Posted on 05/06/2019 9:04:24 PM PDT by EinNYC
>>Those museums are taxpayer-funded, but their budgets are controlled by politicians. So their managers cater to, and cave in to, politicians. Bureaucrats determine the details. John Q. Public does not get to vote on what items are exhibited.
Bureaucrats don’t get to determine details. When conservatives tried to raise a stink over federal funds going to established artists via the NEA to promote homoporn (naked men with bullwhips up their arse) and anti-Christian art (the ACLU was quiet about this incident of publicly funded religious art) it didn’t go well for the politicians.
The LEFT gets to determine the details. It’s a closed shop.
NYC now has the mayor it deserves. Enjoy.
Once an institution caves in to identity politics as SOP, it is almost impossible for it to recover. Whatever its traditional mission may have been, its new primary mission will be agitprop, and the activists will drive out anyone who does not toe the party line.
Here's the thumbnail of last year's revenues from the published financial statement: funding from the endowment, $103.2 million; retail and auxiliary operations, $88.1 million; admissions and membership, $76.8 million; gifts and grants, $67.3 million; operating assistance from the City of New York, $25.4 million; other miscellaneous income, $8.3 million.
The City provides less than seven percent of annual revenues. The linked story says the city funding is to help with operating expenses and to subsidize energy costs. The Museum has a long, friendly partnership with the city, several city officials have been added to the Board, and city and state residents get discounted or free admission. The original Trustees who founded the Museum over a century ago specifically wanted it to be in New York as a civic asset, and the Museum has always valued that partnership. It would not surprise me, however, if the foregone value of admissions revenues from city and state residents exceeded the amount of city financial support. (That is my speculation; could be wrong.) Financially speaking, NYC may be a parasite attached to the Museum, not the other way around. But in any event, the City's contributions to the overall financial base are marginal.
What we are seeing here, therefore, is a very familiar example of a virulent socialist cancer in operation. In financial terms, NYC is a junior partner. The mayor is now attempting a coup. The junior partner wants to control hiring, promotion and the composition of the Board. If this goes forward, it amounts to a hostile takeover.
I don't know enough about the MMA to have a strong opinion about its current leadership, but I took a quick look at its senior management. They are almost all museum and non-profit careerists. I imagine that most of them are good at what they do, but they are salarymen, not independent actors. They will probably follow the path of least resistance and knuckle under to pressure. This is what DeBlasio is counting on.
The question is whether there are enough heavyweight independent actors on the Board to fight back. The proper response would be for the Board to tell DeBlasio, "We value our long and productive partnership with the City of New York, but we are not a city agency. We are independent. If you insist on attempting a takeover, we're out of here. Our lease on the Central Park site runs until XXXX. If you do not back off, we will depart as of that date. Go pound sand."
The MMA Board would have had that kind of independent spirit in the founding generation. Very few non-profit boards retain that kind of spirit across successor generations, which is why socialism spreads like a fungus. The MMA Board and senior management are consumed with the preservation and presentation of art. The politicians are consumed with a thirst for control. We know how that tends to work out in the long run. Eternal vigilance and all that.
This would be a golden opportunity for some major donors to step forward quietly and tell the MMA Board that they have the Museum's back. Given the politics of NYC, the Koch brothers may not be the best face to front this effort, but the Koch brothers are among the country's greatest philanthropists, have an interest in arts and culture, have long supported cultural institutions, and have the backbone to stand up to political thugs. Perhaps the Kochs, or someone like them, could put together a group to assure the MMA Board that, if it comes to it, they'll build a new, glorious building, with the property deeded in full to the Museum, in a jurisdiction that isn't run by leftist shakedown artists.
Stand up and fight. The MMA's independence should not be sacrificed to extortion by a very junior financial partner.
I went to the Detroit Institute of Arts 2 years ago and they were featuring “African art”. Honestly, the figurines, masks and paintings looked like they were made by 5’th graders. Then go look at some Rembrandts or 17’th century Italian sculptures or anything from the European cultures and the beauty and craftmanship is breathtaking. The “Veiled lady” comes to mind. A beautiful sculpture of a woman with a marble see through veil encompassing the woman. Diversity is merely anti white and anti Christian on display.
His wife has blown the better part of a BILLION on some poorly accounted for no-results initiative. The scale of his abuse of power is huge.
Diversity always means only one thing...less straight white males. It is just a substitute word for “reverse discrimination”. People need to sue.
Those museums are a major draw for tourists to even visit NYC. If DumblASSio has his way, who but a few libtards will want to go to the museums to see a bunch of African masks, paintings of men with their hands all over each other, certified gay zebras at the zoo, etc.? He will be cutting off millions of dollars of tourist revenue. But that doesn’t matter, any more than ruining the last decent schools in the NYC system, because they will be DIVERSE. And that is the most important thing.
staff diversity today, exhibit diversity tomorrow.
Yes, that is a logical next step. Then among required exhibits will be “Piss Christ” and the sculpture of Virgin Mary covered in dung. Along with the obligatory African tribal masks and “gay art” of some kind.
OK granted.
The point remains that with government in charge, the taxpaying public doesn't get a vote on what is exhibited and what is not.
Having surrendered control to government, we shouldn't be surprised when that's the case. But yes, hopefully we will make wayward politicians pay the price for their mischief.
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Let’s hear what the unions have to say about this, especially the stage hands.
Secondly, NONE of these places are cultural entities that stupid Bill have EVER gone to/been interested in!
Thirdly, sitting back and laughing at the destruction of these entities, especially The Met ( a #1 world class museum, only equaled by...if not better than, the British Museum and The Louvre )is akin to laughing and applauding the ISIS and al Quaeda destruction of antiquities and museums.
Depending on whom one believes, there are also paintings and sculptures created by a truly diverse group of artists...throughout Millennia.
Thankfully, IIRC, The Cloisters is privately owned and was built on land donated by the Rockefellers...so the armor, stained glass, and Christian artifacts there, are hopefully "safe" from Mayor Moron's clutches.
“Sadly, the majority of LEGAL voters in NYC have given up and no longer vote.”
Then who’s fault is it?
“Secondly, NONE of these places are cultural entities that stupid Bill have EVER gone to/been interested in!”
He’s interested in them now.
“is akin to laughing and applauding the ISIS and al Quaeda destruction of antiquities and museums.”
I feel no sympathy for the people of NYC. None. If they don’t give enough of a crap to get out and vote then they deserve this.
Actions have consequences. Inaction also has consequences. Maybe, but I doubt it, this will wake enough people up to actually change things. If it doesn’t then that’s on them, not me.
L
No, he's NOT really "interested" in them at all...he's just doing what he ALWAYS does, playing the imbecile COMMIE DICTATOR.
The people of NYC and the rest of the world do NOT "deserve this" and you should really care about this, even if you aren't interested in art or culture of any kind. The treasure trove that is stored in The Met and the varied types of music that has been and still is performed at The Lincoln Center and Carengie Hall, as well as plays, one man shows, etc. serve a great purpose and are of inestimable value to preserve.
By your rational, it is YOUR fault that Obama got elected not just once, but twice and that we all "deserve" the utter crap he and his ilk pulled and are still pulling off.
The Met keyword (MMA works also, but only until the stupid cage-fighting topics start):
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