Orlando Museum of Art in Dire Financial Straits Following Fake-Basquiat Kerfuffle

The Orlando Museum of Art (OMA), still reeling from a 2022 scandal that saw its highly touted exhibition of little-seen Jean-Michel Basquiat worksraided by the FBIand its director fired after the paintings turned out to befakes, is facing a large-scale financial crisis. TheNew York Timesreports that the beleaguered museum’s executive director, Cathryn Mattson, in December told a specially assembled group of trustees and donors that the institution had depleted its coffers to pay for spin doctors andlawyersin an effort to emerge from the brouhaha clutching the shreds of its reputation about it. Mattson—who replaced thedisgracedexecutive director who brought the“Basquiat” show to OMA, Aaron De Groft—noted that the museum saw a 25 percent increase in unbudgeted expenses within the span of a year, bumped up against its credit limits, and all but drained its reserve funds, only to wind up $500,000 in debt.

She told theTimesthat the OMA is projecting an $835,000 shortfall in its annual budget of roughly $4 million, as of the end of its fiscal year, which arrives in June. An independent analysis paid for by the publication revealed that the museum’s finances had been sound prior to the scandal and suggested that the institution would need one or more so-called white knights, or philanthropists, to ride to its rescue and help it regain its financial footing.RelatedJOAN MITCHELL FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES 2024 ARTISTS-IN-RESIDENCEGORDON PARKS FOUNDATION NAMES 2024 FELLOWS The crisis appears to have arrived not only because OMA spent heavily to patch up its reputation, but because its regular donors have largely deserted it. Cries for transparency—sorely lacking since the scandal—have gone unanswered, as have demands for the board members to quit.

TheOrlando Sentinelin a January 11 op-ed piece succinctly suggested that one way the museum might escape its woes is “by simply, frankly and unreservedly explaining how this happened. By proving that museum officials will do whatever it takes to regain trust and repair its shattered reputation.”.