The Los Angeles County Museum of Art announced Tuesday that its $750 million fundraising campaign for a new building — the David Geffen Galleries, designed by Swiss architect Peter Zumthor — is 98% complete and now stands at $736 million.
The museum has appointed 11 new board members since 2020, which the museum says was key to achieving its fundraising goal. Board contributions now total $330 million.
Fundraising was slow. In November 2021, the campaign reached $679 million; a year earlier it stood at $655 million.
In October 2022, the museum announced that its fundraiser had passed the $700 million mark. It also said at the time that construction of the building was 50% complete. Despite supply chain issues and other pandemic-related delays — which have delayed other museum projects, such as the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art rising in Exposition Park — LACMA maintained at the time that the construction project was still on track, aiming for completion in late 2024.
$125 million of the public-private partnership for the controversial new building will come from Los Angeles County taxpayers. Eighty percent of campaign funds, the museum said, are private donations — though LACMA has not disclosed how much of those donations have been paid to the museum versus pledges yet to come.
LACMA director Michael Govan said in Tuesday’s announcement that the museum is at an “important time.” The new board members, he added, bring “a true diversity of experience across arts, technology, philanthropy, business, sports and entertainment, among others.” The board now has 54 voting members in addition to 11 life trustees.
The latest additions to the LACMA board, all elected this year, are Lee Boo-jin, president of Seoul’s Hotel Shilla, Jeff Yabuki, chairman and co-founder of private equity firm Motive Partners, and venture capitalist Jim Tananbaum, founder and CEO of Foreste Capital.
Actor and Chicano art collector — and founder of the Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art & Culture at the Riverside Art Museum — Cheech Marin joined the board in 2022. Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Lionel Richie joined the board in 2021.
The museum confirmed Tuesday morning that construction is still scheduled for late 2024.
