Behind Michael Govan's almost $1-million LACMA salary

In the museum world, there are any number of ways to spend $1 million.

That's nearly as much as Michael Govan, director of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, will earn this year in salary, deferred compensation and benefits.

That also happens to be how much LACMA's film program lost over the last decade -- a big part of the reason that Govan recently laid off the program's director and cut the weekend screening series, provoking an outcry from hundreds of cineastes.

In good times, eyebrows might be raised over whether $1 million a year is a fair wage for a director of a nonprofit museum. But in the midst of a recession that has forced budget cuts and layoffs at museums around the country, the issue becomes more loaded.

"Every dollar you give in compensation is a dollar you can't spend on programs and curatorial work," said Andrew Taylor, director of the Bolz Center for Arts Administration at the University of Wisconsin.

The question may be particularly relevant at LACMA, because it gets more public funding than many museums: About a quarter of its $74-million operating budget came from L.A. County in 2008, including $201,432 toward Govan's salary and benefits.

LACMA has avoided widespread layoffs common at other museums. But it has canceled two exhibitions and abandoned negotiations for a third. Several curatorial positions remain open amid a hiring freeze, though one key spot was filled last week. Govan says he is seeking donor support to create a new film program.

In an interview this month, Govan said his pay was commensurate with the demands of his job, which requires him to be out "five or six nights a week" raising money -- a task at which he has excelled.

"Do you have any idea how much that costs in baby- sitting?" the 46-year-old director, who lives with his wife and their young daughter, said jokingly.

If the museum decided to cut salaries, "I'd be first in line," he said, adding that he decided to forgo a bonus and raise this year.

Still, Govan, a rising star when he was hired in early 2006, is on pace to collect $6 million over the course of his five-year contract, according to a copy of the agreement recently obtained by The Times, as well as details subsequently provided by the museum.

His compensation, about a 50% increase over that of his predecessor, places him in an elite group of art museum directors who for the most part preside over institutions more prestigious and many times richer than LACMA.