The financially troubled Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles and the expansion-oriented University of Sothern California are discussing a potential partnership, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The talks are “very preliminary,†the university's provost, Elizabeth Garrett, told the paper, but are aimed at exploring a “partnership that would enhance the missions of both institutions.†Lyn Winter, a spokesperson for the museum, told the Times much the same thing.
The Museum of Contemporary Art has suffered from financial problems for years, and in 2008 accepted a $30 million rescue package from the billionaire philanthropist Eli Broad, a founding trustee. In recent months, it has refused to provide details about the state of its finances, although Mr. Broad wrote an opinion piece in the Los Angeles Times saying its curr ent budget is $14.3 million, the lowest it has been for more than a decade.
Meanwhile, the museum has also been a focus of controversy over its curatorial program, after Jeffrey Deitch, the New York art dealer, was named its director-a move that many saw as influenced by Mr. Broad-and Paul Schimmel, its respected longtime chief curator, was pushed out in June. Several board members, including four prominent artists, quit last summer in protest over what they saw as the museum's excessively pop-culture focused program under Mr. Deitch.
The university, is in aggressive expansion mode, the Times reported, and is currently in the midst of a $6 billion fundraising drive.
