NEAL BENEZRA is not a showman. But as museum directors nationwide face plummeting endowments and potentially crippling budget cuts, Mr. Benezra’s even-keeled approach and penchant for collaboration in his stewardship of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art may be a blueprint for how to endure the financial uncertainty.
Some 150 yoga fanatics, mats in hand, gathered in the second-floor atrium of the Museum of Modern Art one recent Saturday morning. They were there to “Put the oM in MoMA,” as the invitation read.
Dr. Ford Bell, president and CEO of the American Association of Museums, addressed more than 200 museums and nonprofit professionals on February 13 at the second annual Robert F. Smith, Jr. Cultural Arts Leadership Symposium, a program presented by the Balboa Park Cultural Partnership (BPCP), a collaborative of 24 San Diego cultural institutions.
For zoos, aquariums and museums, membership comes with some serious benefits, most often free admission. But when it comes to such institutions, there often are differing motivations for becoming a member: cost savings and status. This membership mailing from The Museum of Modern Art lays out both options — and giving levels in between — but aims to net the latter. Sent in a 4-inch-by-7.5-inch off-white, invitation-style outer envelope, it bears a live stamp and, just above the MoMA return address, the line, “Agnes Gund, President Emerita.” Announcing that it’s a personal invite from MoMA’s president from the start makes the mailing scream “high touch.”
