Boards Vote to Join O.C. Museums

By ZAN DUBIN and MICHAEL G. WAGNER

Feb. 28, 1996 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITERS

CORONA DEL MAR —

Trustees of the Newport Harbor Art Museum and the Laguna Art Museum voted Tuesday evening to merge, with the intention of becoming one world-class institution able to attract nationally touring exhibitions of works by famous artists.

Despite a groundswell of protest from some members in the last few days, the merger could take place as early as March 31. But first it must be ratified by a majority of the Laguna museum’s 1,500 general members.

Board members said it will take about a month to poll the Laguna members by mail. No general membership vote is needed by the Newport Harbor museum.

If Laguna members approve the merger, the new museum will be called the Orange County Museum of Art, with a mission to showcase California art from the late 19th century to the present day.

“It’s an incredible turning point for the people of Orange County,” said Gilbert LeVasseur, the Laguna board president and corporate merger specialist, who has been leading the movement to combine the museums.

Consolidating, LeVasseur continued, would “assure the financial stability and security of our institutions . . . and enable us to grow and serve the art lovers of Orange County in a much better way [than either] museum has in the past.”

Charles Martin, a Newport Harbor museum board member who was elected president of the new board, said, “What we are creating is a first-class visual arts institution that will serve our community in a better way.”

If the merger is approved, Martin said, the board would name a planning committee to study whether to move the two collections to a single site. In the meantime, the two museums will continue to operate for at least a year.

Martin said the new museum might remain at the site of the expanded Newport Harbor Art Museum or seek a new permanent home near South Coast Plaza, Laguna Beach or Irvine. He said he did not know what might become of the Laguna site the museum has occupied on Cliff Drive since 1929.

Earlier, LeVasseur said the board would “try to keep the [Laguna museum] open as long as possible” but that if, after a year or so, “keeping it open jeopardizes the financial position of the [combined museum], we will probably look to move.”

Laguna Art Museum director Naomi Vine has said there will be “two facilities as long as the [financial] support is there.”

The two boards met separately Tuesday afternoon in locations that were not disclosed. The vote was announced at the Five Crowns restaurant here with about a dozen members from the two boards in attendance.

The only major contingency other than approval by the Laguna general membership is that both museums must be debt-free to merge, LeVasseur said. He announced that the Laguna Museum’s $127,000 debt has been settled, but the Newport Museum remains $250,000 in debt. He did not disclose how Laguna got into the black.

Board members announced that the James Irvine Foundation would donate $60,000 to help with the transition if the merger occurred, but would withdraw its support of the Laguna Art Museum if it did not.

Earlier Tuesday, about 150 artists and members picketed for 90 minutes in front of the Laguna museum despite a heavy rain, carrying “Save Laguna Art Museum” placards.

“This is the rape of our museum,” said G. Ray Kerciu, a Laguna museum member and Cal State Fullerton art professor, one of several artists who showed up at the Five Crowns Restaurant after picketing. “A merger means they will have ripped the heart out of our city.”

If the merger is completed, the two staffs will be consolidated and will operate out of Newport Harbor’s site near Fashion Island. Martin said the 37 staff members between the two museums would probably be reduced by about a third if the consolidation occurs.

Vine was named director of the consolidated museum.

“We’re enthusiastic about combining our collections, which will offer a very complete survey of art in California during this time,” she said.

Officials said Newport Harbor director Michael Botwinick, whose contract expires next year, will stay on to assist in the interim.

The controversy over Tuesday’s vote has been growing for days. Laguna museum members, local artists and others are concerned that a merger would remove the museum from its ocean-bluff home.

Proponents have said a merger could give Orange County a large regional art institution that could complement its Performing Arts Center and Tony Award-winning repertory theater.

And they have argued that without a merger, the financially troubled Laguna museum might be forced to stop operating.

Twice in the last three days, groups including the Laguna Beach Arts Commission said they would seek restraining orders to postpone Tuesday’s vote. But each threat failed to materialize.

Ken Kleinberg, an attorney who represents artists and Laguna museum members, had cautioned against legal action “at this juncture” and City Manager Kenneth C. Frank said the arts commission is an advisory body and therefore cannot authorize any legal action.

The controversy hits home in Laguna Beach, whose museum traces its lineage to the Laguna Beach Art Assn., founded in 1918, and whose members included painters Edgar A. Payne, Frank W. Cuprien and Anna A. Hills.

Laguna museum member Doris Shields noted at a Monday meeting of the arts commission that the city already has lost two significant cultural assets. The Laguna Chamber Music Society, which performed in Laguna Beach for 32 years, moved its concerts to the Irvine Barclay Theatre in 1991. Ballet Pacifica, which had called Laguna Beach home for some 33 years, moved out last year, also to Irvine, to operate an academy and rehearsal hall.

“Now we’re going to give up the Laguna Art Museum, on which this community was built,” Shields said.

Several museum members and others say they are not necessarily opposed to a merger but are upset that museum officials have been close-mouthed. Though talks have been going on since fall, members were not notified of them officially until late last week.

LeVasseur has noted that public and private arts support has dwindled for all nonprofit organizations over the past decade because of corporate downsizing, declines in individual wealth and government deficits.

In a letter to members last week, he said, “In this changing economic climate, there is a genuine risk that within several years, the museum will not be able to continue to operate.” Only 28% of the museum’s members live in Laguna Beach, he added.

The Laguna Art Museum, which also has a storefront in the South Coast Plaza mall in Costa Mesa, focuses on historical and contemporary art of California. The 35-year-old Newport Harbor Art Museum concentrates on post-war California art.

“The combined collections” of the museums, LeVasseur wrote, “present a comprehensive survey of 20th-century art in California, and would be a unique and invaluable resource for the entire community.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

JOINING TOGETHER

Board members of the Newport Harbor and Laguna art museums have approved a plan to merge the institutions, pending the approval of the Laguna museum membership.

LAGUNA ART MUSEUM

307 Cliff Drive, Laguna Beach, with a satellite gallery in the South Coast Plaza mall, Costa Mesa

Founded: 1918

Focus: Historical and contemporary California art

Items in permanent collection: 3,800

Square footage: 20,000

Gallery space: 10,000 square feet in Laguna Beach; 1,200 square feet in Costa Mesa

Annual budget: $1.1 million

Deficit: $64,000 (1994-95)

Director: Naomi Vine

Full-time staff: 14

Board president: Gilbert LeVasseur, private investor