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Black-oriented museums lacking African-American donors

Aid seen going to other causes
By Darryl Fears, Washington Post

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- The glamour, the popping flashes of the paparazzi, and movie stars such as Jim Carrey, Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, and Chris Tucker gave a glitzy Hollywood feel to the grand opening of the Muhammad Ali Center in this horse-racing town.

Muhammad Ali Center Louisville KY

Lonnie Ali, the boxing champ's wife, could barely hold back tears as she stood in the shadow of the $75 million center, with its soaring butterfly roof and its dozens of exhibits, replete with LeRoy Nieman paintings of ''The Greatest" in his glory days.

''This," Lonnie said as her husband stood by, ''is the culmination of a . . . dream."

The dream, however, has received little financial support from prominent black Americans. After a two-year campaign, only one monied black contributor, British former heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis, gave a substantial amount, $300,000.

The Ali Center's experience is common. In recent years, black-oriented museums, memorials, and cultural centers that cost millions to run have proliferated. But some museum executives wonder how well they will fare when several existing institutions are struggling and corporate sponsorships often don't cover the costs of daily operations.

Among the problems, some specialists say, is a lack of contributions from black people -- especially prominent entertainers and athletes -- whose history is celebrated by these institutions.

''We have . . . to cultivate the interest of African-Americans and athletes of many cultures," said Michael Fox, executive director of the Ali Center. ''It hasn't happened yet at the level we expected. I think it has been a disappointment to date."

Black people are generous when it comes to charitable contributions. A 2003 study reported in the Chronicle of Philanthropy noted that black Americans who give to charity donate 25 percent more of their discretionary income than white donors.

In the Coalition for New Philanthropy's 2004 study of minority giving in the New York City area, black Americans of all age groups contributed slightly more than the nation's other two major ethnic groups, Latino and Asian. But art museums and cultural centers were low on the priority list of all minority groups, who give instead to churches, schools, and scholarships.

''Art is important in some parts of the black community, but if you're giving money and have to choose between education and giving to a museum, you would give to education," said Mary Beth Gasman, an assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania who wrote a book on black philanthropy.

Given Ali's status as an icon and role model for many in sports, the center recruited sports commentator Bob Costas and Representative Gregory Meeks, Democrat of New York, a boxing aficionado, to raise money from athletes. The poor results surprised them.

''I was grossly disappointed," Meeks said. ''I know there have been difficulties with several . . . professionals who are paid well and might not be paid well if it were not for Ali breaking that [racial] barrier."

With their numbers dramatically rising, black-oriented museums, memorials, and centers are increasingly dependent on the largess of black people. But with the notable exception of Bill Cosby and Oprah Winfrey, prominent black entertainers and athletes, and black Americans in general, tend not to contribute to these cultural institutions.

In the past two years, at least seven major black museums, cultural centers, and memorials, amounting to about $1 billion in capital costs alone, have opened or gone into planning, including a Smithsonian African-American museum in Washington.

San Francisco opened its Museum of the African Diaspora in the past week. The Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History & Culture opened this year in Baltimore. The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center opened last year in Cincinnati. The National Slavery Museum in Fredericksburg, Va., and a memorial to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in Washington are in the works.

Some museum executives, noting that several older African-American museums are struggling, wonder how the new institutions will raise millions of dollars for rich endowments that help finance their operations in lean times.

The largest black museum, the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit, where Rosa Parks's body was viewed recently, is struggling for money and attendance. The African American Museum in Philadelphia, with its half-million dollar debt, was nearly forced to shut its doors for good this year.

Sandy Bellamy, executive director of the $33 million Reginald F. Lewis Museum, so named because its deceased black eponym contributed $5 million, said black Americans volunteer to work as well as give money. ''For every city you're looking at, there are two or three museums that people are sustaining," Bellamy said.

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