Subject: MoMA & Tate Gallery Announce Joint Commercial Web Venture
David L. Green (david@ninch.org)
Date: Wed, 19 Apr 2000 12:17:33 -0400
Message-Id: <v04210115b52389a52563@[192.100.21.22]> Date: Wed, 19 Apr 2000 12:17:33 -0400 To: ninch-announce@cni.org From: "David L. Green" <david@ninch.org> Subject: MoMA & Tate Gallery Announce Joint Commercial Web Venture
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 Yok'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
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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.
No. 33
©1998 The Museum of Modern Art, New York
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