The Portland Symphony Orchestra has joined the Black Friday frenzy.

From noon to 6 p.m. Friday, all tickets for one performance of the PSO's "Magic of Christmas" will cost $25. The discounted show will be the 7:30 p.m. performance Dec. 19, at Merrill Auditorium.

Regular tickets prices range from $25 to $60.

The discounted tickets may be purchased online at PortTix.com, by phone at (207) 842-0800, or at the Merrill Auditorium box office at 20 Myrtle St. in Portland. Phone and internet orders also will incur a $2 handling fee.

People who have previously bought tickets for the performance are out of luck. The special price does not apply to previous purchases and cannot be combined with any other discounts or offers, according to the orchesta.

The orchestra will present the annual holiday concert Dec. 12-21.

The Maine Jazz Alliance has begun the process of dissolving.

At its most recent meeting in October, the organization's board of directors agreed that the organization was no longer sustainable. It cited dwindling membership, lack of interest among some current and potential board members and a challenging economic puzzle.

In addition, jazz education -- one of the group's primary missions -- is widely available elsewhere.

"There are now jazz education programs at most middle and high schools, and beyond counting at the university level," the organization said in a press release. "Many professional jazz musicians earn their living teaching at schools instead of touring. There are good, local private music schools. The internet provides numerous interactive lesson programs from major artists. Many schools offer accredited jazz courses online."

The Maine Jazz Alliance has about $2,800 in its coffers, which it will use for scholarships to Maine Jazz Camp.

Neil Lamb, who heads up the board, highlighted two recent successes: Its ability to honor Maine jazz pioneers in fall 2007, including Muriel Havenstein, Don and Al Doane, Ralph Norris and Dick Demers; and the Jazz Goes to School program and Improvisation Clinics, which were offered to young jazz musicians.

But ultimately, Lamb said the board decided that fundraising, promotion and the process of educating the public about concerts and events have proven difficult.

"MJA is no longer offering something unique. Much of MJA offers is available elsewhere, and often for free," Lamb said.

The Portland Museum of Art will receive a gift of 50 works of art from New York collectors Dorothy and Herbert Vogel, with the help of the National Gallery of Art, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services. The gifts are part of a national gifts program, the Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection: Fifty Works for Fifty States.

The program will distribute 2,500 works from the Vogels' collection of contemporary art throughout the nation, with 50 works going to an art institution in each of the 50 states.

Artists whose work is donated to the Portland Museum of Art include Will Barnet, Charles Clough, Rackstraw Downes, Steve Keister and Richard Tuttle.

"Dorothy and Herbert Vogel gathered an extraordinary collection of contemporary art, and their gift to the nation is a model of philanthropy," Portland Museum of Art acting director Thomas Denenberg said in a press release.

The best-known works in the Vogel Collection are examples of minimal and conceptual art, but they also include pieces of a figurative and expressionist nature. Primarily a collection of drawings, the 2,500 works the Vogels are donating also include paintings, sculptures, photographs and prints by more than 170 contemporary artists mainly working in the United States.

The National Endowment for the Arts is funding the publication of a book, "The Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection: Fifty Works for Fifty States," scheduled for release this month.

The Vogel Collection has been characterized as unique among collections of contemporary art, both for the character and breadth of the objects and for the individuals who created it.

Herbert Vogel spent most of his working life as an employee of the United States Postal Service, and Dorothy Vogel was a reference librarian at the Brooklyn Public Library. The Vogels began collecting in the early 1960s, setting their collecting priorities above those of personal comfort.

With the exception of the collection formed by their friend, artist Sol LeWitt, no other known private collection of similar work in Europe or America rivals the range, complexity and quality of the art the Vogels acquired.

Michael K. Komanecky, chief curator of the Farnsworth Art Museum, will serve as interim director beginning Dec. 1, as the museum's board begins a search for a replacement for Lora Urbanelli.

Urbanelli, the museum's director for less than two years, announced last week that she was leaving for a position with a museum in New Jersey.

"The board saw no reason to reach beyond the museum's extraordinarily talented senior staff team for this assignment, and we are delighted that Michael has accepted the position," board president Richard Aroneau said in a press release.

"With such a great exhibition schedule already in place for 2009, including a major Robert Indiana retrospective and Maine's first look at Jamie Wyeth's critically acclaimed series 'Seven Deadly Sins,' we are confidant that Michael will provide the museum with a seamless transition period while the board conducts a careful and thorough search for a new director."

Komanecky has been chief curator since June 2007. He has served as chief curator for the Phoenix Art Museum; deputy director for Collections and Public Programs for the Dayton Art Institute; curator for the Currier Gallery of Art in Manchester, N.H.; and director of the Henry Art Gallery at the University of Washington.

Filament Gallery at 181 Congress St., Portland, is the latest economic casualty in the area arts community.

The gallery opens its final exhibition, a holiday group show, with a reception from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday.

"Due to the current challenges in our economic climate, we have decided to close our doors and refocus our energies," artist team and owners Jill Dalton and Ernie Paterno wrote in an e-mail.

"We would like to deeply thank all of you who have supported our efforts through buying art, looking at work, showing your work, recommending us to friends, bringing your kids, sharing your ideas, excitement, critiques and stories over our eight amazing years in business.

"While we are saddened to leave our location on Munjoy Hill, we plan to reemerge in the future in a new and different way. Our plans include moving our studio and hotshop to a more visible and public location in Portland. The new space will include a viewing area for glassblowing demonstrations by Ernie and his team."

In addition to Dalton and Paterno, the final group show includes work by Jack Allen, Ian Anderson, Kim Brennan, Crystal Cawley, Jim Crampton, Kyle Durrie, Tanya Fletcher, John Goodwin, Susan Hellier, Joanna House, Erin Hutton, Matt Hutton, Lenny Kamuza, Clint Kaye, Alva Lowe, Morgan Maurer, Audrey Meyer, Don Ogier, Patti Sandberg, Nina Scott-Hansen, Juliana Swaney, Michelle Weinstein, Erica VonSchilgen, Susan Winn and David Wolfe.

Also in the arts: The final installment in the Bowdoin College Museum of Art's Artists Talk series will feature San Francisco-based installation artist Lewis deSoto at 7:30 Thursday in Searles Building Room 315 on the Bowdoin campus in Brunswick.

DeSoto's 26-foot-long installation "Paranirvana/Self-Portrait" is on view at the Bowdoin museum through Jan. 25.

At 2 p.m. Sunday, the Center for Maine Contemporary Art in Rockport will present a discussion with artists in the "First Traces" exhibition. The exhibition, which features more than 80 artists, includes work in a range of media from traditional sketchbooks to digital drawings.

In addition to viewing "First Traces," those attending the discussion will have an opportunity to see "Dennis Pinette: Expansion of Logic," "David Segre: Chronic," and "Art from LINC and Waterville Social Clubs." All four exhibitions will be on view through Dec. 20.