I was thinking along these lines last week when I read Martin Scorsese’s open letter to LACMA. The director was speaking out against the closing of a 40-year-old weekend film program at the museum due money matters. But here’s what Tom Gregory had to say about the matter at The Huffington Post:
Martin Scorsese’s open letter to LACMA’s head Michael Govan is flawed. Mr. Scorsese has never been a member of, or financially supported LACMA in anyway. Ever. Not a dime. Nada. Zip. His L.A. Times letter is an example of a bankrupting trend across California and America. Everyone wants to complain, but no one wants to pay. In LACMA’s thirty plus years, the institution has received scant money from the film industry, certainly none commensurate with capacity and responsibility.
Los Angeles is entitled to a film program, but in a city where so many have prospered from the industry’s fruits, the dearth of monies from Hollywood is shameful. We should be celebrating the LACMA’s massive leaps forward. The Broads, the Resnicks, Wallis Annenberg, the Koticks, the Ahmansons and scores of others have been faithful to the institution, but it’s always the same LA names. Where is the high-profile film community? With their endorsement, LACMA’s film program could soar.
Agree? Disagree? Discuss.
Comments
4 responses to “Slamming Scorsese for staying out of the trenches”
He’s totally right. That’s a great counter-argument on complaining without actually doing anything to remedy the situation. here’s Scorsese, a multi-millionaire, who feels entitled to bitch about the bankruptcy of a program without giving a moments thought to, i don’t know, saving the program with his own mounds of cash?! Great counter-argument. Really puts the whole thing in perspective.
I don’t think it’s Scorcese’s responsibility to financially support every deserving organization. He may be devoting his energies elsewhere. But his letter does bring up why no one else seems to be paying up either. That’s the main thing. Scorcese’s just getting slammed because he said something. But it’s a massive group of people that said nothing, and paid nothing, either.
I agree…there’s so much $ out there that does nothing to help fund arts programs. While I’m glad he spoke up about it, why not contribute a little cash to the cause!?!
I agree that it’s not Scorcese’s responsibility to support this program. The caveat is that his lack of financial support for the program invalidates his criticism of the institution for ending the program. If he believes it is important and he has the resources, he really should put his money into it before criticizing the LACMA.