Bowers and Pacific Asia Museum cut staff, pull back on exhibitions

More downbeat news from the arts-during-recession front:

The Pacific Asia Museum in Pasadena and the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana are cutting their budgets --20% and 10%, respectively -- by laying off employees and canceling or delaying exhibitions. The Pacific Asia Museum also plans to hike its $7 admission fee -- it remains undecided whether by $1 or $2 -- and begin charging for lectures and workshops that previously were free.

The museums share an interest in Asian and Pacific Island culture (and both were raided in January as part of a federal investigation into alleged looting of ancient Ban Chiang artifacts that is ongoing, according to a Justice Department spokesman), although the Bowers is less specialized. Executive directors of both institutions said Friday that they are not caught in an immediate fiscal emergency but, foreseeing more bad economic weather ahead, are trying to trim their sails in hopes of keeping their budgets afloat.

"It's painful to let good people go and cut back programs, but my job and the trustees' is to look at the long-term health of the museum," said Joan Marshall, the Pacific Asia's director.  "We're a small regional museum, with a small cash reserve, and can't afford to find ourselves in a crisis like MOCA," she added, alluding to the long-building financial emergency at L.A.'s $21-million-a-year Museum of Contemporary Art, which had been spending down its reserves since 2001 before seeing a substantial chunk of what remained vanish in the recent market plunge.

Both museums are coming off landmark successes but nevertheless see a need to play it safe in suddenly turbulent times.

In September, the Pacific Asia finished a three-year, $4.4-million pay-as-you-go remodeling and infrastructure upgrade that includes the museum's first interactive exhibit for kids, an expansion of its store, refurbished galleries, and improved electrical and climate control systems. Marshall said this year's attendance is expected to be about 50,000 -- a 20% increase over last year. In mid-October, the Bowers closed its exhibition of ancient Chinese terra-cotta warriors, which director Peter Keller said netted $5 million after drawing a record-setting 210,000 visitors.

Bowers leaders had decided in advance that they would not touch the $5 million, Keller said, but instead would put it away in safe if low-yielding investments as a financial backstop for the future. Although the market retreat has whittled away at the museum's regular endowment, which Keller said is less than $10 million, he said the terra-cotta money remains intact. In another conservative move, he said, the Bowers has established a $500,000 revolving fund that it plans to use to pay the upfront costs of exhibitions. The idea is to replenish the fund by the end of each fiscal year.

Establishing the exhibition fund and keeping hands off of the terra-cotta cash made it necessary to economize, Keller said, by cutting a $5-million budget (apart from the blockbuster's expenses) to about $4.5 million. Two weeks ago, the Bowers let go three staffers whose jobs had covered fundraising and ramping up memberships. Among them was Inez Wolins, vice president of development and marketing, who had been hired in mid-2007 after directing art museums in Wichita, Kan., Gainesville, Fla., and Great Falls, Mont., and then serving as head of education and visitor services at L.A.'s Autry National Center.

Besides the staff reductions, the Bowers will run "Passages," its current show of photography from Africa, until next Aug. 16 -- an extension of four months. Another show, "Spirits and Headhunters," combining photographs of Papua New Guinea with artifacts from the museum's own collection, is being pushed back from next May until early 2010.

At the Pacific Asia Museum, development director David Spiro and an employee in the collections department lost their jobs Monday as part of efforts to reduce the budget for 2009 from $2 million to about $1.6 millon. Marshall said that she and museum board members would assume Spiro's fundraising role and that the loss of the collections post would slow an effort to post more of the museum's collection on its website. Three smaller planned temporary exhibitions are being canceled, including a photo display on the Hindu god Ganesh. The major shows --one depicting the roots of Japanese manga animation in 18th and 19th depictions of the samurai, the other on the intersection of calligraphy and Chinese street art -- won't be affected.

