Who is an artist? That age-old question has taken on new importance for almost 100 people in San Francisco who could be in line for a new home if they can prove they are one.

The city is opening its first affordable housing development for artists in 2028 and is already taking applications from prospective residents.

They can qualify in one of three ways - by earning $10,000 from their art in three of the last five years, receiving an artistic grant, award or commission or submitting three pieces of work - then they are entered into a lottery to rent one of the 93 homes at the $130 million complex.

It is not the only way the city is attempting to keep artists living and working there - three years ago it passed a law stating 10% of affordable housing built in or near state-designated cultural districts is reserved for artists.

San Francisco is also home to the Artist Space Trust which manages properties left to it as bequests on the condition they become homes for artists.

A Canadian gallery owner has been left with a bill for $700 after firefighters smashed their way in when a passer-by mistook a sculpture for someone trapped on the premises.

Alyssa Pierre's work The Preparator, which shows a figure leaning into a packing crate, was at Vancouver’s Access Gallery for its latest show.

But a confused passerby called 911 saying someone needed medical assistance and police and firefighters were dispatched to the scene to carry out a rescue.

Gallery director Saghi Ehteshamzadeh told Vancouver City News a friend of the artist tried to intervene and told officers it was an artwork but they did not believe her.

Ehteshamzadeh said she has filed a claim with the city to cover the cost of replacing a broken lock and door.

The weight in US tons of Isamu Noguchi's granite sculpture, Mississippi Fountain, which has been donated to the New Orleans Museum of Art for installation at its entrance.

The Spanish museum targeted in a $2 million heist yesterday remains closed with no reopening date announced.

Three thieves stole the Bronze Age gold hoard from the Villena Museum in around four minutes and there are fears it was taken to be melted down and sold.

The hoard, known as the Treasure of Villena, was found buried in a dried riverbed near the city in 1963 and has been on show at the museum for decades.

The city's mayor confirmed all that remains of it are three silver vases, a bracelet, one earring and a crown which he said the thieves had "dropped" while making their getaway.

1 - Tokyo's Mori Art Museum will close for renovation next September until April 2028. The building in Roppongi Hills, which was set up by real estate tycoon Minoru Mori and his wife Yoshiko Mori, has recently exhibited work by Ron Mueck and Sonia Boyce.

2 - The Los Angeles-based Lucas Museum of Narrative Art has teamed up with publisher Taschen ahead of its opening show on September 22. Filmmaker George Lucas, who founded the institution with his wife Mellody Hobson Lucas, is among the figures who have contributed to a two-volume hardback called An Epic Journey Through Visual Storytelling.

3 - Joanna Robotham has been appointed curator of contemporary art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art after a decade at the Tampa Museum of Art in Florida. She will be joined by a new assistant curator of modern and contemporary art, Colm Peare, who is joining from the Royal Academy of Arts in London.

4 - A new contemporary art museum is being built in Singapore as part of a multi-million dollar redevelopment project. Japanese architect Kengo Kuma will design the museum which will open by 2030 along with a 1,000 seat theatre, shops and offices on the site of the Tanglin Shopping Center.

5 - Rirkrit Tiravanij is curating a weekend-long takeover of the Deutsche Oper Berlin theatre featuring a series of site-specific performances. Among the artists involved are Sissel Toolas and Ari Benjamin Meyers.