----------------------------Original message---------------------------- Forwarded from the NINCH list. >>> "David L. Green" <[log in to unmask]> 04/19/00 12:17pm >>> NINCH ANNOUNCEMENT News on Networking Cultural Heritage Resources from across the Community April 19 Museum of Modern Art and Tate Gallery Announce Joint Commercial Web Venture http://www.moma.org/docs/press/2000/fF_PO02,c8458,.htm Following on the heels of recent announcements by Questia and the Fathom consortium of commercial websites delivering cultural heritage materials, is an announcement of a joint commercial web-based enterprise between New York's Museum of Modern Art and the Tate Gallery of London. Here is the MoMA Press Release. For the NINCH Announcement of the Questia enterprise, see: http://www.cni.org/Hforums/ninch-announce/2000/0037.html For the NINCH Announcement of Fathom, see http://www.cni.org/Hforums/ninch-announce/2000/0039.html David Green ========================================================== April 17 TWO OF THE WORLD'S PREEMINENT ART INSTITUTIONS--MOMA AND THE TATE GALLERY--FORM PARTNERSHIP TO LAUNCH UNPRECEDENTED CULTURAL INTERNET VENTURE **New Company Will Draw on Museums' Unrivaled Collections and Intellectual Capital to Expand Global Audience for Modern Art, Design, and Culture **Dot.com is the First Project in Wider Collaboration Two of the world's most prominent art museums, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, and The Tate Gallery, United Kingdom, have formed a partnership and agreed to create an independent for-profit e-business that will establish the premier destination on the Internet for individuals to access, understand, and purchase the best in modern art, design, and culture, MoMA Director Glenn D. Lowry and Tate Director Sir Nicholas Serota announced today. The venture will be a separate entity, managed and staffed independently from the two institutions. It will build on a public surge of interest in the museums' unique holdings, programs and expertise, as demonstrated by increasing attendance, both to the museums and their online counterparts, at www.moma.org, and www.tate.org.uk. The Museum of Modern Art and The Tate Gallery had a combined attendance of more than 5 million people in the last year, while the institutions' Web sites received an additional 4 million international visitors. Together, the two museums manage retail operations with $50 million in annual sales. The Internet company is the first project in an expanded association, which is expected to include membership, education, retail, and publishing programs as well as staff exchanges. MoMA and The Tate are currently collaborating on a major exhibition to be shown in both venues, as they have done numerous times in the past. This wider partnership represents a logical evolution from those curatorial initiatives. The newly formed venture, to be headquartered in New York and scheduled to launch in late 2000 or early 2001, will draw on the extensive collection, international reputation, and intellectual resources of MoMA and The Tate to provide an accessible, personalized, visually striking environment that will offer a global audience the opportunity to pursue cultural knowledge and enrichment. The venture's distinctive online presence will appeal to a wide and diverse audience, including art experts and enthusiasts, educators, professionals, artists, and students, as well as general museum and gallery visitors, and those simply interested in art and culture. Investment in the enterprise will allow MoMA and The Tate to employ the potential of the Internet to strengthen their positions as unparalleled institutions of their kind. The new undertaking will be organized into areas devoted to content, commerce, and community. In-depth, original content will be developed and licensed by the museums and other arts organizations, outside experts and critics, artists, designers, and filmmakers. Exclusive products and services to be offered in the commerce portion of the site will include design objects and furniture, books and media, customized art tours, ticketing for arts events, and educational courses. The community aspect of the site will be realized through chat rooms, virtual tours of collections and exhibitions, and webcasts of live lectures, symposia, concerts, and performances. The site will focus on modern culture and the most contemporary developments in the visual, applied, and performing arts taking place in the United States, the United Kingdom, and around the world. MoMA Director Glenn D. Lowry states, "The Museum of Modern Art and The Tate Gallery have long been pioneers in the museum world, and we look forward to extending that groundbreaking spirit to the Internet. This exciting new venture will allow us to spread our message to a new global audience interested in art, design, and culture, and underscores our firm commitment to fiscal responsibility and long-term financial stability for this institution. To have the opportunity to pursue and expand on these goals in tandem with our close colleagues at the Tate benefits us all." Tate Director Sir Nicholas Serota notes, "The twenty-first century is all about access. This new venture will promote deeper access to the best of visual culture around the world to the benefit of all those who are interested and engaged with art." The Museum of Modern Art and The Tate Gallery are the founding partners of the independently managed and staffed corporation. An internationally prominent Board of Directors will be assembled, with MoMA and The Tate holding seats. Financing will be provided by a small group of Trustees, who have made philanthropic contributions in order to start the company, as well as venture capital funds. A strong management group, drawn from the top talent in the industry, will build and lead the organization. Revenue will be primarily generated through a combination of commerce and advertising, as well as through affiliate sales from participating sites, pay-per-view offerings of featured material, and syndication of original content. The Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art, founded in 1929, has the foremost collection of twentieth-century art in the world, including 100,000 paintings, sculptures, drawings, prints, photographs, architectural models and drawings, and design objects. The Museum is poised to enter the construction phase of a $650 million Building Project, the most ambitious in the Museum's history, which will dramatically enlarge the exhibition space and add new education, research, and retail facilities to the Museum's building on West 53 Street in Midtown Manhattan. The Tate Gallery The Tate Gallery was founded in 1897 and houses the national collections of British art from the sixteenth century to the present day, and of international modern art. The Tate has galleries in London, (Tate Britain, opened March 2000, and Tate Modern, which will open on May 12, 2000) Liverpool, and St. Ives. ========================================================== NINCH-Announce is an announcement listserv, produced by the National Initiative for a Networked Cultural Heritage (NINCH). The subjects of announcements are not the projects of NINCH, unless otherwise noted; neither does NINCH necessarily endorse the subjects of announcements. We attempt to credit all re-distributed news and announcements and appreciate reciprocal credit. 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