The Art of Diplomacy

Another frustrating report suggesting that the Corcoran Gallery is, in fact, operated by government stooges:

Amid questions about the propriety of the event, the Corcoran Gallery of Art yesterday abruptly postponed a cultural program it planned to sponsor next week in cooperation with Cuban diplomats.

"The timing two days after the Thanksgiving weekend is not optimum. We are postponing it," said Margaret Bergen, chief communications officer for the city's oldest private museum. Even though the Corcoran had sold only 41 tickets, the event drew the attention of the State Department and several groups who have been fighting the government of Fidel Castro and its policies. Among the questions raised were where the money would go and the appearance of being open-minded about conditions in a country in which poets and writers are jailed.

I don't know whether de facto Cuban ambassadors have any illuminating connections to the Cuban art world. (For the money, I think the Corcoran would find a fantastic lecturer in Lenny Campello, judging from the brief conversation I had with him on the topic.)

Regardless, after aspersions were cast over the Corcoran Washington Project for the Arts' (WPA\C) decision to fire OPTIONS 2005 curator Philip Barlow—the DC government funded both WPA\C and the public arts project whose artists Barlow blacklisted from OPTIONS consideration, so the conspiracy theory dots are connected—shouldn't the Corcoran at least find a better scapegoat than Thanksgiving? Come on. You can't blame Thanksgiving.

UPDATE: Will the Corcoran stand up for Trading Spaces designer Doug Wilson?? He's scheduled to speak at 7 p.m.—but what if the State Department catches whim?

The National Terror Alert status has been raised to radiant!

Posted by Kriston at November 24, 2004 1:12 PM