Hasta La Ideas

Late last summer, everyone from Kenneth Turan to Martin Scorsese were beating the war drums and yelling at the top of their lungs over the Los Angeles County Museum of Art‘s decision to cut their celebrated-but-costly and ill-attended film program. So upset was everyone that it even led to this expose on how much the museum’s director, Michael Govan, was getting paid (though every paper seemed to be digging along those lines around that same time). But then the donors stepped in, Scorsese and Govan kissed and made up, and everything seemed safe and sound. Only, well, it isn’t. The LA Times is reporting that the LACMA’s film program is once again in trouble (maybe). People still aren’t showing up to see their films and the donors that propped things up last year might not make it a regular thing. Although they still have financing for another full year, after that, we’ll see if the fires start burning again as cuts are suggested. Here’s a bit:

Courting donors for the film endowment is, [museum president Melody Kanschat] said, “taking a tremendous amount of effort. Between the development staff and Michael’s time, we’re spending a tremendous amount of time” on it. Asked how long the museum would persevere with weekend screenings if attendance doesn’t soar and no endowment materializes, Kanschat said, “there isn’t a definite time when you say ‘pull the plug,’ but like any other well-run business, we have to look at how much effort goes into keeping a program alive.”

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