The Getty Gets New Blood

People in Los Angeles talk a lot about whether or not the Getty is really integrated into the fabric of Los Angeles.

The first thing is for an outsider to come in and get your arms around the fabric of L.A., which is a very dynamic but totally different urban phenomenon. What it’s making me appreciate is that to some degree the Getty isn’t in the center, but there isn’t a center. [In Chicago,] the Art Institute is where the lines cross at the heart of the urban core. L.A. is such a diffuse animal with its cultural parts spread all over the place. It seems to me that the responsibility of the Getty is to make sure you don’t just stay on the mountaintop. Being on the mountaintop isn’t so bad. It’s a wonderful destination and people love it. But our responsibility is going beyond. It would be foolish and arrogant for me to say I have a plan all worked out. But there are plenty of possibilities.

Do you expect the programming to change?

If it’s identical several years from now, that’s a fault on all of our parts. In today’s museum world, if you are not evolving, you have a problem. But I can’t be specific.

What will you do in the couple of months before you start in February?

Well, I’m going to spend two weeks in India. It’s a trip we’ve planned for years. But as Michael Brand’s specialty is India and southeast Asia, it probably won’t hurt to get a little caught up.

© 2006