#MOCA MUSEUM LOS ANGELES FULL#

Mark Bradford won’t forget his “funny handshake.” Liz Diller called him “curmudgeonly generous.” Artists, architects and museum directors share their memories of Eli Broad.Īn official job description might clarify plans, but MOCA declined to share one with The Times. “And is it necessary? I think people are confused, to say the least.”Įntertainment & Arts ‘He’s curmudgeonly generous’: How the art world remembers Eli Broad “It feels like another big boss, but what does that mean?” said one employee who asked to remain anonymous because the person was not authorized to speak to media. Or, more simply, as some staffers are asking: “Who’s in charge?”

Will the two directors’ salaries be equal?

#MOCA MUSEUM LOS ANGELES FULL#

Both leaders will fundraise.īut questions abound: Who, ultimately, controls the budget? Who has final say over the exhibition schedule, particularly if curatorial does not roll up to Biesenbach? Will Biesenbach take a pay cut? His full salary is not available on the museum’s most recent public tax filing (for fiscal year 2018-19), but his predecessor, Philippe Vergne, earned about $709,000.

The curatorial staff, however, will report to the new executive director, who also will oversee daily management and operations of the finance, advancement, education, communications and human resources departments, as well as key initiatives such as the museum’s new IDEA effort, promoting inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility. 11 email to staff, “cannot best further our mission and serve our community and team.”īiesenbach, who has been director since fall 2018, will steer the artistic vision of the museum, including exhibitions, programming and the collections, the museum said. “The singular role of one director to oversee a museum of our size,” MOCA said in a Feb. The restructuring of the director role, the museum has said, is an attempt to steady the institution and to adapt to the myriad needs of the times. Though the endowment is at a high point - $150 million - the museum has said that with governmental support limited, it’s heavily reliant on private fundraising. MOCA’s revenue in the 2019-20 fiscal year dropped 26% and its membership 32%. Several key employees recently departed, one citing resistance to a diversity initiative, another a hostile work culture. Like other cultural institutions, it faces a growing call to better address diversity, equity and inclusion within its staff and in its collections. After a COVID-19 closure lasting more than a year, MOCA reopens its Grand Avenue location to members next week and to the public on June 3. MOCA did not respond to multiple requests for comment for this story. The Getty Center and the Broad museum are open! Here is our May guide to the most promising exhibitions across Southern California. Others, however, said two directors would bring double the brain power to the museum’s leadership, and that Biesenbach’s new role played to his strengths.Įntertainment & Arts 29 L.A. Their only choice was to give him a new job description.” There’s a history of firing there - both chief curators and directors - and another major firing would not have gone over well.

But MOCA doesn’t have the luxury to fire anybody at that level right now. “If someone’s doing a great job, you don’t reshuffle the job. “There’s something going on,” said artist Lari Pittman, who resigned from the MOCA board in 2018. Will the new executive director really be holding the reins at the institution, which has seen four directors in 13 years? Some said two cooks in the kitchen would inevitably lead to conflict others questioned whether the unusual structure is something of a smokescreen - if, in fact, MOCA is demoting Biesenbach to a role similar to chief curator. As the Museum of Contemporary Art prepares to reopen after a historic pandemic closure, it finds itself in the midst of restructuring, moving director Klaus Biesenbach into the role of artistic director and hiring an executive director to co-run the institution with him.īut The Times has spoken with more than two dozen people including current and former MOCA employees, artists, curators and executives at other museums, and the majority were skeptical of the dual leadership model.

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