first notes from the "community meeting" at the corcoran tonight.
Mark Swartz "Director of Development Communications": we are exploring alternate sites; philanthropic support to renovate building; search for new director; building is on the market.
Holly Bass "performance artist": more artists in residence; branch out more the biennial
William Dunlop "artist": corcoran was once warm and welcoming, now a decade of disengagement; early 80's traveling shows; the collection and school are inseparable; list of names to call to raise money; lack of institutional memory.
Philip Brookman "curator": art as social discourse, dialogue; museums have to change; one of the finest museums in the world, but with art as object; IMLS grant 150k for collection management, online digitize collection
Q- university or institutional partners? A. open to explore collaboration
Q- Linda Simmons "curator emeritus" - a move would be institutional suicide; lost touch with constituency; example of Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, they bought an office across street; free admission with donation box; develop art history of building and collection
Q- alumna - building could be developed as social space comfortable for neighborhood, example tate modern london.
Q- corcoran ball? A- continuing.
Q- research center; strategic plan; human resource management.
Q- trustees should be on stage, not staff and artists.
Q- fix the building incrementally, sweat equity, like kickstarter
Q- Beasley- UVA experience, will director selection, select strategic outcome
Q- appeal of corcoran is urban campus which is lost by move
Q- can you sell building legally, what are trust restrictions?
Q- fund raising, boot strap, small projects
Q- financial statements online?
Q- divorced form local community, diebenkorn traffic on free saturday show roadmap to success.
Q- what is timeframe for decision? A- next year
Q- "city paper" any explanation of deficits with community? A- form 990
charity navigator corcoran
The high cost of change at the Corcoran
But why am i not a member. after all i love the corcoran building, love the staff, love the collection. however, i do not love the toxic leadership. it has been 30 years of drift. when the "leaders" can show me some leadership, then they will have my support. i don't demand Paul Mellon to come down, but i do expect an aspiration to that level of leadership. they could start with 10 years of audited financials, equal to the NGA's NGA financials
