Thursday's Art Notes

_People walk by the Ara Pacis museum in Rome. The city's mayor, Gianni Alemanno -- who called the building in 2006 "a scar in the heart of the city, an act of intellectual arrogance against the citizens" -- and American architect Richard Meier "announced they have agreed on modifying the structure":http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20100407/world-news/controversial-rome-building-to-be-modified of the contested Ara Pacis museum. Photo by Filippo Monteforte/ AFP/ Getty Images_ * The "Indianapolis Museum of Art":http://www.imamuseum.org/ says it's going to chill out a bit over climate control in their building. The museum says the temperature of the collections will fluctuate only a few degrees, but it will reduce their carbon footprint and is not expected to affect the art work, via "The Art Newspaper":http://www.theartnewspaper.com/articles/Indianapolis-relaxes-climate-controls/20440. * With record heat in Washington this week, the "Corcoran Gallery of Art":http://www.corcoran.org/index.php decided to end its "'Turner to Cezanne'":http://www.corcoran.org/turnertocezanne/index.php exhibit early due to malfunctioning air conditioning, via "Washington Post":http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/07/AR2010040704310.html?hpid=artslot. * Next Tuesday is "Arts Advocacy Day":http://www.artsusa.org/events/2010/aad/default.asp, when big-name artists (like actor Jeff Daniels) will arrive on Capitol Hill to testify before Congress. Also expected to appear is retired Army Brig. Gen. Nolen V. Bivens, to argue for the importance of funding "cultural diplomacy projects":http://exchanges.state.gov/, via "Los Angeles Times":http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2010/04/arts-advocates-head-to-capitol-hill-tuesday-to-lobby-congress-for-bigger-nea-budget.html.