Endowment Drying Up, MOCA LA Seeks Help

Richard Diebenkorn
Untitled, 1953
Watercolor, ink, and pencil on paper
Paper: 15 1/2 x 18 3/4 in. (39.4 x 47.6 cm) Frame: 22 3/4 x 25 3/4 x 1 1/2 in. (57.8 x 65.4 x 3.8 cm)
The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles Bequest of Marcia Simon Weisman
96.107

Provenance:
Purchased from James Corcoran Gallery, Los Angeles: 10/03/85

Exhibition History:
"Drawings, 1944-1973"/MPSG-UCSC/February - March 1974.
"Paintings and Drawings 1943-1976"/ AKAG, CAM, CGA, WMAA, LACMA, OMC/November 12, 1976 - November 27, 1977.
"Richard Diebenkorn: Works on Paper"/MoMA, New York (organizer): Nov. 16, 1988-Jan. 10, 1989; LACMA: March 9-May 7, 1989; SFMoMA: June 22-Aug. 27, 1989; The Phillips Collection, D.C.:Sept. 30-Dec. 3, 1989.
"Selections from The Marcia Simon Weisman Collection"/MOCA-BH/May 24 - August 30, 1998.
"Conversations"/MOCA-BH/September 15, 2002 - February 14, 2003.

By EDWARD WYATT
Published: November 20, 2008

LOS ANGELES — 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.

The talks come as the museum’s endowment, which has been tapped several times in recent years to pay for continuing operations, has shrunk to less than $10 million, one of the lowest levels since the museum’s founding in 1979, according to people who have been briefed on the museum’s financial situation.

The museum’s troubles and its search for a rescuer come as museums around the country are tightening their belts because of the global financial downturn. The Museum of Contemporary Art recently announced that it was cutting its budget by about 10 percent and closing its Geffen Contemporary annex — which accounts for more than half of the museum’s exhibition space — for six months beginning in January.

Since the museum’s troubles were first reported this week in an article in The Los Angeles Times, museum officials have not spoken publicly about its financial status or possible relief efforts. The museum is not required to release financial statements for its 2008 fiscal year until May 2009.

In a statement issued after its board met on Wednesday, the museum said it was “exploring several options, and in doing so talking to many partners in the Los Angeles community.” All of its options, the statement said, “entail MOCA retaining its identity, programming and expanding its permanent collection.”

In the last 18 months, the endowment has fallen to less than $10 million, down from $19.8 million at the end of the 2007 fiscal year and from more than $40 million near the beginning of this decade, according to people who have been briefed on the museum’s situation but who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to disclose the figures publicly.

Eli Broad, the billionaire philanthropist who was a founding chairman of the museum and who has more recently been the largest donor to the Los Angeles County Museum, said in an interview Thursday that he had talked to officials of the contemporary art museum about a potential partnership that would ensure the museum’s independence.

“Our view and that of our foundation is it should remain an independent institution,” Mr. Broad said. “Clearly, the budget’s going to have to be reduced. And they are going to have to raise money and beef up the endowment. We want to help them do that.”

Michael Govan, the director of the Los Angeles County Museum, said he had also talked to the Museum of Contemporary Art about its future.

“There has been a lot of back-and-forth speculating about how we can work together,” Mr. Govan said, noting that the two institutions “have been talking for years” and worked together last year, with Mr. Broad’s financial help, to jointly buy a sculpture by Chris Burden.

Officials of the Museum of Contemporary Art have also approached the University of Southern California about a possible investment. A spokesman for the university said Thursday that “no proposals are on the table involving U.S.C.”

One arrangement that was discussed involved the university’s providing administrative support for the museum, which would maintain its separate financial status. The University of California, Los Angeles, has a similar arrangement with the Hammer Museum.

The museum has also said that it intends to step up its efforts to raise new money from donors, a plan that could be hindered by the current economic environment.