Brooklyn Museum Director Arnold Lehman has announced a series of measures the Museum is undertaking to address the current—and what may likely be ongoing—economic crisis. The measures proposed are conceived so that our public and our visitors can continue to benefit fully from the Museum’s exceptional resources. As valued friends of the Museum, I want to draw your attention to this letter, which is being sent to Museum donors and Members. Arnold’s letter articulates in depth how we will move forward during these challenging times and remain a vibrant destination for all people.
Download Letter
You can also find a message from Arnold on the Web site.
About Judith Paska
Judith Paska is the Vice Director of Development at the Brooklyn Museum. Judith joined the Brooklyn Museum in 2000 after serving as Senior Development Officer at the Cleveland Museum of Art since 1995. There she managed fundraising, government relations, volunteer initiatives, community relations, and audience development. Prior to her five-year tenure at the Cleveland Museum, Judith served as Director of Development Communications for The Cleveland Play House, a professional regional theater, and President of The Lamb Group, a company specializing in planning and development for not-for-profit clients. She holds a B.A. from The Johns Hopkins University and an M.A. in art history from the University of California at Berkeley, where she completed doctoral-level studies in late 19th- and early 20th-century European art.
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Eastern Parkway/Brooklyn Museum
Pathetic, Arnold. Had you not enraged and subsequently lost 1/3 of your most talented curators and at least two board members in 2006 (http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9401E5DD1530F936A35753 C1A9609C8B63), perhaps the second largest art collection in the US would not be floundering. You made that call, and now the collateral damage requires more window dressing: cutting jobs, denying fresh talent, losing donors, and failing to deliver exhibitions with impact.
As it stands, Brooklyn Museum is still at a lose when it comes to identifying its strengths or audiences and properly branding itself. What’s this summer’s blockbuster exhibit? Caillebotte! Come on, folks; if you’re going to pander to the unadventurous masses, at least do it with a big name artist in the winter, when tourists will perhaps journey to an outer borough museum. And are these works borrowed? No wonder costs are sky-high. Show the collections gems–show the Audubons before they rot away. But please, show us there’s still some curatorial spine.
When I think of Brooklyn Museum, Target’s logo springs to mind, not art world relevance (though you might be onto something with the Sackler Center, if properly marketed). It’s time for a regime change, Arnold. Do us all a favor and fall one your sword.
-a former unpaid intern, M.S. in Art History, Theory, and Crit.
Now is not the time to be bitter and divisive, but the time to come together help our local museums and cultural institutions out.
Everyone across the board is having this funding problem. There are entire museums that have been shut down – not due to a change in leadership (let’s keep regime change where it belongs), but the financial difficulties of their sponsors and patrons.
-a current non-profit worker, and member of the Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn Botanical Garden, Brooklyn Historical Society, MoMA, and Metropolitan Museum of Art (BAM, my renewal is coming soon).
Amy:
Sorry to harsh your mellow, but it is paramount to identify and suss out glaring problems in order to remedy them. When a director makes a decision that causes board members to resign, that means money is walking out the door, as board members tend to be major donors. Mind you, Brooklyn Museum is still recovering from it’s last donor disaster 10 years ago (remember Sensations? No one wanted to associate their name or money with the Brooklyn after that.) Add to this the walk-off of curators, which means institutional knowledge and talent. There’s a connection, I assure you.
And while you are a very dedicated non-profit “worker” and member of several wonderful cultural institutions, I’d hazard to say that you don’t know much about collecting art or running a museum. Museum directors need to be adept at building a viable collection, forging a meaningful and profitable coalition with board members/donors/curators/staff/visitors, and consistently keeping the books in the black. Arnold Lehman has demonstrated his ability in none of the above, and he’s had ten years (far more than the average life-span of a museum director) to make his mark. Heck, Target has exhibited a better understanding of how to draw large and consistent crowds than Arnold. Perhaps the Board should woo a Target exec over to Brooklyn Museum.
Finally, if you’re going to make such a grandiose statement, may I suggest that now is the time to “come together” for the jobless and homeless, as the worthy cultural institutions will endure and the lesser ones will fail. I highly recommend giving one’s money to charities that directly assist the disenfranchised, not mediocre museums that mismanage power, funds, and responsibility. So long as the artworks are properly stored and preserved, they’ll still be there when we have disposable income once again.