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Article: Can pics pump up MoMA? Film program key to selling critics on redone landmark.(Museum of Modern Art)
- Article from:
- Daily Variety
- Article date:
- April 21, 2005
- Author:
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The opening of the newly renovated Museum of Modern Art in New York in November was cork-popping news.
But the cost of the overhaul, which soared from an estimated $400 million in 1997 to $858 million, coupled with negative press over the museum's hefty new $20 admission fee and criticism of the new space's scale, quickly had MoMA execs on the defensive.
Now MoMA's fighting back. It's even enlisted Hollywood.
To cover costs and sell tickets, MoMA expanded its marketing, communications and development departments. It hit up its board, which includes Richard Parsons and Michael Ovitz, for $500 million-plus.
To disarm critics, the museum ...