Arts news: MCA Denver has new leader; daughter follows mom’s Fezziwig footsteps; Denver Press Club honors Ari Shapiro.

The short answer is no.

If the brazen thieves who used a vehicle-mounted ladder to access a second-floor window at the Louvre Museum in Paris tried that funny business at the Denver Art Museum, “I would like to say with full certainty that, no, we would not be vulnerable that way,” said Andy Sinclair of the DAM’s press office.

“But obviously … the Louvre wasn’t expecting that, either, right?”

Right.

Sunday’s brazen daylight heist in Paris has sparked trepidation and necessary security conversations in art museums 5,000 miles away, here in Denver and all over the world. And for at least two good reasons. For one, while the DAM might not have French crown jewels valued in the hundreds of millions, it does have Monets, Van Goghs and Picassos.

“We also have unique, ancient treasures from cultures from all over the world, and we have commissioned art pieces that are unique,” said Sinclair. “To us, all of those are absolutely priceless.”

Secondly, the Denver Art Museum has experienced art theft itself, including a series of prints in 2009.

The Louvre’s “Ocean’s Four” cut their way in through glass using power tools, broke into display cases and escaped on scooters, all in under 10 minutes. Boggling in 2025.

“This has been a great opportunity for everyone to have these conversations and make sure that everyone knows what the right process is, and what the right protocols are so that we can all act correctly if something were to happen,” said Sinclair, who, for obvious reasons, was not about to get specific.

“But I do know that the safety and the security of all our entryways, all of our exits, all of our windows, and any points of access into the building – those are all monitored and they’re all taken into consideration by our security teams.”

The whole subject of stolen art hits a little closer to home at the Denver Art Museum because of a scandal that only fully came to light over decades. In 2009, it was revealed that the museum had acquired many Cambodian antiquities between 2000-05 from an art dealer who was later indicted for smuggling stolen art.

The DAM returned multiple stolen artifacts to Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand and Nepal between 2021 and ’25 after receiving evidence of looting or illegal removal, and has stated its commitment to returning objects “where evidence of illegal acquisition is compelling.”

MCA Denver’s new leader

The Museum of Contemporary Art Denver has named Anthony Kiendl to succeed Nora Burnett Abrams as its new director, effective Dec. 1, 2025. And if you thought sports teams had cornered the market on naming rights opportunities, you do not know the MCA Denver, which sells the rights to the boss’ job title. That means, on his business cards at least, Kiendl will be known as the museum’s “Mark G. Falcone Director.”

We’ll all get to meet Kiendl later this fall. For now, the MCA Denver is introducing him as “a respected arts leader who brings international perspective and a history of achievement in organizational transformation.”

“Kiendl will bring a deep commitment to artist-driven programming and development expertise” to Denver, the museum said in a press release. Kiendl has spent the past five years as CEO and executive director at the Vancouver Art Gallery, where he is praised “for expanding the museum’s collections and exhibitions, augmenting memberships and youth engagement, bolstering attendance, growing revenue, and developing and strengthening meaningful partnerships.“

MCA Denver board chair Steven Cohen promises “a powerful new chapter for MCA Denver — one that deepens our community roots while expanding our national and international reach.”

The MCA Denver, as its contemporary name implies, is considered the hipster, renegade cousin of the more traditional Denver Art Museum. Located at 1485 Delgany St., it celebrates its 30th anniversary in 2026.

Mrs. Fezziwig 2.0!

When the Denver Center Theatre Company this week announced the casting for its seasonal staging of “A Christmas Carol,” you would not expect the name of an understudy to jump out at you like curls bigger than a Christmas goose. But there it is: Recent college grad Olivia Wilson has been given an understudy track that includes backing up Broadway actor Stephanie Lynne Mason as Mrs. Fezziwig if necessary. If that happens, longtime Denver Center theatergoers will lose their minds with delight.

Wilson is the daughter of Leslie O’Carroll, who played Mrs. Fezziwig for the DCTC for so many years, they could have renamed the story “A Christmas O’Carroll.” (Yes, there is a video. And for the record, it was 15 years.)

Because of this show’s sheer volume of performances (sometimes three in a day), if you are an understudy, you will go on at some point – so this will happen.

And, get this: While Wilson is making her “A Christmas Carol” debut in the Wolf Theatre from Nov. 21-Dec. 28, her momma will be performing about 300 feet away in the Denver Center’s stupidly fun cabaret comedy “Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors,” running Nov. 8-May 10 in the Garner Galleria Theatre.

“Isn’t it fantastic?” said “A Christmas Carol” director Anthony Powell, who performed as an actor opposite O’Carroll in the earliest days of “A Christmas Carol” at the Denver Center. “To me, it’s like a perfect theatrical circle. Coming home. It’s magic. It’s everything that theater should be about.”

Press Club honors Ari Shapiro

On Saturday, Ryan Warner, the face (and the voice) of Colorado Public Radio, presented Ari Shapiro, who recently left NPR as host of “All Things Considered,” with the Denver Press Club’s prestigious Damon Runyon Award. That’s given each year to a journalist whose career embodies the “style and verve” of the legendary Colorado journalist whose stories inspired the Broadway musical “Guys and Dolls.”

Shapiro told Warner and those gathered at the downtown Hyatt Regency that the question of the day, “Are we going to be OK?” is the wrong one to be asking.

“It is, ‘How can I be useful?’ ‘What can I do to help?’” Shapiro said. “The idea of being OK implies some distant, unattainable state of perfection that will never be reached. And if that is the goal that you’re looking toward, you’re missing the opportunity right now to do something useful – whether that is picking up trash, calling your elected representative, helping a neighbor or planting a native plant in your yard. There are millions of small things that every one of us can do every day.”

The conversation will be posted to cpr.org.

John Moore is the Denver Gazette’s Senior Arts Journalist. Email him at john.moore@denvergazette.com.