LA Philanthropy Watch

Last summer, LA Philanthropy Watch featured a post about an announcement – in a July 28 memo to LACMA staff – that the museum would discontinue the classic film program (“Weekend at the Movies to End Run at LACMA,” July 29, 2009).  I followed up with a number of posts highlighting the efforts of Save Film at LACMA, a grassroots organization that sprung up to campaign on behalf of the film program and which – when interim funding came through from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and Ovation TV – succeeded in winning a one-year reprieve for the endangered program.

Now, after a 6-month hiatus at the Save Film at LACMA blog, co-founders Debra Levine and Doug Cummings weigh in again (“Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose”).  While their assessment reveals some encouraging developments, the status quo still looks “dismally the same.”

The past year has seen increasing attendance (and a number of sold-out performances) for the classic film program, the successful launch of a Film Club (which has generated modest revenues), and a welcome spill-over effect, with a revival of repertory film programs across Los Angeles.

Museum Director Michael Govan has expressed support for film, pledged to raise funds to endow the program, and – according to a LACMA spokesperson – has a “lot of ‘asks’ out.”

Clint Eastwood and Martin Scorsese have publicly embraced the campaign, while the museum has added a number of Trustees affiliated with the entertainment industry.

Yet no one has stepped up to pledge a major gift to ensure a stable, permanent source of funding.  In fact, continuation of the program beyond June 30, 2010 appears to be in doubt.  Ms. Levine and Mr. Cummings suggest that the film program is “still a begging orphan … on a shoestring budget.”  Their complaint that the program has not been “integrated into the Museum panoply,” carries the suggestion that at LACMA film is still simply not regarded as fine art.

Readers interested in following the ongoing drama can do so at Save Film at LACMA or at the group’s Facebook page, which currently lists 4,953 fans.

Facebook has been an essential element of the group’s grassroots campaign, as described by Debra Levine’s feature at LA Philanthropy Watch, “(Not) The Last Picture Show or Good Writing Wins the Day for Save Film at LACMA,” which provided an insider’s account.

A vintage video appeal can be found here: Save Film @ LACMA.

Save Film at LACMA has invited activists and members, Facebook fans and petition-signers to attend the Saturday, September 26 screening of a new print of A City of Sadness (a Taiwanese classic never released in the U.S. or on DVD).  Last week, LA Philanthropy Watch offered an insider’s look at the grassroots campaign Save Film at LACMA has waged, mostly via social media tools, to rescue LACMA’s venerable film program.  With Saturday’s screening at the museum, activist film fans may get a chance to meet each other, as well as to visibly demonstrate support for film at LACMA.

Check out the links at Save Film at LACMA and at LACMA for more details.

Update – Comment moved into post – Debra Levine – September 21, 2009

Peter, thank you for this posting. Our movement arises from a feeling in the community that Los Angeles has a unique history with this art form and that film must be well represented at our premiere museum.

You are spot on to note that now is the time for people to actually show up and mix and mingle — an important civic experience that is eclipsed by netflix, home cinemas. Hope all your readers will come out — see you at the movies!

Guest Post by Debra Levine, Co-founder of Save Film at LACMA

On July 28 an email from a film buddy popped into my inbox. The subject field screamed: “WHAT?” Ten minutes later, in a mild state of shock, I dialed LACMA director Michael Govan’s office and left a strongly worded message expressing my displeasure at the museum’s abrupt cancellation of its 40-year-old classic film program.

A month later, as co-head of a coalition called Save Film at LACMA, I faced Mr. Govan across a conference table for a “popcorn summit.”  After delivering the thick print-out of our 3,000-signature on-line petition, I spoke on behalf of the 4,000 “fans” registered on our Facebook page.

Ramping up this extraordinary grassroots movement was at times surreal and at others as disciplined as a war game. It lived almost entirely in cyberspace. Our real-world success, measured by the museum’s reversal of its decision for one year, boils down to passionate dedication and good writing.

In the days following the initial cancellation, I connected by email and blog to my founding partners. The initial team — a corporate public relations manager, a film critic, and I – forged a formidable communications effort, our individual skills melding powerfully. As a corporate writer specialized in marketing communications for investment firms, I know how to use language to entice and sell. I also write as a critic about dance and film.

We rolled out Save Film at LACMA across several internet platforms. Film critic Doug Cummings and I each leveraged our blogs:  filmjourney.org and artsmeme.com. We started a Facebook Fan Page and launched our petition. We connected immediately with the press, issuing engaging and informative press releases. A volunteer wrote and videotaped a humorous protest song and posted it on youtube.com. Many blogs and publications re-published this video on their websites.

On every channel we provided, people poured forth their feelings, proclaiming their deep personal attachment to the film program and their discontent over the unforeseen way it was terminated.

