Category: issues

The museum community is wasting no time in offering support to the Getty Trust’s new interim CEO. “In her 23 years at the Getty, [Deborah] Marrow has emerged as its longest-tenured department head and the administrator with perhaps the broadest hands-on experience of its multifaceted operations.” Perhaps more importantly, those who know her say that her level-headed style and established connections in the art world will serve the Getty well as it attempts to rebound from a terrible year.

The scandals enveloping the Getty Trust came to a shrieking climax with the resignation of President and CEO Barry Munitz last week, and Christopher Knight says that it is time for the flailing institution to take a deep breath and remember that its mission is supposed to have something to do with art.

The troubling issues of executive compensation and severance pay have joined the myriad other controversies plaguing Los Angeles’s Getty Museum. “Questions are being raised about whether excessive severance packages were paid to two senior executives who resigned recently… The severance packages could prove troubling to the Getty because such payments might violate federal tax laws governing spending by nonprofit foundations, which specify that they must use their resources for the public good.”

Tyler Green reports that Barry Munitz is stepping down as president of the Getty Trust. Munitz has been under fire in the past year. “In a letter to the Board, Dr. Munitz said that with the Getty’s vision and strategic priorities clarified and supported, a new museum director in place, the Getty Villa reopened after an eight-year period, the Trust endowment in solid financial shape and talks underway to resolve issues surrounding the Getty’s antiquities collection, his work at the Getty was complete.”

“Munitz’s resignation marked a stunning downfall for a man who brought extensive business and academic experience to the world’s richest art institution, not to mention a bevy of friendships with Los Angeles’ power elite.”

“In interviews, Barry Munitz has defended his actions and his spending, saying that his job required him to court powerful collectors and donors around the world. He has also stressed that trust’s board had approved all his expenses, including first-class air travel, stays at five-star hotels and a leased Porsche Cayenne.”

“China has now become the second largest exporter of ‘visual arts’, accounting for 19% of world exports in this category (particularly statuary). World trade in all categories of cultural goods (including visual arts, heritage goods, books, newspapers, recorded media, audiovisual, etc.) almost doubled from $39 billion in 1994 to $59 billion in 2002, representing around 1% of total world trade.”

“The storm took out all four of New Orleans’ major performing arts theaters, severely flooding two of its oldest — the Orpheum and the Saenger, both listed on the national registry of historic places. But in the five months since Katrina, as renovations have been under way at the Saenger, recovery at the Orpheum — which had no flood insurance — has been all but stagnant. And the future of the 85-year-old theater, which for years has served as home to the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, is uncertain.”

Only 22 percent of Welsh want their government to fund the arts directly. “Some 56% wanted the Arts Council of Wales (ACW) to continue funding and developing the arts. The survey followed a defeat for Labour, which had tried to take over responsibility for arts funding.”

“The Getty Foundation’s Fund for New Orleans — to be announced today in New Orleans by officials of the Getty Foundation, the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the city — will allow nonprofit arts organizations to apply for financial support of two types: conservation grants, to be applied toward preserving art collections, archives, historic buildings and landscapes, and transitional planning grants, for ‘longer-term organizational effectiveness and realization of an organization’s mission.'”