Los Angeles Museum Of Contemporary Art

Leaders of L.A.'s financially troubled Museum of Contemporary Art said Friday that they have crafted a balanced budget for the coming fiscal year -- but only by sacrificing four planned exhibitions and 17 more jobs, including two of seven curators. They hope that a fall exhibition drawn solely from MOCA's acclaimed collection of post-World War II art will be a blockbuster and signal that the museum's turnaround from last year's near-collapse is well underway.

In late November, not long after Eli Broad made his very public offer of a $30-million bailout to the cash-strapped Museum of Contemporary Art, the billionaire philanthropist also extended a behind-the-scenes offer to Charles E. Young, chancellor emeritus of UCLA, to act as the museum's first chief executive.

FRANZ WEST FROM THE TOP DOWN Austrian artist Franz West, 61, did his first site-specific American installation at L.A.'s Museum of Contemporary Art in 1994. Twenty-eight high-back sofas, made from welded steel re-bar and loosely upholstered in bright fabrics acquired from downtown's booming garment district, transformed an outdoor plaza into a comfy living room crossed with an urban construction site.

The rescue of Los Angeles' fiscally strapped, leadership-challenged Museum of Contemporary Art appears destined to be a process of two steps forward, one step back. When the Museum of Contemporary Art released a 13-point agreement to accept a $30-million aid package from the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation late Monday, the deal seemed pretty straightforward. Broad had promised a no-strings offer; with minor exceptions, that's what MOCA got. MOCA, an internationally celebrated Los Angeles exhibition facility with a stellar collection of art made since World War II, has been suffering a long-term leadership crisis, both in the director's office and on the board.

After Tuesday's confirmation that the financially troubled Museum of Contemporary Art would accept a $30-million bailout offer from billionaire philanthropist Eli Broad, a number of artists, museum executives and civic leaders hailed the decision as an important first step in ensuring the museum's future -- but only a first step. "I don't think we know what it means yet," Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky said of the new agreement.

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art proposed a merger with the financially struggling Museum of Contemporary Art on Tuesday. The proposal provides a second bailout option for the downtown museum, which earlier received an offer of $30 million from billionaire philanthropist Eli Broad. The merger plan sets up a face-off between L.A.'s most powerful arts patron and the museum with the largest art collection west of the Mississippi.

Audrey Irmas remembers when money was so tight for the Museum of Contemporary Art in 1997 that she drove from one fellow board member's home to another, rounding up $7,000 for building repairs. Now MOCA's financial house is in shambles -- and this time it reportedly will cost at least $25 million to replenish the endowment and an additional $5 million to cover projected deficits for the coming year. "This shouldn't have been a surprise to anyone," said Irmas, a life trustee of the museum.

Amid news that the Museum of Contemporary Art is facing a financial disaster -- and unconfirmed reports that MOCA trustees are pursuing a merger with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art -- leaders of other Southern California cultural institutions have reacted with dismay. "MOCA has to survive," said Jay Belloli, director of gallery programs at the Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena. "The people who care about it really have to rally to it.

To: MOCA trustees Re: Rescue plans for MOCA's fiscal crisis I read with interest in Wednesday's paper about the fiscal calamity plaguing the Museum of Contemporary Art, which seems to suggest that the nation's premier institution for art of the past 50 years is just about broke. I also read about the possible rescue plans you are prepared to pursue, in a desperate scramble to save your sinking ship. I've been hearing about others.

Los Angeles' prestigious but chronically underfunded Museum of Contemporary Art has fallen into crisis. Museum Director Jeremy Strick said MOCA is seeking large cash infusions from donors, and this week he did not rule out the possibility of merging with another institution or sharing its collection of almost 6,000 artworks. Federal tax returns show that even before the current national crisis, MOCA had been draining its reserves to pay operating expenses.