The key elements of the campaign’s success were:

• Good writing. Our team included three strong writers who co-wrote every significant communication. Every blog post, Facebook comment and press release was literate and readable.

• Tonality. The campaign hit the right note for its audience: a serious, educated group of art and film lovers. The tone was light, positive, inclusive, and humorous. We disallowed ranting or rudeness, but nearly all comments were astonishingly courteous and passionate. (We ranted behind the scenes!)

• High-profile participation. Our greatest success and the cornerstone of our campaign was a beautifully written, passionate letter by Martin Scorsese published in the Los Angeles Times. This gave our movement clout, credibility, exposure and gravitas.

• Hewing to the message. Our clear position was that the film program wasn’t broken; it was in dire need of proper marketing. We adhered to this message in the face of the museum’s counter assertions that the program was pathetic, fading away, suffering from a diminishing audience of geezers.

• Social Networking. Facebook (now 4,000 fans) is a hungry animal demanding constant monitoring and care (I fed the beast for a month!). But it was key to spreading the word worldwide.  We also put out a Twitter feed (now 200+) on all significant press coverage.

• Online petition (now nearly 3,000 signatures). We almost wept at the fervent messages some of the signatories wrote above their names.

• Blog.  Our Save Film at LACMA blog let us publish and control our message.

• Press/media relations. We achieved a coverage trifecta: Los Angeles Times, New York Times and Wall Street Journal. We also got covered in a broad swath of industry-focused publications and blogs.

• As other causes seek my help with similar grassroots movements, I muse on my still-fresh experience. I believe that our template is only replicable by a passionate advocate pushing on a daily basis, urgently fostering creative ideas, never being dissuaded, and fervently believing in the righteousness of the cause.  Yes, Save Film at LACMA succeeded based on a strong set of skills, but the secret sauce has been passion.

[Debra Levine is Creative Director of Levine & Associates, Consultants for Marketing Communications, and an arts journalist who blogs at artsmeme.com.]

On July 28 LACMA director and CEO Michael Govan announced that the museum would be “ending its weekend film program by November,” sparking a grassroots movement to save the program.  Save Film at LACMA led this grassroots campaign – and within a month had won at least a reprieve for the program.  In the words of David Mermelstein in the Wall St. Journal, “the surprising triumph of several thousand mostly ordinary film lovers over Los Angeles County Museum of Art has inspired grass-roots organizations everywhere.  And so it should, for it demonstrates that sometimes those who wield cultural power must listen, and heed, the concerns of regular folk.”

It is a pleasure to introduce a guest post by Debra Levine, co-founder of Save Film at LACMA, to provide an insider’s account of this savvy campaign, which (as she puts it) “lived almost entirely in cyberspace.”  The Save Film at LACMA story offers insights for anyone interested in grassroots organizing in the era of social media.

Debra’s day job is heading Levine & Associates, an LA-based marketing communications firm.  Debra, a former dancer who is passionate about the arts, blogs at artsmeme.com.

Debra Levine’s post, “(Not) The Last Picture Show or Good Writing Wins the Day for Save Film at LACMA,” follows this post.

On August 31 (while I was away) LACMA Director Michael Govan sat down with members of Save Film at LACMA – at a meeting dubbed the “popcorn summit” – to discuss creating a more viable and robust film program.  Last July LACMA announced that its film program would be suspended in October; subsequently, after securing funding for an extension, the museum announced that the program would continue through June 2010.

In an interview with the LA Times, Mr. Govan explained that a new film program, as envisaged, required at least $5 million in new funding to create an endowment.  The Museum announced development of a Film Club as “a $50 add-on” to LACMA membership and noted that most of the 2,700 signatories of the Restore LACMA’s Film Program petition were not museum members.  Meanwhile, Save Film at LACMA reprinted a Wall St. Journal op-ed that contrasted the museum’s tentative support for film with its reported commitment to “grand projects like Jeff Koons’s ‘Train,’ which will dangle a full-scale, 70-foot-long replica of a 1943 steam locomotive from a 160-foot-tall crane. The cost of what is being reported as the most expensive work ever commissioned by a museum? Twenty-five million dollars.”

LA Philanthropy Watch initially posted on this issue on July 29.

Update – Comment moved into post – Debra Levine – September 11, 2009

Hello. We are glad that the philanthropic community is following the LACMA story. Ours is a cautionary tale for a publicly funded entity to stray far — indeed to rupture — from public support. The film program was not broken; from a cultural and intellectual perspective, it was world class. It was, however, in need of better positioning and marketing. Our movement — run on the internet for zero $$ cost, the only cost has been our labor — has contributed strongly to a higher level of public awareness of this program. We continue to monitor Mr. Govan’s scheme for film at the museum and wish him the best.
Thank you,
Debra Levine, co-founder, Save Film at LACMA