Long Beach : Art Museum Gets OK for Private Status

The Long Beach City Council this week formalized an agreement, effective immediately, under which the Long Beach Museum of Art ended 30 years as a municipal facility to be run by a private nonprofit foundation.

Under the new arrangement--approved unanimously--the city will continue its annual contribution of $357,000 to the museum for the next five years. The museum also will remain at its current city-owned facility until a more appropriate location can be found. Museum officials have said that private status will enable them to raise more funds for the institution.

Under a contract signed a year ago, the city agreed to allow the museum to go private if the Long Beach Museum of Art Foundation could submit a five-year management plan for the museum and could raise a $300,000 reserve fund by Oct. 1. The management plan was submitted last spring, and museum officials announced last week that the money had been raised.