Jennifer Steinkamp Broad Offers $30M for Crisis-Stricken MOCA Professional Feel, but Mixed Market, at ShContemporary Americans for the Arts Announces Annual Awards Making Noise More than Movies Top 10 Winter Museum Shows in the U.S. San Francisco

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Although choosing how to spend the museum’s acquisitions fund is serious business, it also made for a fun, festive weekend, according to the newspaper.

Curators engaged in a sort of competition, vying for a piece of the nearly $1 million pot by pitching their favorite works with flair, using Slick PowerPoint presentations combining scholarship and salesmanship.

This year’s works ranged from a carved elephant (ca. 1300), proposed by Japanese art curator Robert T. Singer, to Jennifer Steinkamp’s 2002 video-projected flowers, suggested by contemporary art curator Lynn Zelevansky.

A swanky cocktail party on April 20 kicked off the weekend, and on April 21, committee members gathered for breakfast and a full day of viewing the potential acquisitions, grilling curators and finally voting at the Beverly Hills Hotel.

“It’s better than a weekend in Paris,” said Ellen L. Korney, a longtime LACMA supporter. “You can go to Paris any time. This happens once a year, and it’s a great way to help the museum.”

Los Angeles Times: Fun and funds with LACMA's Collectors Committee