Hasta La Ideas

On the other side of the coin, following that last post about hard times, we have the opposite over at the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art who have announced that everything’s fine and dandy with them again on the financial end. Just a few short months ago, you’ll recall that the museum was only a few steps from an untimely death, forcing billionaire Eli Broad to step in and throw down $30 million to keep it afloat. Now the museum has said, on top of Broad’s massive contribution, they’ve also raised nearly that same amount from other donors (mostly members of their board), bringing their total haul to $56.9 million and thus making everything good again for them. We’re thinking, after seeing a turnaround this quick, it’s probably always a good idea to get in friendly with Eli Broad and his rolodex if you ever find yourself running a museum. Also couldn’t hurt to be in Los Angeles either, given the types of people who live in the area and their inflated pocketbooks — just take a look at some of the members of their new board (which replaces those who left in protest earlier this year):

In other MOCA board business Thursday, trustees re-elected Jeffrey Soros as president, and Fred Sands, who recently donated $2 million, was chosen as vice president. Three new trustees were elected: writer-producer Darren Star, whose credits include “Sex and the City,” “Melrose Place” and “Beverly Hills, 90210”; Carolyn Clark Powers, who also is on the collectors’ committee at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Music Center‘s dance association; and Marc I. Stern, an investment executive who chairs Los Angeles Opera and is a board member of the Music Center, California Science Center and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington.