing is more than brochures. Kaiser spoke of "programmatic" marketing to build ticket sales and "institutional" marketing for building the organization.
7. There can be only one spokesperson, and the message must be positive.
8. When you're really sick -- i.e. going broke in a big way -- don't focus on the $20 donor
9. The board has to be willing to evaluate itself and make changes to itself if necessary.
10. You have to have the discipline to follow the first nine rules.
Sprinkled between these rules were numerous observations like: "Board retreats are the Devil's spawn." At the Kennedy center his board meets only a few times each year, but each meeting is accompanied by a short performance of something being presented at the center.
There was another rule, of sorts, that he didn't mention, but that I observed while speaking with him. I'd mentioned old Anchorage philanthropist Z.J. Loussac's quip that he especially enjoyed getting the money when money was hard to get.
"I agree with that," said Kaiser, whose job description requires him to raise $74 million in donations for the center every year. "I just got a $22.5 million donation from a single donor last week," he said, and his eyes twinkled.
Then he glanced over to the table where his books were being sold. A customer was putting down $20 to buy a copy. His eyes twinkled again. "I just made 40 cents!" he said with the same excited inflection that accompanied his mention of $22.5 million.
I didn't ask, but I'm guessing that Michael Kaiser is a man who doesn't hesitate to stop, stoop and pick up a penny he spots on the sidewalk, despite his note about $20 donors. Getting the money when it's hard to get is a little less hard when you're automatically willing to pick it up.
Youth Symphony tunes up
The Anchorage Youth Symphony just finished selecting members of next season's orchestra from the biggest field of applicants the group has ever auditioned. Next month they'll travel to China for a series of concerts. How to stay on pitch in the meanwhile? Play another concert! The extra program, just added this week, will take place at 8 p.m. on June 26 in the Discovery Theatre. The Alaska musicians will be joined by the Young People's Symphony Orchestra of California.
Find Mike Dunham online at adn.com/contact/mdunham or call 257-4332.
By MIKE DUNHAM
mdunham@adn.com