More on Gelb and the Met

Peter Gelb's new strategies at the Met caught Garth's attention when he saw and heard La Boheme at the Met for $15 recently. But he is not the only one paying attention: the current issue of Vanity Fair has a long piece on "The Met's Grand Gamble." Take a look for more on Gelb and the future of "the ahts."

Saving Annie Leibovitz

The financial problems of Annie Leibovitz have brought the question of financing art into publications such as the Financial Times. This article describes some innovative ways of financing art and artists, as well as sports. Those of us who think very differently of art and sports might cringe when we here those two in the same sentence,  but, in fact, the economics of art and sports have much in common, not the least of which is that people go and pay money to watch them. Both have superstars, though athletes are far more likely to end up in the gossip column, I think. You may be surprised to learn that participation rates in arts activities are higher than in major league baseball games. That does include a variety of performing arts, galleries, etc., and it should also be noted that participation rates in the arts have fallen significantly.