Ain't no such thing as credibility here...
Howdy!
Earlier this morning I was at the press preview for Right Under the Sun. Landscape in Provence, from Classicism to Modernism (1750–1920), the latest and greatest from the Musée des Beaux Arts de Montreal.
And while I will have multiple reviews later (it has been a busy day so far, and promises to get busier still) there was one thing that struck me as downright bizarre. At the press preview, and there was quite a number of the press there. After Guy Cogeval, Marie-Paule Vial, Danielle Champagne and David Goodman had finished speaking, the audience (or in other words the reporters) broke into applause. I asked someone with more experience than myself at these sort of functions if that was normal behavior, and he said yes.
Can you imagine what would happen if at Paul Martin's next press conference all the reporters applauded him after he finished his speech?
Can you imagine what would happen if at the next Canadien's game, the reporters in attendance cheered when a goal was scored?
Back when I was working in the record business, it was common practice to hold a "launch party." It wasn't called a press conference, the beer flowed freely, and great times were had by all. Nobody, for a second, thought that it was anything than a rather successful way to promote a band's latest offerring. No objectivity was offered, none was assumed.
Given that the arts reporters here in town have grown accustomed to that sort of event, I would strongly urge the Musée des Beaux Arts de Montreal to call a spade a spade and change the name of this sort of event from "Press Preview" to something like "Press Vernissage" or "Press Opening Party."
If they moved the time to something like 6 pm, and offered drinks instead of coffee (oops! I forgot - they did offer wine) they might be able to get as much press as say Daniel Boucher.
And finally - more as an aside than anything else. On the Musée des Beaux Arts de Montreal's website they write that Marie-Paule Vial is director of les Musées de Marseille (an organization of 15 museums in Marseille) yet on the website for the Musée des Beaux Arts de Marseille she is listed as "Conservateur" and the director of les Musées de Marseille appears to be someone named Danièle Giraudy. Hmmm.
Earlier this morning I was at the press preview for Right Under the Sun. Landscape in Provence, from Classicism to Modernism (1750–1920), the latest and greatest from the Musée des Beaux Arts de Montreal.
And while I will have multiple reviews later (it has been a busy day so far, and promises to get busier still) there was one thing that struck me as downright bizarre. At the press preview, and there was quite a number of the press there. After Guy Cogeval, Marie-Paule Vial, Danielle Champagne and David Goodman had finished speaking, the audience (or in other words the reporters) broke into applause. I asked someone with more experience than myself at these sort of functions if that was normal behavior, and he said yes.
Can you imagine what would happen if at Paul Martin's next press conference all the reporters applauded him after he finished his speech?
Can you imagine what would happen if at the next Canadien's game, the reporters in attendance cheered when a goal was scored?
Back when I was working in the record business, it was common practice to hold a "launch party." It wasn't called a press conference, the beer flowed freely, and great times were had by all. Nobody, for a second, thought that it was anything than a rather successful way to promote a band's latest offerring. No objectivity was offered, none was assumed.
Given that the arts reporters here in town have grown accustomed to that sort of event, I would strongly urge the Musée des Beaux Arts de Montreal to call a spade a spade and change the name of this sort of event from "Press Preview" to something like "Press Vernissage" or "Press Opening Party."
If they moved the time to something like 6 pm, and offered drinks instead of coffee (oops! I forgot - they did offer wine) they might be able to get as much press as say Daniel Boucher.
And finally - more as an aside than anything else. On the Musée des Beaux Arts de Montreal's website they write that Marie-Paule Vial is director of les Musées de Marseille (an organization of 15 museums in Marseille) yet on the website for the Musée des Beaux Arts de Marseille she is listed as "Conservateur" and the director of les Musées de Marseille appears to be someone named Danièle Giraudy. Hmmm.
posted by Zeke's, the Montreal Art Gallery on 20.9.05
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