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Bigger, bolder . . . and poorer

Ex-trustees say MOCA ignored obvious signs of trouble and tried to spend its way to success. The director's job is on the line.

December 14, 2008|Mike Boehm and Kim Christensen | Boehm and Christensen are Times staff writers.

Andrew Taylor, director of the Bolz Center for Arts Administration at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said the tack MOCA took was not in the arts-management playbook. "Growing their way out of the problem -- it can work, but boy, that's a risky strategy. That could happen, but it's kind of like buying a lottery ticket."

Although Unterman said MOCA's money problems were raised at length in "unpleasant and challenging" finance committee sessions, the full board apparently did not become galvanized to solve them until the co-chairmen clearly laid them out last summer.

"I don't think a lot of the board was aware how dire the situation really was," said Jane Nathanson, a longtime MOCA trustee who also sits on LACMA's board.

Nathanson said she has chaired fundraising events for MOCA but left the fiscal watchdog duties to others better versed in finance. Now she's making a New Year's resolution to improve her grasp of museum money matters.

"I would be much more concerned about financial reports," she said, "and definitely take the time to read between the lines."

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mike.boehm@latimes.com

kim.christensen@latimes.com

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