Opinion: L.A. Museum Trustees Should Pay for Failures

In an “open letter” to board members of the Museum of Contemporary Art, the art critic Christopher Knight urges the trustees who oversaw the Los Angeles museum’s current financial woes to give personal donations to help shore up its finances.

Writing in the Los Angeles Times, Mr. Knight — who notes that in 1998 the museum operated with a $50-million endowment, now rumored to have shrunk to $7-million — says the trustees “must call an urgent board meeting, gather round the table, pull out your checkbooks and calculators, and stay in that room until you have cobbled together at least $25 million.” He suggests this act be followed by budget cuts and the crafting of a new strategic plan.

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