Take Two translates the day’s headlines for Southern California, making sense of the news and cultural events that affect our lives. Produced by Southern California Public Radio and broadcast from October 2012 – June 2021. Hosted by A Martinez.
Los Angeles is a great town for museumgoers. In fact, LA has more museums per capita than anywhere else in the country, and now there's a brand new one.
Housed in the old Masonic Temple on Wilshire Boulevard, and established by two of the founders of Guess Jeans, the Marciano Art Foundation opened its doors last week.
It follows a growing trend of wealthy individuals opening their own museums to share their private art collections with the public -- instead of donating works of art to established, public institutions.
While museums have been synonymous with private art collections for a long time (think J. Paul Getty), the new wave of private arts institutions is reshaping the entire industry.
For more on the pros and cons of the private donor influence in the museum world, Take Two's A Martinez spoke with Mike Scutari. He's written about this for Inside Philanthropy.