marshallastor.com

Dear Mr. Johnson and Mr. Unterman:

I write to you and the members of the Board of Trustees at what we all agree is a critical moment in MOCA’s history and for its future. I make the following requests to keep faith with the civic priorities that helped launch the museum in the heart of the city more than two decades ago:

1. No determination should be made regarding the long term structure and financial wherewithal of the museum until the board has had an opportunity to thoroughly review and vet proposals in writing.

2. Trustees should take 30 days to conduct a public review of the proposals before them, allowing for input from the community and all interested stakeholders.

This critical public review could be conducted by or in conjunction with a panel of appointed contemporary arts experts. While MOCA’s lease agreement provides for the appointment of such a panel, charged with ensuring that MOCA maintains its status as “a non-profit, contemporary art museum of ‘world class’ stature’” with a concern for the general public, after notice of potential breach, I believe that the current crisis demands the convening of a panel now. This convening would bolster the public’s confidence in MOCA after this crisis is resolved. Therefore, I
intend to move forward shortly to convene such a panel, and I request your participation.

I remain committed to MOCA’s continuing presence in downtown Los Angeles, and believe it is in the best interest of Angelenos for the Museum of Contemporary Art to have a sustainable, vibrant future. However, MOCA is in a serious financial and institutional crisis and in significant need of management reorganization. Any plan to preserve the museum’s long term financial health must also maintain MOCA’s independence and require structural reform and strict financial accountability measures. The strategic choices you make for MOCA’s future should also have broad and deep stakeholder support, and ensure that the Board maintains its stewardship and authority over the financial and operational management of the museum.

Thank you for your thoughtful consideration of these suggestions as you strive to address this critical issue.

Very truly yours,

ANTONIO R. VILLARAIGOSA
Mayor

My interpretation is that the above letter is a direct questioning of the authority and possibly the competence of the MOCA Board of Trustees to govern MOCA’s future.  If there’s anything that’s become obvious about MOCA is that the folks at the wheel are afraid, overly concerned with their self preservation and possibly out of their minds.  They really cannot be trusted to make decisions about MOCA’s future – they’re the ones who robbed it of that future via their years-long failure of leadership.

It has become abundantly clear that all outside parties (sans LACMA) are committed to seeing MOCA remain as an independent museum, no matter how tough it is on the poor, poor trustees.  Although the Mayor’s proposed process of stakeholder meetins and the formation of a panel will be, in that special City of LA way, slightly vampiric to one’s soul, it may be one way to put the brakes and bring some transparency and intelligence to a process that has become chaotic and dangerous to the continued cultural life of the whole region.