Wednesday, November 26

Thanks ELI

This past week billionaire collector, Eli Broad, officially announced he will move ahead with plans to open a new contemporary art museum in Beverly Hills. The new 25,000 square foot institution will house the Broad Art Foundation and permanent collection, including seminal works by Jean Michel Basquiat, Jasper Johns, Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and Damien Hirst. The announcement comes less that a year after Broad gifted $56 million in funds to open the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s Broad Contemporary Art Museum........ 

Broad’s philanthropic pursuits don’t stop here. This week he offered an additional $30 million to help keep Los Angeles MOCA afloat. As previously reported, the museum has burned up its funds and is is on the brink of financial disaster. In a Nov. 21 LA Times op-ed, Broad said, ”I’d like to make a proposal to the MOCA board and to the civic angels of Los Angeles. I’ll step up if you do too. The Broad Art Foundation is prepared to make a significant investment in MOCA — $30 million…It is vital that the museum remain on Grand Avenue, keep its collection and continue its tradition of world-class exhibitions…This is not a one-philanthropist town…with a global recession that has hit every American’s pocketbook, charitable giving has declined…The philanthropic community must not turn its back on MOCA. We must make it one of our civic priorities.”


In total, Broad’s spending would represent a cash injection into Los Angeles’ art institutions in excess of $1 billion."

From: latimes

No comments: