Rosenbaum: You mentioned to me [earlier in our conversation] that there have been shifts in fashion in museum leadership. What kinds of shifts were you referring to?

Wilson: We all now have audio guides. We all have to do them. But we often lose sight of the real core that should be guiding them. Often, it is---"I have to have exhibitions about this" or "I have to have BIG exhibitions that will draw." These trends last a while---the "hot issue" of the day. And I find there's very little real thinking about: "What does this really mean, cutting through the fashion of the decade? "

We're in a specific place with a specific mandate---getting back to the core, without getting stuck in excessive sensationalism: popcorn and calliopes. At the end of the day, you may hook people, but if they don't have some kind of rewarding time in those galleries with that art, then they're probably coming back, not for the art, but for the cupcake that you give them.

Rosenbaum: What should your museum be looking for in the new director?

Wilson: I think the director has to be passionate about art, wide open about the notion of human beings who make up this society, and understanding that it's not enough just to say that all art is good and you should look at it.

Some of the barriers---and, believe me, everybody has them---should be gotten rid of. We can say it's socio-economic, race or cultural background, but in my view, the biggest barrier is education.

For one-third of our visitors, the family income is below $55,000. If your ratchet it up, you find the income of about 80% [of our visitors] is below $70,000. What does that say to you? People say, "Art is for elitists." Well, we are elite in the sense that the works of art are superior achievements of exceptional people who have lived amongst us.

Rosenbaum: You have had some dealings with the Metropolitan Museum's new director, Tom Campbell. How do you regard him?

Wilson: He seems to be level-headed. I think he is open-minded. He seems to be flexible. He does not seem to be an ideologue. He's earnest in wanting to grow his own horizons and expand them. He seems to be trying to listen to his curators. I do not believe he is an autocrat. On the whole I believe him to be a person who seems to listen well.

He almost HAS to rely more on his staff for input. Philippe [de Montebello, the Met's previous director] would tend to hear an idea and it would come down as "yes" or "no." But I think Tom is a little more deliberate and that would be something that's in his favor as a new director.

He seems to be very smart. I think he's going to do very well. I like him. I've found him reasonable. He is not a stuffed shirt.

Rosenbaum: What are the most pressing issues that you think your institution will have to address, after you've left?

Wilson: Money is a big one. We don't get tax support and we don't charge. So we don't have a lot of alternatives. We don't have a huge vacationer population coming to us. We're not an international tourist center, the way New York is. They can charge a high fee, and the tourists are all willing to pay for it and they're willing to shell money out. We have a decent number of people from outside Kansas City, but it's not as though we're densely populated. We have to do what we can do---hustle, raise money and be very smart about how you spend it.

Rosenbaum: You mentioned to me that you want to go back to China to improve your language skills. What else will you be doing after you leave the Nelson-Atkins directorship?

Wilson: I love doing shows and exhibitions. I love making works of art come alive. It's about all those people out there and the great works of art: I love to make that connection.

In Chinese art, there's so much to do, in bringing all the research up to date. The basic scholarship on the Chinese paintings is up to date. But what we're now missing is the context of all this, in light of new discoveries.

The first thing is: I can't get ahead of the new director. I've got to be out of here and I've got to back off. You can't have an eminence gris hanging around the place. You have to completely change gears and put your self in a subordinate role.

Rosenbaum: Will that be hard to do?

Wilson: No.

There is a great urgency to bring back the University's premier collection and to house it in a building worthy of it and the community....Prior to the flood, the Museum of Art had approximately 75,000 square feet of space: approximately 25,000 square feet displayed the permanent collection; 20,000 square feet was temporary exhibition space to host special shows; 7,500 square feet was storage and preparation work space; 5,000 square feet was for classrooms; 5,000 square feet was retail space, including the Museum store and coffee bar; 5,000 square feet was office space, and 7,500 square feet was public space with an atrium used for events and gatherings.

Based on a similarly sized design [not the committee-recommended bigger facility] and current market and standards, a new museum building could cost $40 million to $50 million, said Rod Lehnertz, director of UI planning, design and construction, who served as a committee adviser.

The new facility must be built outside the 500-year flood plain, and beyond future flooding concerns.

Chuck Close is a visual artist noted for his highly inventive techniques used to paint the human face, and is best known for his large-scale, photo based portrait paintings. He is also an accomplished printmaker and photographer whose work has been the subject of more than 200 solo exhibitions in more than 20 countries, including major retrospective exhibitions at New York's Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and most recently at The State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia. In 2000, Mr. Close was presented with the prestigious National Medal of Arts by President Clinton. Close is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and has served on the boards of many arts organizations.

Fred Goldring co-founded the prominent California-based entertainment law firm Goldring, Hertz and Lichtenstein which represents numerous global superstar recording and performing artists, and is also co-founder of entertainment strategic consultancy, MemBrain, which works with Fortune 500 companies and new media and technology enterprises regarding entertainment marketing strategy. Mr. Goldring is also the former Chairman of the Board of Directors of Rock The Vote, and has been the co-recipient of an Emmy Award, a Clio Award, a Global Media Award and an NAACP Image Award.

Sheila Johnson is the founder and CEO of Salamander Hospitality; co-founder of Black Entertainment Television; a documentary film producer; and the only African-American woman to co-own three professional sports teams. A classically trained violinist who began her career as a music teacher, Ms. Johnson is a long time advocate for the arts. She serves as Chair of the Board of Governors of Parsons The New School for Design and several boards including Americans for the Arts.

Pamela Joyner is the Founder of Avid Partners, LLC. Her other business experiences include holding senior positions at Bowman Capital, LLC and Capital Guardian Trust Company. Ms Joyner is a former Co-Chair and current Trustee Emeritus of the San Francisco Ballet. She is a Trustee of The MacDowell Colony, The School of American Ballet and Dartmouth College. Ms. Joyner also serves a Director of The California Healthcare Foundation and an Advisory Board Member of First Republic Bank.

Jhumpa Lahiri is a fiction writer whose debut collection of stories, Interpreter of Maladies, received the Pulitzer Prize, the PEN/Hemingway Award, the Addison M. Metcalf Award, and the New Yorker magazine's Debut of the Year. Her novel, The Namesake, was a New York Times Notable Book, a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and was selected as one of the best books of the year by USA Today and Entertainment Weekly. Her latest story collection, Unaccustomed Earth, won the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award and the Vallombrosa-Gregor von Rezzori Prize.

Ken Solomon is chairman of Ovation TV, a national cable and satellite network focused on bringing art, culture and personal creativity to all Americans. He is also chairman and CEO of Tennis Channel, the only 24-hour network dedicated to both the professional sport and tennis lifestyle. With more than 25 years of television and multimedia experience, Mr. Solomon has held top posts with the Walt Disney Corp., Universal Television, DreamWorks, News Corp. and Scripps. He is currently vice chairman of the Young Presidents Organization Bel-Air (YPO) and has been named "Humanitarian of the Year" by H.E.L.P. Group, one of the largest and most influential children's charities in the United States, for which he serves on the Circle of Friends advisory board.

Rosenbaum: Why did you decide to leave?

Brand: I prefer to not go into details, but I think it is fair to say that the environment became untenable.

Rosenbaum: What were your professional differences with James Wood?

Brand: With respect to the art acquisition budget, the director of the Getty Museum needs to know what level of funding is available for art acquisitions in order to be able to plan ahead strategically. It is especially important in the case of major acquisitions to be able to establish priorities.

I felt the recent centralization of most art acquisition funds in the President's office, where they can be used for several other different purposes as well, made such strategic planning much more difficult. The purposes for those funds are: "major" art acquisitions for the Getty Museum, "major" acquisitions for the Getty Research Institute, "strategic initiatives" and, less formally, contingency. The museum has retained a much smaller art acquisition fund for purchases not deemed "major."

The main difference in philosophy was in our approach to the budget cuts last spring, where, like the directors of many other major art museums, I decided to prioritize the retention of staff and their expertise when implementing the mandated 25% cut to the Getty Museum's operating budget.

Another, more specific, example was my inability last year to introduce a student and teacher discount for our museum visitors after the Getty Trust raised the parking fee from $7 to $15.

Rosenbaum: What are the problems inherent in the Getty's structure and how did those problems manifest themselves during your time there? How might this problem of structure be constructively addressed in the future?

Brand: The issues facing the next director of the Getty Museum have a history that began well before my tenure. Part of this is due to a unique structure that is unlike either the usual stand-alone museum model (where the museum director is the CEO and reports directly to a board of trustees) or the university model (where the art museum is usually one of the smaller units of a much larger group of faculties, schools and other related bodies). History shows that this has made the position of director of the Getty Museum an especially challenging one.

I believe that any constructive approach to resolving this situation would need to start by examining the intention of Mr. Getty's original gift, to look at how and why the Getty expanded and contracted over the subsequent years, and then to continue with an analysis of how best the Getty might maximize its potential as a visual arts organization in the new economic environment. Finally, it should include a discussion of what support the Getty Museum needs in order to maintain its standing as a world leader among art museums and the public face of the Getty in Los Angeles.

Rosenbaum: Is it accurate, as Ron Hartwig [the Getty Trust's vice president for communications] told me, that you have received no other benefit in connection with your departure other than the ones published in the "Compensation Disclosure" section of the Getty's website (as well as pension payment)?

Brand: This is correct. I received no further benefits upon my resignation from the Getty beyond those stipulated in my contract, with the exception of some minor details such as keeping for the next year the notebook computer on which I have my research writing and images, and which is part of my office in the Museum Director's Residence [which he can continue to occupy for a 10 months, under the severance provisions in his contract].

Rosenbaum: Are you already in talks with other future employers in the museum field? And are you also investigating other fields (which ones)? Are you hoping to direct another museum?

Brand: I have already had some informal discussions about possible future opportunities, not all of which are in the museum field, even though directing another art museum is still my central focus.

It would be a tragedy for the Getty, and LA residents who have come to love the "Statue of a Victorious Youth," if incorrect information contained in a Times story, available to the prosecution in Italy at a critical moment, played a role in a verdict against the Getty.

In the President's budget, the NEA is to receive $161.315 million for fiscal 2011 which is the same that he proposed for fiscal 2010 [but less than the $167.5 million that Congress ultimately allocated for fiscal 2010].

Regarding how this will affect [NEA chairman] Rocco [Landesman]'s plans, given the economic realities and fiscal pressures that the country continues to face, the fact that the President has maintained his request for the NEA is encouraging. Also, Rocco continues to talk with other federal agencies about how we can collaborate and those conversations continue to be encouraging.

As for individual artists, Rocco has said that he would like to restore the individual artist grants, but also that it is not his to unilaterally change. Individual artist grants are not something that are on the priority list to take up in his first year, but something he will get to before he is done.

---TERMINATION: SAVE AMERICA'S TREASURES AND PRESERVE AMERICA
Department of the Interior

2010 allocation: $30 million
2011 request: 0

The Administration proposes to eliminate the Save America's Treasures (SAT) and Preserve America (PA) grant programs so the National Park Service can focus resources on managing national parks and other activities that most closely align with its core mission. The SAT and PA programs have not demonstrated how they contribute to nationwide historic preservation goals.

---REDUCTION: COMMISSION OF FINE ARTS

2010 allocation: $10 million
2011 request: $5 million

The Administration proposes to reduce funding for National Capital Arts and Cultural Affairs (NCACA) grants from $9.5 million to $4.5 million, and to convert administration of these grants from a non-competitive to a competitive awards process. NCACA grants support arts organizations in the District of Columbia.

NCACA grants were established by the Congress in 1986 as a non-competitive Federal grant program that provides funding for overhead costs to local D.C. arts institutions, such as the Woolly Mammoth Theater, the Kennedy Center, the National Building Museum, the National Symphony Orchestra, and Ford's Theater, among others. Rather than allocating funds based on performance or need, NCACA funds are allocated to 24 specific organizations based on a 25 year-old formula.

Some recipients receive Federal funds from other programs; for instance, the Kennedy Center received over $40 million in 2010 appropriations, and the benefits of its NCACA grant awards (which have averaged around $600,000 in recent years) have not been demonstrated. The Budget recommends reducing the amount of funding for NCACA grants by $5 million, and awarding $4.5 million for NCACA grants on a competitive basis to support organizations with the greatest need.

---REDUCTION: NATIONAL HERITAGE AREAS
Department of the Interior

2010 allocation: $18 million
2011 request: $9 million

The Administration proposes to reduce grants to non-Federal National Heritage Areas (NHAs) so that the National Park Service can focus resources on managing national parks and other activities that most closely align with its core mission. State and local managers of NHAs continue to rely on Federal funding, contrary to the original intent that Federal grants would be time-limited and NHAs would become self-sufficient. The NHA program also lacks key management controls to determine whether Federal funds are well spent and used to accomplish national goals.

The Congress has authorized 49 National Heritage Areas [my link, not theirs] (NHAs), including 30 since 2000. Local organizations administer NHAs to promote tourism and protect natural and cultural resources. The NPS Heritage Partnership program provides technical assistance and grants, authorized up to $1 million annually for up to 10 to 15 years that serve as "seed money" to help NHA organizations become established. Since 1986, the Congress has appropriated more than $150 million for NHA grants.

The Administration proposes to focus NHA grants on recently authorized areas and eliminate funds to those well-established recipients that have not worked to become self-sufficient. Since 1984 when the first NHA was designated, 17 areas reached or nearly reached their original sunset dates, but received extensions and continue to receive funding.

Criteria has [sic] not been established to evaluate potentially qualified NHA sites for designation. As a result, sites have been authorized that do not necessarily warrant designation. The program also lacks key management controls to determine whether Federal funds are well spent.

The Administration proposes a merit-based tiered system to allocate funding. NHAs established before 2001 would be ineligible for new base funding unless they have self-sufficiency plans as of February 1, 2010. NHAs established after 2001 would be eligible to receive a base allocation. All other NHAs that have Department of the Interior-approved management plans would be eligible to compete for additional grants that the NHA program would award using merit-based criteria.

This is the first move towards giving a higher profile and more consistent focus to our arts reporting in general.

The shows open a window onto an aspect of museums the public rarely sees--the world of fathoming authorship and making judgments....The [High] museum has gone to great lengths to make its case. It has produced a substantial scholarly catalog to accompany the show, and has installed extensive explanatory wall texts next to the relief that invite the viewer to participate in this voyage of discovery by looking closely at the sculpture and coming to their own conclusions. This is a model presentation.

Over and over again, one of the telltale signs of the student is that they are more 'finished,' in conventional terms, than Rembrandt's drawings.

I don't know about you, but I walk right past sketches when I'm at a museum. I head for the color: the oils, the big things.