Crystal Bridges announces details of major new arts venue

Our daily round-up of news from the art world

Crystal Bridges Museum announces details of new arts venue | The Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art has announced that Lieven Bertels is to take over as director of an ambitious new arts venue it is developing in downtown Bentonville, Arkansas. According to a statement, the venue will transform a decommissioned food factory into a multidisciplinary space for visual and performing arts, complete with an artist-in-residency programme. Chicago-based practice Wheeler Kearns Architects have been tasked with realising the conversion, which will be known as The Momentary.

Italy approves law relaxing art export rules | Italy’s parliament has approved a law that will relax the country’s complicated art export regulations, reports the Art Newspaper. The legislation, which was passed earlier this month and became effective as of Tuesday, will introduce a minimum value threshold of £13,500 and introduce five-year certificates that will ease the movement of works of art across Italy’s borders. The law will have particular consequences for sales of post-war art, as private owners of works by deceased artists will be permitted to self-certify them for export without a license up to 70 years after they were created. Previously, this window stretched just 50 years.

NEH pledges $1m to arts organisations affected by Hurricane Harvey | The National Endowment for the Humanities has pledged $1m in emergency grants to cultural bodies that have been affected by severe weather conditions in Texas and Louisiana. According to ArtNet, libraries, museums, colleges, universities and other institutions will all be eligible for the emergency grants. The National Endowment for the Arts, meanwhile, has stated that it is working closely with local authorities to assess the damage, and that it is prepared to direct additional funding to affected arts organisations.

Mexico creates task force for cultural heritage | Mexico’s National Gendarmerie have announced the creation of a new division of the federal police intended to safeguard the country’s cultural heritage. Gendarmerie head Benjamin Grajeda Regalado says that officers with a knowledge of archaeology and art will be recruited in order to combat thefts and looting, with specialist training to be carried out in partnership with the National Institute of Anthropology and History and the National Institute of Fine Arts.