Because unlike John Boehner, the Warhol Foundation actually pays for the art.
i am not a fan of jboner or censorship, but the Smithsonian/NPG is in such a bad place on this. either way, they now lose funding. and the people that actually deal with the art don’t even have much of a say.
I have been sort of forced in keeping current with all of this stuff because of the round-ups I write for @wcp, so I’m going to include my summation of things:
TBD recaps who did what about the Portrait Gallery drama over the weekend. Maura Judkis also has this: “In a letter to Secretary Wayne Clough, President Joel Wachs stated that the Warhol Foundation has given more than $375,000 to fund several exhibitions at various Smithsonian institutions. “We cannot stand by and watch the Smithsonian bow to the demands of bigots who have attacked the exhibition out of ignorance, hatred and fear,” says the letter. In the Portrait Gallery’s annual report for 2009, the Warhol Foundation was listed as one of the museum’s top donors. But the institution’s official statement is that it ain’t no thang.
Expanding on the “it ain’t no thang” thing, I suggest reading the blog post that it’s linked to, which is here: Smithsonian Unmoved by Warhol Foundation Threats to Cut Funding. Actually, so that you don’t even have to click through: “Turns out this is penny-ante poker for the Smithsonian. According to St. Thomas, the Warhol Foundation gave $100,000 for “Hide/Seek” and has, over the last 4 years, funded Smithsonian exhibits to the tune of $375,000. In fiscal year 2010 alone, the Smithsonian received $65 million from foundations for its exhibits and programs.”
I’m posting this not to say that “oh, this is small potatoes,” but I interned in SI’s development department and when I read the figure that the Warhol Foundation was cutting, I was like, “that’s chump change in comparison to other donors” (disclaimer: I have no idea what NPG’s operating budget or donor rolls look like). That doesn’t make it any less significant, because of what’s attached to the Warhol Foundation, and it doesn’t make it any less severe, because if one (relatively) dedicated donor can revoke funding, so can many others. I second User Yeajapan on this: It’s not so much the Warhol Foundation as the other donors that are going to walk away from this. A lack of funding (SI’s “federal funds” are only used to maintain the facilities) can fuck one of the museums as much as, if not more so than, this brouhaha that is currently fucking NPG.