Marshall said the museum's small endowment has taken a hit, dropping from $1.2 million to about $800,000, which could mean a deficit for 2008 after a run of balanced budgets. Long-term strategizing for a new wing to allow greater display of the 14,000-piece collection has been put on hold. "We don't know the extent of the downturn and how long it might last."

-- Mike Boehm

Photos: Bowers Museum (top), Asia Pacific Museum. Photo credits: Bowers, Allen J. Schaben /Los Angeles Times; Pacific Asia Museum.

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[JOSE LUIS REVILLA ESCUDERO]

CHINA, ready to lead...?

I have spent the last month travelling around ASIA to try to find an answer to this question. Just now, when we are in the middle of a global crisis, with almost all foundations of economy in danger, I wanted to answer myself about the role that each country is going to take to lead the world out of this recession period.

I travelled to Hong Kong, Shanghai, Taipei and Seoul. I spent a certain time reading the local press, involving myself with their domestic issues, and watching and asking about the role of Hong Kong, China, Taiwan and South Korea in the future recovery process.

China latests are focused on the opening of Shanghai Stock exchange listings to foreign companies, but still with the limitation of doing it only with yuan currency, and still being not convertible.
Hong Kong, who belongs to China, but with a S.A.R. ( special administrative regime ) is deciding now its own future, since Shanghai and itself must now compete to become the financial centre of the "new" China.

Taipei celebrates that for the first time in six decades, a mainland company, China Mobile is due to acquire a 20% stake in a local communications carrier, breaking with this step, the so long disputes among these 2 asian states. Nevertheless, some old nationalists from Taiwan see into this movement from mainland, the challenge of a new adhesion process, similar to the one carried with Hong Kong.

And finally, Seoul is focused on recovery the way they best know. That is, working tough and smart to become again what two years ago it really was... an still unknown, but highly effective and productive capitalist economy.

So, the answer to my question was not easy, but I think I can clarify some things that really matters to a global economy world.

China strategy along the years has been to manufacture goods at a low work labour cost, and sell them mainly to the US and Europe. Now, with 1,3 billion people living in the mainland, they realise that their real market may be inside, may be domestic. But to go along with this change in the way exports are handled, is not an easy task... but you can see already some interesting movements, such as the recently signed collaboration with India, to get a chunk into the OUTSOURCING market, as well as, the already mentioned opening of Shanghai Stock index to foreign companies.
So the path seems to be built ahead, but still with critical issues such as if yuan will become the reference currency, if it will be flexible against other international currencies, or even maybe, if China and its allies decide to launch a takeover bid against dollar and euro world supremacy.

My opinion resides on the idea that in a not so long future, we will start looking at Shanghai index closings the same way we do it with Wall Street now.

If China converges into a more open performance, USA supremacy as the first economy in the world may be in danger.

China will try to joint Hong Kong current power and international presence, with Shanghai newest challenges. At the same time, it will break old and stupid disputes with Taiwan and even South Korea, to walk along a new asian world, capable of assuming the role of leading it.

India will have to decide if it goes alone in this new era, with its 1,1 billion people and therefore, their impressive economic and social potential... or decides to take part with the US or with CHINA. That decision is going to become critical for India in the very near future.

But, for sure, we do not expect China president to become a worldwide "prime time TV star" the same way the US does with its presidents. We will never know if China president has bought a dog called "Bob" to his daughters... we even won´t know if he has kids at home,... or if his wife is dating another men ...

We must expect a new role, focused on discretion, hard work, no discussions, but highly effective and consumer oriented strategies.

If the US unveils its secret CIA files, ... China will continue with its secrecy in domestic critical matters.
If the US continues fighting muslims in Afghanistan, China will stretch its ties in a peaceful way with its long time disputed neighbors, trying to consolidate its presence in Asia.
If the US continues with prime time interviews, China will present only specific topics of its politicians activities.

This does not mean OPEN economies vs CLOSED ones, but it means, to be focused on real issues and leave marketing or branding for others.

Jose Luis Revilla Escudero
President
WW Shares, Inc
www.worldwideshares.blogspot.com