Is the Smithsonian Available?

The recent article (“Will OCMA Fit Into Center Expansion?,” March 4) by Zan Dubin and Cathy Curtis is of interest both for what they wrote and for what was left out.

Having a major art museum in or near the Orange County Performing Arts Center has been talked about for years. It is a good idea, and the people of this county will support it if a suitable partner can be found. The Orange County Museum of Art is not the one.

The article did not say what key players other than [museum president] Chuck Martin think about OCMA’s qualifications. Just two years ago, Newport Harbor Art Museum was on the verge on bankruptcy, having spent most of its $2-million endowment fund for operating expenses and having run a deficit for eight straight years. It is financially sound today only because of the millions in assets it obtained in the failed merger with the Laguna Art Museum, and it gained joint trusteeship of Laguna’s 3,900-piece art collection. Are the people who engineered that travesty the ones the county would trust with a world-class museum?

A far better choice would be a museum specifically affiliated with the Smithsonian. Think of the logic: The Smithsonian’s National Gallery has one of the greatest collections in the world; it’s community is the entire United States, and, except for traveling exhibitions, it has no presence on the West Coast. The Smithsonian would be an outstanding and natural partner for the creation of a world-class art museum in Orange County.

JOHN A. BING

Laguna Beach

Bing is a member of the Laguna Art Museum board.