The Los Angeles County Museum of Art announced today gifts that will allow the museum to extend continuous film programming through next summer: The gifts are in the amount of $75,000 each from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and Time Warner Cable in partnership with Ovation TV. Also, Time Warner Cable and Ovation TV have contributed more than $1.5 million to market the program. The donations come after the museum’s decision to suspend the weekend portion of the program as part of restructuring needed to address its lack of donor support and shrinking audiences, and the desire to rebuild a larger, sustainable film department.
“In a tight budget year when many programs were reduced, we suspended the weekend film series in order to rebuild its foundations. We’ve been incredibly impressed by the public outcry of support for film at Lacma, and thrilled that just a few weeks later, the first new sponsors have stepped forward," Lacma director Michael Govan said in a release. "We’re grateful to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, Time Warner Cable, and Ovation TV for expressing their tangible support for the art of film at Lacma, and we’re very pleased that we can keep film rolling while we build for the future."
Lacma hopes that the grants will inspire a larger effort to engage the community in supporting film and art at Lacma. Next week, Govan will meet with community members who generated a petition to support the program's continuation.
