Eli Broad Skips Payments to MOCA Over Unspent Funds
August 9, 2012 | Read Time: 1 minute
Los Angeles arts patron Eli Broad did not make two recent scheduled payments on a $15-million pledge to fund exhibitions at the city’s Museum of Contemporary Art because the institution has $2.1-million in unspent programming grants, says Bloomberg.
The commitment represents half of the philanthropist and property developer’s $30-million 2008 bailout package for the museum, known as MOCA. It is being paid out in quarterly $750,000 installments over five years, but scheduled October 2011 and January 2012 payments were not made, according to a museum budget update.
“Once our unspent exhibition funds have been used, we will make additional payments,” said Karen Denne, a spokeswoman for Mr. Broad.
MOCA’s financial turnaround, which began with Mr. Broad’s 2008 rescue, has stalled under Jeffrey Deitch, the museum’s director since 2010, according to Bloomberg. While attendance has doubled since Mr. Deitch took office, fundraising has declined, and MOCA has raised its cost projections for this year.
