Newport Harbor Museum Chief Expects to Stay Another Year

The Newport Harbor Art Museum board has reached a verbal agreement to extend director Michael Botwinick’s contract for one year, the director said Friday.

Although James V. Selna, president of the museum board, could not be reached for comment, Botwinick acknowledged that an extension has been agreed to orally but is not yet signed. He declined further comment.

A number of changes have occurred at the museum since Botwinick took over in January 1991. Nine employees were laid off in 1992--decreasing full-time staff by more than a third--as part of a 10% cut in the budget. Before the cuts, the museum had 28 full-time and nine part-time employees.

Meanwhile, four staffers have held the museum’s No. 2 administration post under Botwinick. And earlier this month the museum named Susan Porter its third director of development in 18 months.

In 1993 the museum dropped its $50-million plan to build a larger, high-profile site, due to problems that started before Botwinick’s employment. In 1990, trustees fired noted architect Renzo Piano, citing rising costs and problems with his blueprint for the project. Previous to that, fund-raising had stalled.

Last November, the museum moved ahead with a less ambitious expansion plan, acquiring a former library building next door.

Officials of the museum, which has an operating budget of $1.1 million, will not say whether it now has any deficit, but it was revealed in 1992 that $600,000 had been borrowed from its own endowment fund the previous summer to pay off a deficit.

Botwinick has said that private donations have declined.