Arts & Entertainment

Decision Making Time For Friends of Southwest Museum

The coalition, which has fought for nearly a decade to keep the Southwest Museum in Mount Washington, now must decided if they are willing to trust the Autry National Center.

The leadership of the Autry National Center, who in 2009 closed the Southwest Museum to the public despite protests from community groups, have shown a newfound willingness to display the museum's vast collection in Mount Washington, said Nicole Possert of the Friends of the Southwest Museum Coalition.

What remains in question, though, is the coalition's willingness to negotiate with the Autry.

As previously reported on Highland Park-Mount Washington Patch, the coalition has been exploring potential partnerships with the Autry National Center and Occidental College in Eagle Rock. Through the discussed agreement, the museum's collections, which would be programmed in part by Occidental College, would be put back on display at the Southwest Museum.

Possert told the gathered membership of the coaltion on Thursday evening that the Autry's new director, Daniel Finley, had shown a willingness to repair a contentious relationship that had been established between the Autry and the coalition over the last eight years.

Museum supporters from Mount Washington and Highland Park have clashed with the Autry brass since their merger with the Southwest Museum in 2003.  In 2005, the Autry shut down public exhibitions at the Southwest Museum and then completely closed its doors to the public in 2009.

Local museum boosters believe the Autry is dead-set on relocating the historical collection to a more affluent neighborhood, which they argue is evidenced by their recent purchase of a storage facility for the Southwest Museum's collection in the city of Burbank.

"There's a new regime and the recent  meetings with them were, from my perspective, somewhat of a fresh start," Possert said "The new president had an olive branch, saying 'I'm the new guy and I'm  here to figure out something. We do have parameters of what Autry would like to do, but let's see if we can do something.'"

For many members of the coalition, the Autry's behavior over the last eight year's has made it almost impossible for them to believe that they could go back to the bargaining table, despite the softer stance shown by the Autry.

Some who attended the meeting said they could not support any agreement which would allow the Autry to maintain possession of the Southwest Museum's vast collection.

"Those who own and control the artifacts control everything," said Dr. Edward Mitchell, who attended Thursday night's meeting. "So, they've got a war."

The alternatives, as offered by attorney and coalition Daniel Wright, were lawsuits.

Wright said there were multiple legal angles from which the coalition could go after the Autry. One would be to try to block the Autry's effort to renovate the basement of their museum facility in Griffith Park, where they hope to display the Southwest Museum's collection, on the grounds that they did not undergo a proper California Environmental Quality Act review prior to applying for millions of dollars in Proposition 84 funds to complete the project. The other was suing over what they believe was the Autry's misrepresentation of the size of their endowment at the time of the merger.

According to Wright, the Autry claimed to have an endowment of $108 million before they merged with the Southwest Museum. The true number, he said, was closer to only $2 million.

Lawsuits, however, would require the kind of money that the coalition doesn't have, Wright said, and thus far local political leaders have shown an unwillingness to pressure the California Attorney General's office to pursue a lawsuit on behalf of the coalition.

For now, Possert said, she was more inclined to go back to the table with the Autry in an effort to work on an agreement that was more agreeable to the coalition.

"I don't think you can stop that process, what I know in my heart and what I heard tonight, is that our community has every reason not to trust this, and its gonna take a while," Possert said. "If some sort of solution comes of the discussions, people might get behind it. But, because there are so many unknowns, what do they get behind?"


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