Saturday, February 27, 2010

Critical Advocacy Alert & Call to Action

Can You Come to Richmond Next Week?

Advocacy Alert - Call to Action! February 26, 2010
As Feared - Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and the Virginia Commission for the Arts are both eliminated from the House Budget.

Both the House and the Senate passed their versions of the State Budget for the next biennium.

The House of Delegates voted to reduce, and then eliminate all-together, the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and the Virginia Commission for the Arts.

These two agencies provide the only state support for museums and the performing arts.

There is still a chance to change this course. The two versions (House and Senate) must be reconciled by the Conference Committee and submitted to a final vote by the two houses. It is vital that we make our case to the members of this committee.

Thank you so much to all of you who responded to our call to action yesterday. Although the House did not back down, believe me that your calls and emails were heard. But now we need to strengthen our approach.

Below is a list of the probable members of the Conference Committee. If you or your museum or site are located within the districts identified, we especially need you to act! If possible, we are organizing visits for next Wednesday, Thursday or Friday (March 3,4,5) to the conferees in the General Assembly building in Richmond. If you can join us, please call Margo at 804-788-5821, or email mcarlock@vamuseums.org.

If you cannot join us, or cannot pay a personal visit another day, please phone or email your legislators. And it would be helpful if the rest of you would also phone or email your Delegate even if not a conferee - ask him or her to please encourage the conferees to save these two agencies.

YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!

PROBABLE CONFEREES FOR BUDGET BILL

House of Delegates

Lacey Putney, Bedford, 19th district:
All of the City of Bedford; part of Bedford County comprised of the Stewartsville, Hardy, Otter Hill, Cove, Big Island, Sedalia, Kelso, Boonsboro, Montvale, Shady Grove, Thaxton, Goode, Liberty High School, and Sign Rock Precincts and parts of the Forest and Jefferson Precincts; and part of Botetourt County comprised of the Amsterdam, Asbury, Town Hall, Blue Ridge, Rainbow Forest, Mill Creek, Roaring Run, Buchanan 301/Springwood 304, Courthouse, Eagle Rock, Glen Wilton, Oriskany, and Troutville Precincts

Kirk Cox, Colonial Heights, 55th district
Part of Hanover County comprised of the Ashland, South Ashland, Ashcake, Beaverdam, Blunts, Wilmington Parish, Goddin's Hill, Clay, Chickahominy, Shady Grove, Atlee, Cool Spring, Courthouse, Rural Point 502/Newman 503, Village, Mechanicsville, Farrington, Montpelier, Rockville, and Elmont Precincts

Steve Landes, Weyers Cave, 25th district
All of the City of Waynesboro; part of Albemarle County comprised of the Crozet Precinct; part of Augusta County comprised of the Verona, Crimora, New Hope, Weyers Cave, Fort Defiance, Lyndhurst, Dooms, Fishersville, and Wilson Precincts; and part of Rockingham County comprised of the Mill Creek, Grottoes, Elkton, McGaheysville, and South Fork Precincts.

Chris Jones, Suffolk, 76th district
Part of the City of Chesapeake comprised of the Camelot, Crestwood, Oscar Smith School, Geneva Park, Georgetown, E. W. Chittum School, St. Julians, Sunray I, South Norfolk Fire Station, Carver School, Providence Church of Christ, Westover, Sunray II, and South Norfolk Recreation Precincts and part of Deep Creek Precinct; and part of the City of Suffolk comprised of the White Marsh, John F. Kennedy, Airport, and Hollywood Precincts and part of Cypress Chapel Precinct.

Johnny Joannou, Portsmouth, 79th district
Part of the City of Chesapeake comprised of the Taylor Road Fire Station Precinct; part of the City of Norfolk comprised of the Larchmont Library and Larchmont Recreation Center Precincts and parts of the Canterbury, Titustown Center, and Zion Grace Precincts; part of the City of Portsmouth comprised of the Ten, Eleven, Twenty-Two, Twenty-Three, Twenty-Four, Twenty-Five, Thirty, Thirty-Three, Thirty-Four, Thirty-Five, Thirty-Six, and Thirty-Seven/Thirty-Eight Precincts; and part of the City of Suffolk comprised of the Yeates Precinct and parts of the Harbor View and Nansemond River Precincts.

or possibly Roslyn Dance, Petersburg, 63rd district
All of Dinwiddie County; all of the City of Petersburg; and part of Chesterfield County comprised of the Ettrick and Matoaca Precincts and part of the Branches Precinct

Senate

Chuck Colgan, Manassas, 29th district
All of the Cities of Manassas and Manassas Park; part of Prince William County comprised of the Brentsville, Armory, Nokesville, Parkside, Jackson, Linton Hall, Woodbine, Park, Saunders, Enterprise, Coles, King, Dumfries, Graham Park, Pattie, Washington-Reid, Montclair, Evergreen, Haymarket, Loch Lomond, Sinclair, Stonewall, Sudley, Westgate, Catharpin, Bull Run, Plantation, Mullen, and Kerrydale Precincts and part of the Quantico Precinct.

