Wednesday, November 04, 2009

Speaking of complicated museum issues...

Lee Rosenbaum, a.k.a., CultureGrrl, cornered Timothy Rub, current director of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, who was previously director of the Cleveland Museum of Art, about his former institution's court battle and attempt to redirect funds designated for acquisitions to construction of its new wing, due to a downturn in the stock market. Yes, it's a complicated financial situation, and his time was limited in this case, but it would have been nice to see him explain a little better the details of why he and his board felt these particular decisions had to be made rather than saying,
My point to you is it's a really interesting and very complex calculation that has to do with things as varied as bond ratings and cash flow from pledges that we currently have or that we might anticipate in the future. It has to do with bonding capacity and with calculating the cost of capital. It has to do with the institution's willingness to take on risk in terms of future obligations. It has to do with whether you resolve to pay for something now as opposed to having the institution pay for it much later.
At any rate, you should go read the rest of the interview.

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