LACMA Seeks $100 Million From Public for Zumthor Building
The $100 million is a lot to ask from Joe and Jane Angeleno. Has any museum ever raised a 9-figure sum from 99 percenters?
To put it in perspective, the original William Pereira LACMA campus cost $11.5 million (in 1965). That's about $93 million in today's dollars, raised from the Ahmanson, Carters, Simons, and the like. LACMA is now hoping to raise a comparable sum just from the general public.
The biggest Kickstarter campaign ever, for the Pebble Time smartwatch, raised a mere $20.3 million. A hundred million comes to $9.94 from every resident of L.A. County… or about $100 from every LACMA visitor in a given year. It's a big ask.
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If the guy running Keck's grant-making operation has even a bit of familiarity with what the museum's elite are trying to get away with, he'd have turned down Govan and said, sorry, you in the 1% are already too greedy, arrogant and insufferable for my tastes.
Keck Foundation, if you really care about the city of Los Angeles, you should know the folks at the LA Music Center for over 10 years have been trying to renovate the Chandler Pavilion. That place is older than much of LACMA. They probably also don't want to downsize their theater, strip down its performances and have satellite mini-Pavilions throughout LA County.
Also, they should bring back the cathedral ceilings with that extra $100M. The elimination of it killed Zumthor's otherwise decent design.
P.S. Bring back the cathedral ceilings
... He is NOT seeking an additional $100 million for construction costs (Zumthor building). The $100 million is for "other needs." Those other needs may include the costs of moving into the new building, but it appears he has the money to complete construction of the new building.
Govan has won. Time for the detractors to concede.
As for the $100 million itself, I doubt Govan expects to raise most of that money from Joe and Jane Angeleno. The most effective approach would be to ask 10 to 15 blue chip artists to donate works for an auction. What is a large Jonas Wood painting going for these days? $5 million? Of course, if in 2011 Joe and Jane were smart enough to buy a Jonas Wood from DK for $6000 to $35,000, they might have a few thousand to donate themselves. But if that were the case there never would have been the desire or inclination to save LACMA from itself. In short, I don't expect Govan to make the same mistakes as his detractors.
and what say do we have in this at this point?!?
Long ago there was talk of the funding goal including an endowment for operating expenses. But I haven't heard mention of that lately. My sense is that construction estimates have increased, and the endowment idea got put to the side. It's common for capital campaigns to allocate funds for contingencies—things discovered in the course of construction that raise the cost. Construction budgets plan for the case in which everything goes perfectly, but in real life it never does.
Less gallery space. Check.
Smaller auditorium. Check.
(I wonder if Anna Bing Arnold is spinning in her grave?)
Curators physically removed from their exhibit areas. Check.
The entire collection treated like a "Where's Waldo" rotating thingamajig. Check.
Off-site conservation lab. Check.
Non-encyclopedic operational-exhibition trends that will make Ahmanson/Hammer/Anderson/Frost/Arnold/Broad, etc go "huh?" Check.
(Satellite locations in areas like Downey, Carson, Rosemead or Torrance should be really cool.)
Red-ink budgets that will make even Sears-Roebuck, Nokia or Netflix blush. Check.
Thanks, Michael Govan. With friends like you, who needs philistines?
We stopped being members — after being ones for the last decade — this year because of this nonsense. Why would we be members with no exhibit space, no Bing Theater, no nothing. Just a smaller, significantly more hideous design.
Michael Govan should be tarred, feathered and run out on a rail.
$100 million? I give him my middle finger and all the contempt I can muster.