Ed Houck, Spotsylvania, 17th district
All of Culpeper, Louisa, Madison, and Orange Counties; part of Spotsylvania County comprised of the Grange Hall, Maury, Plank Road, Frazers Gate, Belmont, Brokenburg, Todd's Tavern, Holbert, Salem, and Brent's Mill Precincts; and part of the City of Fredericksburg comprised of the District 1, District 3, and District 4 Precincts and part of the District 2 Precinct.

Richard Saslaw, Springfield, 35th district
Part of Fairfax County comprised of the Bristow, Chapel, Heritage, Kings Park, North Springfield #1, North Springfield #2, North Springfield #3, Ravensworth, Wakefield, Belvedere, Lincolnia, Masonville, Parklawn, Sleepy Hollow, Saint Albans, Westlawn, Weyanoke, Columbia, Brook Hill, Poe, Whittier, Walnut Hill #1, Bren Mar, Edsall, Graham, Greenway, Pine Spring, Shreve, Timber Lane, Woodburn, Merrifield, and Walnut Hill #2 Precincts; and part of the City of Alexandria comprised of the Hermitage, Southern Towers-Stratford, James K. Polk School, Patrick Henry School, Landmark Center, Charles E. Beatley Jr. Library, John Adams School, William Ramsay School, and South Port Precincts.

Janet Howell, Reston, 32th district
Part of Fairfax County comprised of the Reston #1, Reston #2, Dogwood, Hunters Woods, Reston #3, Glade, South Lakes, Terraset, North Point, Aldrin, Chain Bridge, Chesterbrook, Churchill, Cooper, El Nido, Great Falls, Haycock, Kenmore, Kirby, Langley, Longfellow, Mclean, Pimmit, Salona, Westhampton, Westmoreland, Herndon #1, Herndon #2, Clearview, Forestville, Herndon #3, Hutchison, Stuart, Sugarland, Hickory, Seneca, Marshall, Magarity, and Tysons Precincts.

William Wampler, Bristol, 40th district
All of Lee, Scott, and Washington Counties; all of the Cities of Bristol and Norton; part of Grayson County comprised of the Bridle Creek, Flatridge, Grant, Mouth Of Wilson, Mount Rogers, Rugby, Troutdale, Comers Rock, and Elk Creek Precincts; part of Smyth County comprised of the Seven Mile Ford, Chilhowie, St. Clair, East Park, West Park, Atkins, Wassona, Royal Oak East, Royal Oak West, Adwolfe, Sugar Grove, and Konnarock Precincts; and part of Wise County comprised of the North Coeburn, Wise, Big Stone Gap, East Stone Gap, Clinch Valley, and South Coeburn Precincts.

Tommy Norment, Williamsburg, 3rd district
All of Gloucester, James City, and New Kent Counties; all of the City of Williamsburg; part of York County comprised of the Queens Lake, Yorktown, Waller Mill, Nelson, Magruder, Seaford, Harris Grove, Edgehill, Dare, and Harwoods Mill Precincts; and part of the City of Newport News comprised of the Mcintosh, Reservoir, Lee Hall, and Nelson Precincts.

Walter Stosch, Glen Allen, 12th district
Part of Goochland County comprised of the Centerville and Manakin Precincts; part of Henrico County comprised of the Dumbarton, Glen Allen, Glenside, Greendale, Hermitage, Hilliard, Hunton, Johnson, Lakeside, Longan, Maude Trevvett, Moody, Staples Mill, Stratford Hall, Summit Court, Bloomingdale, Canterbury, Randolph, Chipplegate, Cardinal, Coalpit, Crestview, Freeman, Innsbrook, Jackson Davis, Lauderdale, Ridge, Sadler, Cedarfield, Skipwith, Three Chopt, Tucker, Westwood, Causeway, Stoney Run, Byrd, Lakewood, Derbyshire, Gayton, Godwin, Maybeury, Mooreland, Pemberton, Pinchbeck, Ridgefield, Rollingwood, Spottswood, Tuckahoe, and West End Precincts; and part of the City of Richmond comprised of the 309 Precinct.

The State of Museums Today....

It might seem contradictory, but according to this article at NBC Washington, although more and more museums have been forced to close their doors since the economy went south, attendance at many museums is at an all time high. What gives?
- Heather

Sunday, February 21, 2010

A Question for Debate

From the 2/19/2010 Washington Post... - Sean



Ted Bundy's VW goes on display at D.C. crime museum, but should it?

By Philip Kennicott
Friday, February 19, 2010; C03

Even under a thin, black shroud, the lines of a vintage '68 Volkswagen Beetle were unmistakable.

And when the cloth came off, at a bizarre unveiling ceremony Thursday at the National Museum of Crime & Punishment, it took work to be surprised by what was underneath it: an unprepossessing tan Beetle, with a sunroof, looking a little worse for wear with touches of rust, fading paint and a few missing pieces of metal trim.

The tires looked as if they still had a few thousand good miles in them. Inside the cab, the interior had that quintessential old Bug smell -- like burning latex -- as if the rubber flooring was always smoking a little from the heat underneath.

