Succeed Wildly or Not at All
The most cogent comment on the "Popcorn Summit" comes from Doug Cummings. He's quoted in the L.A. Times,
"It seems like Govan is dreaming very big and setting up the program to succeed or fail only in terms of fundraising potential," said Doug Cummings, a member of Save Film at LACMA. "Govan's track record is that of a fundraiser and for him a program succeeds wildly or doesn't succeed at all. They just couldn't reinstate the program with modifications, they had to re-envision it on a large scale."
Come to think of it, this sounds familiar. Remember those Klimts? Acquiring even the least of the five would have been a major coup, probably costing more money than the museum had ever paid for anything. But Govan wasn't interested in just one Klimt. He wanted all the Klimts.
In fairness, Govan's all-or-nothing approach has paid many handsome dividends (one is the trove of Oceanic art opening later this month). But it's easy to share Cummings' exasperation that the film program's underachieving status quo is no longer an option. Film at LACMA will have to succeed wildly — or not at all.
"It seems like Govan is dreaming very big and setting up the program to succeed or fail only in terms of fundraising potential," said Doug Cummings, a member of Save Film at LACMA. "Govan's track record is that of a fundraiser and for him a program succeeds wildly or doesn't succeed at all. They just couldn't reinstate the program with modifications, they had to re-envision it on a large scale."
Come to think of it, this sounds familiar. Remember those Klimts? Acquiring even the least of the five would have been a major coup, probably costing more money than the museum had ever paid for anything. But Govan wasn't interested in just one Klimt. He wanted all the Klimts.In fairness, Govan's all-or-nothing approach has paid many handsome dividends (one is the trove of Oceanic art opening later this month). But it's easy to share Cummings' exasperation that the film program's underachieving status quo is no longer an option. Film at LACMA will have to succeed wildly — or not at all.
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