About LACMA

Located on the Pacific Rim, LACMA is the largest art museum in the western United States, with a collection of more than 150,000 objects that illuminate 6,000 years of artistic expression across the globe. Committed to showcasing a multitude of art histories, LACMA exhibits and interprets works of art from new and unexpected points of view that are informed by the region’s rich cultural heritage and diverse population. LACMA’s spirit of experimentation is reflected in its work with artists, technologists, and thought leaders as well as in its regional, national, and global partnerships to share collections and programs, create pioneering initiatives, and engage new audiences.

LACMA’s mission is to serve the public through the collection, conservation, exhibition, and interpretation of significant works of art from a broad range of cultures and historical periods, and through the translation of these collections into meaningful educational, aesthetic, intellectual, and cultural experiences for the widest array of audiences.

LACMA has its roots in the Los Angeles Museum of History, Science, and Art, established in 1910 in Exposition Park. In 1961, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art became a separate, art-focused institution. LACMA opened its new Wilshire Boulevard location to the public in 1965, with the permanent collection in the Ahmanson Building, special exhibitions in the Hammer Building, and the 600-seat Bing Theater for public programs.

In the ensuing decades, both the campus and the collection grew considerably. The Anderson Building (renamed the Art of the Americas building in 2007) opened in 1986 to house modern and contemporary art. The Bruce Goff-designed Pavilion for Japanese Art opened in 1988 at the east end of campus. In 1994, the museum acquired the May Company department store building at the corner of Wilshire and Fairfax, which is now home to the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.

Since 2007, the museum has doubled its exhibition program, audience, and its campus, and has operated a gallery at Charles White Elementary School in MacArthur Park, where LACMA presents museum-caliber exhibitions and programs in partnership with the school and surrounding communities.

In recent years, LACMA has committed to expanding, upgrading, and unifying the museum’s 20-acre campus through the addition of new buildings, including the Broad Contemporary Art Museum (BCAM) (2008) and the Lynda and Stewart Resnick Exhibition Pavilion (2010), as well as monumental public artworks and open-air gathering places for the community. Now, LACMA is focusing on replacing four aging buildings on the east campus with a new home for the permanent collection, the David Geffen Galleries.

With the opening of BCAM (2008) and the Lynda and Stewart Resnick Exhibition Pavilion (2010), both designed by Renzo Piano, LACMA added 100,000 square feet of gallery space to the campus, more than doubling the museum’s exhibition space. Having first completed the expansion of the museum, LACMA is now focusing on replacing the four aging buildings on the east campus (the Ahmanson, Art of the Americas, and Hammer Buildings, as well as the Leo S. Bing Center) with a new home for the permanent collection that will breathe new life into 6,000 years of art.

Designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Peter Zumthor, this new building, named the David Geffen Galleries, is the long-anticipated culmination of over a decade of transformation.

The horizontal design of the David Geffen Galleries will place art from all areas of LACMA’s encyclopedic collection on the same level, so that no single culture, tradition, or era is given more stature than any other. This new building will enable a rotating series of exhibitions rather than a fixed presentation of the collection, offering visitors a multitude of avenues to explore our common humanity.

LACMA’s new building will complete a revitalized corridor of cultural institutions along Wilshire Boulevard that make up L.A.’s museum mile, including the La Brea Tar Pits and Museum, the Craft and Folk Art Museum, the Petersen Automotive Museum, and the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.

Learn more about the proposed design of the David Geffen Galleries.

Board of Trustees

Co-Chairs of the Board
Elaine P. Wynn
Tony P. Ressler

Vice Chairs
Willow Bay
Robert A. Kotick

Co-Chairs Emeriti
Andrew Brandon-Gordon
Terry Semel

Trustees
William H. Ahmanson
H.E. Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani
Wallis Annenberg
Mark Attanasio
The Honorable Nicole Avant
The Honorable Colleen Bell
Dr. Rebecka Belldegrun
Allison Berg
Nicolas Berggruen
Suzanne Deal Booth
Andrew Brandon-Gordon
Troy Carter
Eva Chow
Ann Colgin
Janet Crown
Kelvin Davis
Joshua S. Friedman
Thelma Golden
Susan Hess
Mellody Hobson
Victoria Jackson
David Kaplan
Suzanne Kayne
Lyn Davis Lear
Boojin Lee
Cheech Marin
Richard Merkin M.D.
Ashley Merrill
Wendy Stark Morrissey
Wendi Murdoch
Jane Nathanson
Dasha Zhukova Niarchos
Peter Norton
Geoff Palmer
Rich Paul
Viveca Paulin-Ferrell
Janet Dreisen Rappaport
Carter Reum
Robbie Robinson
Steven F. Roth
Carole Bayer Sager
Ryan Seacrest
Florence Sloan
Eric Smidt
Michael G. Smooke
Jonathan D. Sokoloff
Andy Song
Jim Tananbaum
Steve Tisch
Maggie Tsai
Casey Wasserman
Gregory Annenberg Weingarten
Jeff Yabuki

