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| (Los Angeles Times) |
In his article “The Mindful Museum,” Adam Gopnik describes the
transformation of the museum from its earlier models as a mausoleum, machine,
mall, and metaphor to its current state of being ‘mindful.’ Gopnik, however,
does not investigate the history of the museum as a business, perhaps due to
the fact it fails to fit in with the theme of his alliteration. While these
institutions act as storehouses of art and centers for learning and discussion,
museums also operate as ceaseless businesses, a role that is not necessarily as
publicized as their other more evident functions.
A recent article in the Arts and Culture section of the Los Angeles Times describes LA’s Museum
of Contemporary Art’s search for a new director. Museum directors must often
have extensive curatorial experience to build up their institution’s collections,
but in order to run a museum efficiently, a keen business sense is also equally
imperative. MOCA’s history of directors has largely consisted of individuals
with curatorial backgrounds, but with little to no fundraising or
administrative experience. Particularly during the tenure of Jeremy Strick, a
previous senior curator at the Art Institute of Chicago, MOCA’s endowment was
drastically spent down and its budget fell, even running deficits during the
period between 2000 and 2009. As James B. Gardner and Elizabeth Merritt explain
in their article “Collections Planning: Pinning Down a Strategy,” an awareness
of an institution’s financial limitations is crucial to its success. They are
extremely accurate in their belief that “Building a compelling vision of the
future can help leverage funds and support.” As a result of the immense amounts
of money spent on exhibitions and acquisitions, MOCA has spent the last five
years struggling to fundraise and boost its endowment back up to 100 million
dollars.
In addition, Eli Broad, the primary funder of MOCA for the last five
years, announced earlier in September that he would no longer be funding the
Museum of Contemporary Art, as the new Broad Museum will be opening in late
2014. This search for a new director comes at a critical time, not only for
MOCA, but also for all Los Angeles museums, with the impending opening of the
Broad Museum, which will be extending free admission to all guests. It will be interesting
to study how free admission at the Broad Museum will affect attendance at MOCA,
particularly since they will be showcasing very similar collections (both
focusing on contemporary art) and MOCA’s entrance charge is $12. As Merritt and
Gardner explain, “Many museums consciously choose not to collect in areas that
are strongly represented in other museums, particularly if those museums serve
the same audience.” However, both Eli Broad and the MOCA board maintain that
the opening of the new museum will only increase attendance at MOCA. At this
point, MOCA is not in a financially stable place to more seriously consider the
idea of offering free admission to its guests. Free admission would mean that
MOCA would need to incentivize the Los Angeles community in a new and fresh way
to purchase memberships, of which one of the perks is unlimited free admission.
Generally, every museum possesses a Membership and Development
Department that is responsible for major fundraising as well as the acquisition
of private contributions from patrons. As the majority of museums rely
heavily on donations and membership sales to build up their endowments in order
to subsequently fund exhibitions and acquisitions, it is also important to have
a financially savvy director. Hopefully, MOCA is able to acquire a new director
with both curatorial and business experience, as both are necessary to
successfully lead a museum into a fiscally secure future.
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