Our daily round-up of news from the art world
Macron to reassess artist residency programmes | The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has tasked the senior civil servant Thierry Tuot with drawing up a report on artistic residencies supported by the state. As reported in Le Monde (French language article), France currently spends more than €7m each year on around 500 residencies in the fields of visual and performance arts. Macron’s aim, he states, is to reinforce France’s capacity to attract and develop artistic talent, and he has suggested that new residencies may be created. Other programmes may be abolished, however: Tuot’s assignments include a reassessment of the programme at the French Academy at Villa Medici, Rome, where he is president of the administrative council.
Cheim & Read to close Chelsea gallery | New York-based gallery Cheim & Read has announced that it is to close its space in the Chelsea district and become a ‘private practice’. John Cheim and Howard Read, who founded the business 21 years ago and represent artists including Jenny Holzer and Lynda Benglis, say that the gallery will henceforth concentrate on the secondary market, sculpture commissions and ‘special projects’; it will also mount small-scale exhibitions in a new space uptown.
Cheech Marin’s Chicano art museum receives $9.7m grant | The state of California has approved a $9.7m grant towards a planned museum dedicated to Chicano art in Riverside, east of Los Angeles. The brainchild of comedian and actor Cheech Marin, the space will house his 700-piece collection. The grant substantially boosts the project’s cash reserves, adding to an existing $3m already raised. The museum, which will be located in a refurbished building once home to the city’s public library, is expected to open in 2020.