Municipal Art Gallery May Go Semiprivate

Mayor Tom Bradley has appointed a task force to study the possibility of turning the city-owned Municipal Art Gallery into a semiprivate institution.

Proponents of the plan hope to transform the low-profile gallery into a generously funded, prestigious showcase for Los Angeles artists that would be run by a private board of directors and a “world-class museum director,” according to Stanley Grinstein, chairman of the task force.

The group is developing a proposal to submit to the City Council “in two to three months,” Grinstein said Monday. If it is approved, the gallery’s $240,000 annual budget would be supplemented by private monies. The city’s Cultural Affairs Department would relinquish control of exhibitions and hiring and firing at the gallery.

Members of the task force expect resistance from the Cultural Affairs Department which would lose authority over its prime showcase for visual art. But Rodney Punt, its interim general manager, declined to take an official position. “We are taking a close look at the offer,” Punt said in a telephone interview Tuesday.

Grinstein said the task force’s plan for funding the Muni is like the operation of the County Museum of Art, where he is a trustee.

That museum currently receives $11 million annually--half of its $22-million operating budget--from the county, according to Pam Jenkinson, the museum’s chief press officer. Private donations pay the other half of operating costs and fund exhibitions, acquisitions and building expansion.

The Municipal Art Gallery, in contrast, depends almost entirely on city money. The institution has received financial help for salaries and exhibition catalogues from the Gallery Associates, a private support group, but its contributions have varied greatly over the years, Punt said.

Under the new plan the city would continue to pay for basic operations but a private board of directors would raise supplementary funds for an ambitious exhibition program.

The board’s first priority would be “to hire a world-class director,” Grinstein said. “MOCA (the Museum of Contemporary Art) gained credibility by hiring Pontus Hulten as its first director. We could accomplish the same thing by proving we are serious.”

An idea to privatize the city gallery initially took shape about two years ago while Fred Croton was serving as general manager of the Cultural Affairs Department. Croton came under fire from disgruntled employees and members of the art community who questioned his managerial style and knowledge of the arts. In 1985, complaints had become so persistent that the city launched an investigation into his personnel policies and practices.

One controversial move was Croton’s reorganization of the Municipal Art Gallery and his reassignment of gallery director Josine Ianco-Starrels. Given the newly created administrative post of art coordinator, she was effectively removed from the gallery. Starrels eventually resigned and became chief curator at the Long Beach Museum of Art.

Croton himself resigned last year after the Los Angeles Civil Service Commission upheld a finding that he had lied on his job application. But the idea of transforming the embattled Muni continued.

Grinstein and Cultural Affairs commissioners Merry Norris and Alan Sieroty presented a preliminary plan to Bradley three or four months ago, Grinstein said. The task force had its first meeting on Feb. 29 in the mayor’s conference room, and met again on Monday.

Among members of the task force are Henry Hopkins, former director of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and current director of the Frederick R. Weisman Collection; Sandy Smalley, former head of the Gallery Associates; representatives of City Councilmen Joel Wachs and Michael Woo, and artists Betye Saar and Judy Baca.

According to Grinstein, the group envisions a gallery that will focus exclusively on Los Angeles art and artists. Unlike the County Museum of Art and the Museum of Contemporary Art, which have an international scope, the Muni would provide a highly professional showcase for the city’s rich mix of talent, he said.

Declining to speculate on the probability of the plan’s acceptance, Grinstein said, “It seems like such a good idea, so good for the city, that I’d feel bad if we didn’t take a shot at it.”