Closing Remarks #10

I bill this newsletter as a "semi-regular" roundup because I didn't want to beat myself up if I didn't send it on a set schedule. We gotta be gentle to ourselves! While the first few issues were out like clockwork on Fridays, the last few weeks, I couldn't quite make that Friday. And I didn't give myself tooo much grief about it. However, even as I didn't quite get a newsletter out, I did keep collecting closures and whoa, Nelly did they pile up.

So in the spirit of "semi-regular", you might hear from me a bit more than usual this next week or so as I clear the queue and get us all up to speed. This one will be focused narrowly on all the art world closures, while I think the next one will look more broadly across the nonprofit landscape.

IFAR, which has been described as "a very grand-sounding name for what is really just three smart, dedicated, underpaid women who are among the nation's leading experts on stolen and forged art", was notable for supporting Holocaust survivors in recovering art stolen during World War II. They also advocated for museums to move away from secrecy around stolen artworks, believing that greater transparency would result in more recovered work.

2) Centre for Contemporary Arts takes another pause
Financial constraints are causing Glasgow's CCA to take what they are calling a four-month break as their sort out their funding. They expect to lock its doors from December 2024, reopening in March 2025.

This is not the first gap in operations in CCA's 50-year history. In 2014, the building was shuttered due to a first at the neighboring Glasgow School of Art. It reopened in 2018 only to be closed again in 2020, due to COVID.

3) Deli Gallery serves its last show
After 8 years of operations in New York City and a Mexico City outpost, Deli Gallery has called it quits. While they mention that market forces had a role to play, founder Max Marshall told Artnews that “...at the end of the day this felt like the right moment.”

4) Prominent Texas gallery to shutter
Dallas's Site131 was the first gallery to draw crowds to what was once known as the "wrong side of the Riverfront". Founded by noted North Texas public radio art commentator, Joan Davidow, it struggled to continue on after the passing of Davidow's real estate developer son in 2023. It will take down its final exhibition in December.

5) Texas tenants scramble for new space
After a long struggle with the city of Fort Worth, the nonprofit Arts Fort Worth made the decision to cease its 22-year management of the Fort Worth Community Arts Center. The building will close to the public in January 2025 and all tenants must vacate by April 2025. Arts Fort Worth's offices will move by July 2025 and the city of Fort Worth will take over management of the building at that time. Plans for the space beyond summer 2025 are not yet known.

6) Chicago-area novelty museum runs out of time
In what is surely skirting the edge of what could be considered art news, the American Toby Jug museum in Evanston, Illinois has announced it will cease operations in 2025. Considering I ad no idea what a toby jug was until like 5 minutes ago, I am certain few will be heartbroken by this. The founder, a prominent real estate developer, began collecting these peculiar items as a child and carried on gathering them up until his passing in 2019. He left behind funds and wishes to keep the museum open for at least 5 years more.

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