Art Critic Alliance News
Item one, we have a logo.
Item two, we have the answer to a well-founded concern about the effectiveness of the Art Critic Alliance press credential. My claim upon its inception was that I believed that it would work as well as the press credential of that other international association of art critics, but that claim was untested. Until now.
I’m happy to report that it works like a champ. On a recent trip to South Florida, it proved good for admission to the Pérez Art Museum Miami, the Art Wynwood fair, the Tropic Bound Artist’s Book Fair, the Rubell Collection Miami, and the Norton Museum of Art. Alan Pocaro used it to bypass a heinous admission line at the Art Institute of Chicago so he could write his review of the Dalí exhibition.
My hypothesis, that the reputation of that other association of art critics is nil outside of the minuscule circle of humanity that knows about them, that any reasonably well-designed card would be as effective as theirs, and that a truly well-designed card would be more effective, has been proven correct.
Meanwhile, a recent communication from that other organization reports that they are working hard on implementing their Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility (DEIA) Action Plan, contra claims made in the New York Times story about which I commented here:
How that effort will turn out was best said last year by Michael Lind:
The space to the left-of-center that was once filled with magazines and organizations devoted to what Diana Trilling called the “life of significant contention” is now filled by the ritualized gobbledygook of foundation-funded single-issue nonprofits like a pond choked by weeds.
If you’re one of the art writers whom that other organization is not serving in any capacity, which I believe is the majority of them, save your money and your dignity and join the Art Critic Alliance instead, for a one-time fee less than half of their annual fee. Unlike them, we stand for something.
This is a good thing