But this wasn't any Beetle. This was Ted Bundy's Beetle, the car into which he lured his victims and in which he killed many of them during a terrifying serial killing spree in the 1970s.

"This was kind of like a death wagon," said Wyndell C. Watkins Sr., a retired D.C. police deputy chief, who was on hand to help introduce the latest iconic celebrity murder object joining Washington's museum collections.

The car has been stored in a private collection owned by New York-based Arthur Nash, who owns many of the most grisly objects on display in the museum's main exhibition. Also from the Nash collection: clown and serial killer John Wayne Gacy's painter's box, on display in a room dealing with the unseemly "murderabilia" trade.

Bundy's VW replaces the 1933 Essex-Terraplane car used as a getaway vehicle by John Dillinger. With Dillinger's car shipped off to the Southwest terminal of Baltimore-Washington International Marshall Airport, where it will help present the capital region's best face to visitors, the crime museum needed a marquee object to grace its front lobby.

Of all of the notorious cars in the world -- the white Ford Bronco that O.J. Simpson rode in, the D.C. snipers' shabby Chevy Caprice retrofitted with gun placements -- Bundy's Bug may be the most notorious because it was so intimately connected to its owner's crimes. Bundy killed in this car is the frisson you're supposed to feel when looking at something that was not just a tool, but a container for death.

Compared with the D.C. snipers' car, on display at the Newseum, Bundy's VW has the edge of authenticity. The snipers' car is a mock-up, used at trial, not the actual vehicle from which John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo hunted their victims.

The Bundy car, with a brittle and faded 1976 Utah vehicle inspection sticker (No. 264924) still stuck to its dirty and cracked windshield, was not just the site of murder, but part of the strange, all-American charm and innocence that helped Bundy coerce women to get fatally close to him. It was advertising for a man who made himself an avatar of a free and unfettered age.

But it doesn't belong in a museum. Which is why Thursday's unveiling included some weirdly incongruous preaching from museum officials and others gathered to mark its unnecessary display before a bored and jaded public.

"We want to use it as a safety precaution," said Janine Vaccarello, chief operating officer of the privately owned museum (its partners include John Walsh, host of TV's "America's Most Wanted"). The museum, which opened in May 2008, announced the unveiling with a news release headlined: "Ted Bundy VW Beetle Serves as New Teaching Tool."

"We don't recommend hitchhiking to anyone," echoed Watkins, who summed up the car's didactic power this way: "This car represents a warning sign that you have to be careful."

The warnings and putative lessons seem oddly insubstantial compared with the lurid fascination of the car, as if the moral of the Titanic saga is "dress warm and always wear a life preserver." But these lessons are absolutely essential to the display of Bundy's car, because without them, it is almost indistinguishable from the murderabilia racket.

Curiously, if you pay the $12 to $20 it costs to get into the main exhibition space of the museum, you'll find a relatively well-presented panel documenting the murderabilia trade, the buying and selling of objects directly connected to infamous crimes. Objects associated with Bundy have always been hot in the trade, including a hubcap from Bundy's VW that was reportedly offered for sale for a starting bid of $3,500 in 2007.

The museum does a fair job of explaining the "passionate debate" about this strange economy of artifacts that enrages families of murder victims even as it thrives on the Internet. Is it an ugly, final exploitation of the victims and families? Or a long-standing, morally neutral trade in objects that have always exerted a dark fascination?

But no matter what you think of the murderabilia trade -- it has probably done less harm than trade in complex derivatives -- it's very difficult to distinguish making a profit selling murderabilia from making a profit displaying murderabilia. The museum has leased Bundy's car from Nash, and although one can see it for free in the lobby of the museum, it is a lure to sell tickets, and it is hardly the only object in the museum that qualifies as murderabilia.

Except, of course, that by being on display in a museum, murderabilia objects are magically transformed from suspect status into museum pieces with the power to teach.

That's a sleight of hand, and almost as risible as an attempt to claim that pornography changes status if you use it to teach basic anatomy (thigh bone connected to the hip bone). But the commercial museum business needs new products to keep visitors moving through the doors. The supposed academic or didactic value of many pieces on display is an obvious fiction. And when your kids are sick of looking at old C?zannes for free at the National Gallery of Art, of course it's tempting to silence their complaints and continue their "education" with a pilgrimage to the Bundy car.

So the car has rolled into town -- it attracted crowds on Seventh Street as it was being loaded into the museum's front gallery -- only to cause more mayhem. This time, it's mayhem in the museum world. Or it should be. Because only the professional museum community has the status and gravity to call out tawdry attempts to pass off displays such as this as educational.

A sharp and public rebuke from serious museum professionals would be salutary: It would help the public make clearer distinctions between serious museums and the rapidly evolving world of commercial museum-entertainment attractions. It would force a serious dialogue about the educational value of displaying objects purely for their iconic status, a form of intellectual laziness that afflicts the Smithsonian as much as the crime museum.

And it might help real museums make a better case for their survival in a world in which every aspect of their identity, with the exception of real educational value, has been hijacked by hucksters.