The Association of Midwest Museums announces their 2010 annual conference, Museums

Making Connections, in Cleveland, Ohio on October 6 -9. The host hotel will be the historic, Renaissance Cleveland Hotel located in downtown Cleveland. The 2010 AMM conference will feature outstanding sessions, speakers, and special events. Kick off the conference with your friends and colleagues at the Great Lakes Science Center and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. We’ll begin with refreshments on the deck of the SS Mather, head into the Great Lakes Science Center for hors d’ouevres and cocktails, and conclude the evening with a party and private concert with Patty Smith at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The conference will also include receptions and tours at many of the other cultural institutions in Cleveland, including the Cleveland Museum of Art, Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland Museum of Natural History, and the Cleveland Botanical Gardens. Preliminary programs will be mailed in the coming weeks and will also be available online at AMM’s website. Full event early bird registration starts at just $180.

AMM is still accepting Resource Hall Booth reservations. The AMM Resource Hall provides companies with one of the best opportunities to network and develop relationships with museum professionals. It's a visible way to let conference attendees know about your company, to talk about their projects, and to discuss your company's solutions to their needs. Log on to http://www.midwestmuseums.org/corporate_exhibitor.html for the 2010 Corporate Prospectus and booth reservation form.

Rachel Drochter
Membership Services Coordinator
Association of Midwest Museums
P.O. Box 11940
St. Louis MO 63112
Phone: (314) 746-4557
Fax: (314) 746-4569
Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
URL: http://www.midwestmuseums.org

Graham King's 'Priceless' deal

GK Films to develop FBI agent's memoir

Graham King is developing a feature version of "Priceless: How I Went Undercover to Rescue the World's Stolen Treasures," the just-published memoir by Robert K. Wittman.

King's GK Films snapped up rights late last week to the book, four days after it was published.

The tome recounts Wittman's 20-year stint as the FBI's resident art theft expert. It's already on the New York Times Bestseller List.

No producer attachments have been announced. Wittman's memoir recounts his 20-year stint as the FBI's resident art theft expert, during which time he recovered more than $200 million in stolen images, including paintings by Rembrandt, Monet and Picasso, golden armor of an ancient Peruvian warrior king and the headdress Geronimo wore at his final pow-wow.

GK Films is already seeking a writer for the film adaptation, on which Wittman will be involved as a consultant.

Wittman, the founder of the FBI's Art Crime Team, has been called the most famous art detective in the world.

GK Films also announced Tuesday that it had signed a three-year production agreement with Johnny Depp's Infinitum Nihil shingle, continuing their relationship established in 2004. As part of the deal, GK Films will fully finance and co-produce film and TV projects with Infinitum Nihil.

GK Films, founded by King and partner Tim Headington, recently wrapped production on "The Tourist," starring Depp and Angelina Jolie, and next shoots "Hugo Cabret," directed by Martin Scorsese. Recently completed films include "The Town," written and directed by Ben Affleck, as well as "The Rum Diary," starring Depp and produced with Infinitum Nihil.

Wittman is represented by Gersh.

Depp's company previously had a first-look deal at Warner Bros.

Read the full article at:
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118020947.html

Stevan P. Layne, CPP, CIPM

Layne Consultants International
 

We have been contacted by several news sources regarding the recent theft of masterpieces from the Museum of Modern Art in Paris.  According to published articles, a single masked thief was seen on a video camera, inside the museum in the early morning hours on Thursday, May 20.  Entry had been gained by cutting a padlock off a rear gate and breaking a window.  Portions of the museum’s alarm system were reported disabled since March 30, and some of the museum’s video surveillance system were also non-functioning.  Three security officers were in the building, but failed to see anything before discovering the broken window at 6:50 a.m.

Several sources were quoted as speculating that the thief was part of a larger criminal network, or a former disgruntled employee, or a well-organized gang stealing to support other criminal activities.   The truth is…no one knows.   Representatives from Paris city government were quoted as insisting on a thorough investigation to determine if the security failures were human or technical in nature.   We have been asked these questions as well.  The answer is probably both.  Systems are only as effective as the persons operating, servicing, and responding to them.  In this case, it would appear that each element failed to perform. 

U.S. museum and European museums have similar strengths and similar weaknesses.  When cost cutting reduces the ability to properly service systems, or to screen, hire, and train competent help, losses or other incidents are inevitably on the way. 

Credit: BBC News

The paintings are estimated to be worth just under 100m euros (£86m; $123m).

They were taken overnight on Wednesday and reported missing early on Thursday, officials say.

The museum, across the River Seine from the Eiffel Tower, has been cordoned off by investigators.

Security camera footage reportedly shows someone entering the museum through a window during the night.

"This is a serious crime to the heritage of humanity," Christophe Girard, deputy culture secretary at the Paris Town Hall, told a news conference.

The theft was committed by "one or more individuals who were obviously organised", Mr Girard said.

He added that investigators were looking into how the museum's security system and several guards were outsmarted by the thief or thieves.

Mr Girard put the value of the stolen paintings at just under 100m euros (£86m; $123m). They had earlier been estimated to be worth some 500m euros (£431m; $618m).

The five missing paintings are Dove with Green Peas by Pablo Picasso (painted in 1911), Pastoral by Henri Matisse (1906), Olive Tree near l'Estaque by Georges Braque (1906), Woman with Fan by Amedeo Modigliani (1919) and Still Life with Candlestick by Fernand Leger (1922).

Broken padlock

Museum officials discovered the theft early on Thursday, when they found a smashed window and a broken padlock which had been cut to gain access to the five paintings.

It is the biggest heist since the 1990 theft at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston of a Vermeer, several Rembrandts, Degas and other masterpiece.

None of these works has yet been recovered.

Though there is often speculation that works have been "stolen to order" for dishonest collectors, experts in the field say that in reality this is very unusual.

Investigators think that international criminal gangs use art works effectively as a form of currency.

For criminals dealing in drugs or weapon, a rolled up painting is away of carrying very large amounts of "currency", even if it is one tenth of the value at auction, the BBC's arts correspondent adds.

The Museum of Modern Art of the City of Paris, located in the east wing of the Palais de Tokyo building, is separate from the bigger and better-known national collection of modern art at the Pompidou Centre.