Life Trustees
The Honorable Frank E. Baxter
Daniel N. Belin
Donald L. Bren
Julian Ganz, Jr.
William A. Mingst
Lynda Resnick
Terry Semel
Walter L. Weisman

Executive Staff
Michael Govan, CEO and Wallis Annenberg Director
Naima Keith, Vice President of Education and Public Programs
Diana Magaloni, Deputy Director, Program Director & Dr. Virginia Fields Curator of the Art of the Ancient Americas, Director of Conservation
Mark Mitchell, Chief Financial Officer
Fiona Ragheb, Deputy Director of Curatorial & Exhibitions
Nancy Thomas, Senior Deputy Director for Art Administration and Collections
Diana Vesga, Chief Operating Officer
Elizabeth Wiatt, Senior Vice President of Development

Senior Curatorial Staff
Stephanie Barron, Senior Curator and Department Head of Modern Art
Rita Gonzalez, Terri and Michael Smooke Curator and Department Head of Contemporary Art
Wendy Kaplan, Curator and Department Head of Decorative Arts and Design
Ilona Katzew, Curator and Department Head of Latin American Art
Linda Komaroff, Curator and Department Head of Art of the Middle East
Leah Lehmbeck, Curator and Department Head of European Paintings & Sculpture and American Art
Stephen Little, Florence & Harry Sloan Curator and Department Head of Chinese & Korean and South & Southeast Asian Art
Britt Salvesen, Curator and Department Head of Photography and Prints & Drawings
Sharon Takeda, Senior Curator and Department Head of Costume and Textiles and Japanese Art

LACMA recognizes that we occupy land in Los Angeles County originally and still inhabited and
cared for by the Tongva, Tataviam, Serrano, Kizh, and Chumash Peoples. We honor and pay
respect to their elders and descendants—past, present, and emerging—as they continue their
stewardship of the lands and waters in Los Angeles County. We acknowledge that settler
colonization resulted in land seizure, disease, subjugation, slavery, relocation, broken promises,
genocide, and multigenerational trauma. LACMA is committed to the County of Los Angeles’s
truth, healing, and reconciliation efforts and to celebrating and elevating the stories, cultures,
and community of the original inhabitants of Los Angeles County. We are grateful to have the
opportunity to live and work on these ancestral lands. Through our work, we are committed to
growing our relationships with Native Peoples.

Per the Los Angeles County Code and various operating agreements, Museum Associates, a nonprofit public benefit corporation organized under the laws of the state of California, manages, operates, and maintains LACMA. Museum Associates, dba Los Angeles County Museum of Art, is governed by a board of trustees which sets policy and determines the museum’s strategic direction. Museum Associates is an exempt organization under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and is classified as a public charity under section 509(a)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code. Donations to Museum Associates (LACMA or Los Angeles County Museum of Art) are deductible under Section 170 of the Code, to the extent permitted under applicable law.

Organizing Documents and Strategic Plan

Articles of Incorporation (PDF)
Bylaws (PDF)
IRS Determination Letter 2007 (PDF)
Strategic Plan

Financial Information

As an exempt organization, LACMA must file a form 990 tax return with the IRS each year. The 990 information return provides financial as well as operational information about our programs and activities. The Statement of Functional Expenses (Part IX) of the return shows that 83% of our spending was devoted to program services for fiscal year 2023. Through Schedule O of the return, LACMA provides answers to various IRS questions about how we operate, our policies and procedures, and explanations of the changes in revenues and expenses from the previous year.

For fiscal year 2023, Part I shows contributions and grants of $130.3 million. In Schedule O, we explain that this is an increase in contributions from fiscal year end 06/30/22 to fiscal year end 06/30/23 that is attributable to higher gifts for LACMA's building campaign.

Audited Financial Statements
FY 2024
Museum Associates (PDF)
FY 2023
Museum Associates (PDF)

FY 2022
Museum Associates (PDF)

Economic Impact Report

Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation, Economic Impact Report, The Transformation of LACMA: An Economic Impact Analysis, January, 2014.

Policies

Whistleblower Policy (PDF)
Conflict of Interest Policy (PDF)
Policy on Review of Executive Compensation (PDF)
Board Policy on Diversity (PDF)
Collections Management Policy (PDF)
Guidelines for Requesting Loans from LACMA (PDF)