Survey points to gender gap in US museum directorships

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Survey suggests gender gap persists at US museums | A survey initiated by New Museum director Lisa Phillips and conducted by the Association of Art Museum Directors has concluded that although the percentage of female directors at American museums has risen, a gender gap persists when it comes to salary and high-profile jobs. According to the New York Times, the percentage of female directors has risen from 43 to 48 percent since the last such study was conducted in 2014. However, at institutions with budgets of over $15m, this figure drops to 30 percent, with just three women among the directors of the USA’s 20 largest museums. Similarly, though the pay gap has narrowed overall by 5 percent, the study shows that women directors earn only 75c to every dollar made by their male counterparts.

Geffrye Museum receives £12.3m lottery grant | East London’s Geffrye Museum has been awarded a National Lottery grant of £12.3m, which will go towards the institution’s expansion plans. The museum says that the ambitious £18.1m project is designed to ‘unlock’ the Geffrye, providing improved access and making 70 percent of its Grade 1 listed buildings open to the public. ‘This National Lottery grant is a massive boost and endorsement for the project, for which we are hugely grateful’, said Geffrye director Sonia Solicari. ‘With this crucial funding secure, alongside the £4.3m we have already raised, we can now press ahead with raising the final £1.5m to make our vision a reality.’

Documenta requests additional state funding | Documenta CEO Annette Kulenkampff has asked for increased state funding, reports Monopol (German language article, via Artforum). The budget for this year’s edition of Documenta is around $37m, half of which is subsidised by the state of Hesse, the city of Kassel and Germany’s Federal Cultural Foundation. However, Kulenkampff has said that this model is ‘not sustainable’. Much of the remaining funds come from corporate sponsors; the exhibition must compete with sports events in order to secure backing.

Photographs reveal extent of damage to stolen Guercino painting | Photographs of a Guercino painting that was stolen from a church in Modena in 2014 suggest that it has sustained substantial damage, reports the Art Newspaper. Reports say that the 17th-century altarpiece, which was recovered in Casablanca in February, has lost about a third of its surface paint after clumsy handling. It is believed that restoration work on Madonna with the Saints John the Evangelist and Gregory the Wonderworker will begin once it returns to Italy from Morocco.