Soon, modern art will become even more accessible to the masses.
You still may not understand most of it, but you will be able to access it at any time, thanks to the efforts of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York and the Tate Gallery in London.
The two nonprofit museums will try a for-profit venture by creating a Web site that allows users to access art, culture and design for a fee. Items for sale include advertising space, furniture, design objects and books licensed to the site and commissioned by designers and architects, multiple-edition prints and photographs. The site also will feature and educational items such as live Webcasts of concerts and lectures, the New York Times reports.
The effort's chances for success are boosted by the fact both museums' Web sites drew more than 4 million visitors last year, as well as 5 million visits to the museums themselves. Together, the museums make $50 million in annual retail sales.
The joint venture is part of a plan to raise money for various improvements to the museums. MoMA is expanding to the tune of $650 million and the Tate is opening a $208 million gallery in Bankside, across from St. Paul's Cathedral in London. To raise the large amount of money needed, both museums had to turn to the for-profit world.
The museums will keep their nonprofit status by spinning off the Web endeavor as a separate entity, complete with its own staff, board of directors and offices. A CEO will run the business from New York.
The two museums aren't the first nonprofits to pursue for-profit ventures. Several academic centers -- Columbia University, the New York Public Library, the British Library, the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History, the London School of Economics and Political Science and Cambridge University Press -- all have teamed up to form Fathom.com, a general knowledge symposium.
The museums plan to unveil the project sometime within the next year.
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