LOS ANGELES, US - How to rescue a Museum at the Brink

On the table is an offer by billionaire Eli Broad, MOCA's founding chairman in 1979, to shell out $30 million -- if the museum can come up with an additional $15 million on its own. Other bailout options include an alliance with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, board co-chairmen Tom Unterman and David G. Johnson said in an interview last week. There also has been some discussion of selling artwork, but no action has been taken.

Museum of Contemporary Art: Bigger, bolder and poorer (LA Times)

The first thing to be said about the fiscal crisis facing the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, horrendous as it is, is that it could be a lot worse. The museum regularly overran its budget and dipped into its endowment to cover operating costs, which is scandalously irresponsible. But let's keep some perspective. The museum needs to raise roughly $25 million and embrace a new strategy to stabilize itself. And it can do it.

Here's How to Rescue a Museum at the Brink (New York Times)

Well, while the curatorial staff was busy putting on exhibitions that won acclaim around the world, nobody bothered about the cost. Year after year, as expenses outstripped revenue, the board let the professional managers dip into capital -- the endowment -- to cover the shortfall in operating expenses. More recently, they've also been borrowing from restricted gifts to the museum, including those for new acquisitions.

What MOCA really needs (LA Times)

When this city's Museum of Contemporary Art appointed a classically trained curator from the Art Institute of Chicago as its director in 1999, many viewed it as a welcome sign that art rather than business would be kept at the forefront of one of the most dynamic museums in the country. They did not know how right they were. Nearly 10 years later, the museum remains internationally renowned for its collection of postwar art and for organizing some of the most serious and ambitious contemporary art exhibitions anywhere. Yet...

Soaring in Art, Museum Trips Over Finances (The New York Times)

When Eli Broad announced recently in a Times opinion piece that he wanted to help bail out the financially woebegone Museum of Contemporary Art by making a $30-million "investment" in its rescue, his choice of words made some wonder what he might want in return. After all, when anyone makes an investment, they're hoping for a tangible payoff.

Eli Broad says there are no strings on his $30-million MOCA ...

The paralysis, it appears, is allowing a drift toward the path of least resistance: an absorption of MOCA into the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Second, many are suspicious of Broad's challenge. Even those who see it as the best path to resolution are cautious. They fear an ulterior motive or hidden agenda, even though there is no indication of one. Fears are always irrational.

MOCA's board of trustees: A house divided

Los Angeles' prestigious but chronically underfunded Museum of Contemporary Art has fallen into crisis. Museum Director Jeremy Strick said MOCA is seeking large cash infusions from donors, and this week he did not rule out the possibility of merging with another institution or sharing its collection of almost 6,000 artworks.

Los Angeles' Museum of Contemporary Art has a contemporary problem ... (LA Times)

And if what I've been hearing is true, I have just one question: Are you freakin' kidding me? What on Earth do you think you're doing? OK, that's two questions. Forgive me, but I'm steamed. We are talking here about an irreplaceable cultural asset, one that has been instrumental in establishing the primacy of Los Angeles on the world's cultural stage. The proposals I've been told about are not solutions to MOCA's real but avoidable crisis.

CHRISTOPHER KNIGHT, Art Critic's Contemporary Rant at MOCA trustees (LA Times)

Artist Barbara Kruger, a MOCA trustee, called the museum "the most important contemporary art museum in sight for decades now. It has been a model for institutions across America and Europe." "What is important to me is that MOCA continue to be MOCA, and that that logo continue to represent the most ambitious, the most powerful and spirited representation of art in America," she said.

Arts leaders rally around MOCA (LA Times)

Faced with a severe financial crisis, officials of the Museum of Contemporary Art have had talks about a possible joint venture or merger with several other Los Angeles institutions, including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Broad Art Foundation and the University of Southern California.

Endowment Drying Up, a Museum Seeks Help (The New York Times)

According to MOCA Mobilization, a new Facebook group, Baker has offered to broaden his discussion to include MOCA's current financial crisis in "the first public event since news about the museum's financial crisis" was made public by the Los Angeles Times. MOCA Mobilization, formed by artist Cindy Bernard, currently boasts more than 200 members.

Public discussion set on MOCA's financial crisis (LA Times)

Eli Broad, the billionaire philanthropist who is one of this city's biggest arts patrons, has offered $30 million to help rescue the financially beleaguered Museum of Contemporary Art if the museum's trustees and other patrons also step up their donations.

Billionaire Offers Arts Bailout in Los Angeles (The New York Times)

In characterizing the $30 million as an "investment," it's not clear whether Broad would expect something in return -- perhaps the right to lend works from MOCA's collection through his foundation, which also serves as a "lending library" for museums around the world, or to borrow from MOCA's collection for shows at the 25,000-square-foot museum/headquarters he is seeking to build within about three years.

Eli Broad says he's willing to help MOCA (LA Times)