Stephen Deuchar to step down as director of Art Fund

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Stephen Deuchar to step down as director of Art Fund | Stephen Deuchar, who has served as director of the Art Fund since January 2010, has announced his decision to step down in March 2020. Under Deuchar’s leadership, the UK charity has doubled its membership to 151,000, partly thanks to the introduction of the National Art Pass in 2011; it has also issued some £40m in grants, facilitating around 1,000 acquisitions by museums, and arranged a number of high-profile public appeals that have helped save major works of art for the nation. It is not yet known who will replace Deuchar, who previously served as director of Tate Britain from 1998–2010.

French culture minister promises 1,000 digital museums | Franck Riester, the French minister for culture, has announced plans for 1,000 small-scale digital museums to be established in urban and rural locations throughout France. Called ‘Micro-Folies’, the new spaces will show high-definition reproductions of masterpieces from 12 national public institutions, including the Louvre, the Pompidou and the Chateau de Versailles. The mini-museums have already begun to appear in town halls and media libraries across France; Riester said he also wished to see them established in buildings such as shopping malls and gyms.

Japan Art Association announces international award winners | The winners of the Praemium Imperiale Award, which comes with a prize of £100,000, have been announced by the Japan Art Association ahead of an award ceremony in Tokyo on 16 October. The five prizes have been awarded to Mona Hatoum, William Kentridge, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Bando Tamasaburo and Tod Williams & Billie Tsien, celebrating lifetime achievement in sculpture, painting, music, theatre/film and architecture respectively.