Broad Offers $30M for Crisis-Stricken MOCA

Published: November 24, 2008

Eli Broad

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LOS ANGELES—In an op-ed article published Saturday in the Los Angeles Times, the collector and art philanthropist Eli Broad offered $30 million to the beleaguered Museum of Contemporary Art “in the expectation that the museum’s board and others” also make donations, the New York Times reports.

The museum is facing a financial crisis after repeatedly dipping into its endowment to pay for operations, decreasing the permanent fund to less than $10 million. When the museum board met last week to discuss the crisis, some suggested the possibility of merging with another arts institution.

Broad clearly opposes the idea and suggested that his offer would not stand if MOCA pursued this course. “Being merged into another institution would destroy the fabric of a great museum and would sacrifice the independent curatorial vision that has created an extraordinary collection and many unparalleled exhibitions,” he wrote.

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He also warned against the museum deaccessioning any works from its collection. Broad was a founding chairman of the museum in 1979, but he has been largely inactive there since helping to negotiate the 1994 acquisition of the Panza Collection.

MOCA officials did not immediately comment on Broad’s offer.

Meanwhile, the museum is drawing support from L.A.'s arts community as well. On Sunday, some 450 visitors gathered in a public show of support for the museum, reports the New York Times. The standing-room-only crowd included dozens of local museum personnel as well as artists Andrea Fraser, Katie Grinnan, Martin Kersels, Alexis Smith, Jennifer Steinkamp, and James Welling.

Involved in organizing the gathering were the artists Cindy Bernard and Diana Thater, who asked art historian George Baker if he might be willing to give up a time slot during which he was scheduled to give a talk on conceptual art. The three spoke briefly and allowed audience members to make comments but not to ask questions. "We don't have any answers," Bernard said.

The visitors, like Broad, generally opposed the idea of a merger.

“We can’t let this be our Bear Stearns,” said Fraser. “If something happened to MOCA, it would change the chemistry of the L.A. art world.”

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