LOS ANGELES—The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) suffered a hefty 23 percent hit to its endowment for the 2008-09 fiscal year, according to recently released financial documents. It also appears that donations dropped dramatically over the 12-month period ending June 30, coming in at $29 million, a paltry sum compared to the $129.7 million the museum received the previous year. Its endowment is now valued at $196 million, after topping out at $254.7 million last year. Attendance, at least, was up, increasing from 825,000 last year to 853,000 this year.

Some have speculated that the decrease in LACMA's endowment and annual giving could signal an environment in which it will be difficult for the museum to raise funds to build a Jeff Koons sculpture of a 1944 Baldwin locomotive hanging from a crane that is estimated to cost $25 million to produce. If completed, the train engine will be able to puff steam, spin its wheels, and blow its whistle three times a day.

Asked about plans for the Koons sculpture, which the museum had originally planned for 2011-12 but pushed back to 2014-15 after the start of last year’s financial crisis, Barbara Pflaumer, LACMA’s associate vice president for communications and marketing explained, “We are looking for an enthusiastic donor." The Annenberg Foundation has already provided $2 million in funding, though much more will be needed to see the project through to completion.

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