The Los Angeles County Museum of Art is the largest art museum in the western United States and one of the most diverse in terms of its collections, exhibits and real estate. With its roots in the Los Angeles Museum of History, Science and Art founded in 1910 in Exposition Park, LACMA was established as a separate art museum in 1961 and its first building opened on Wilshire Boulevard in 1965. Today the museum campus has grown to eight buildings on more than 20 acres near Hancock Park with more expansion on the way — in early October, LACMA announced an agreement with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to explore a long-awaited museum dedicated to the movie industry at LACMA West. LACMA employs 350 with an annual operating budget of approximately $60 million.
THE QUICK BIO
Fredric Goldstein is LACMA’s vice president, general counsel and secretary. His path to law was far from direct. After graduating from the University of Michigan in 1974 with a degree in comparative literature, the Long Island native studied mime in Paris for a year before moving back to New York to become an actor. “I lived with friends, auditioned for months. Nothing worked,” said Goldstein, 58.
