Brighter Days Ahead

Scandal-ridden Bass Museum of Art purges problems and looks to the future

By Ben Torter

The Bass Museum of Art celebrates a fresh start and Miami Beach’s colorful growth in Promises of Paradise: Staging Mid-Century Miami.

During the decades following World War II, Miami Beach became a hopeful playground for the new middle class, and the architecture and design styles reflected that sense of excitement and possibility. Those years of colorful growth and decadence are celebrated in Promises of Paradise: Staging Mid-Century Miami, the most popular exhibit at the Bass Museum of Art in some time.

The exhibit is a positive note at the end of a trying year for the museum that saw its executive director, Diane Camber, leave under a cloud of controversy after 26 years; a royal drama questioning the pedigree of trustee and Friends of the Bass President Princess Thi-Nga of Vietnam; and an investigation by the American Association of Museums that threatened the Bass’ accreditation. Add a power struggle between certain staff and board members, and 2007 certainly wasn’t a banner year for the city-funded museum.

What a difference a few months make. Thi-Nga is gone from the scene, Camber will be helping the Friends of the Bass on a limited and pro bono basis, new blood is being recruited and the museum’s operations are humming along.

“Since the beginning of 2008, the Bass Museum of Art has made history,” Interim Director Gary Farmer wrote in a report to the museum’s trustees. “With the one-two punch of Promises of Paradise and the Murray Dixon photos, we have set all-time attendance records for a Tuesday, a Wednesday and a Thursday.”

There were 2,662 visitors to the Bass in January who helped the museum earn $14,376 — twice the earnings of the same period last year. Since Oct. 1, admission income is up 23 percent, sales at the museum gift shop have increased 106 percent and income from renting the museum out to private functions has risen 231 percent.

Farmer, who assumed the role of interim director in July, was very diplomatic in explaining the museum’s sudden burst of success.

“It is all due to the excellent, independent and cooperative work of the museum staff members,” said Farmer, who also is the cultural affairs program manager for the city of Miami Beach.

Whatever the reasons for the turnaround, Farmer came in at an extremely tumultuous time, and now the museum appears to have entered much smoother waters. For those who haven’t followed the museum’s troubles during the last year, here’s a wrap-up:

Seemingly out of nowhere, Princess Thi-Nga showed up on the arts patron scene a few years ago and quickly became the talk of the town. She had a storied past of riches and royalty, and was married to big gun Greenberg Traurig attorney Steven E. Goldman. Everyone wanted to be close to her.  She was constantly photographed at fancy parties with the likes of Sanford and Dolores Ziff, artists, politicians and the crème de la crème of South Florida society. Soon, she found herself both the Bass Museum Board of Trustees chairperson and Friends of the Bass president.

When Thi-Nga proposed exhibiting art, which she said had been passed down through multiple generations of her family, the Bass exhibited The Jade Collection of HIH Princess Thi-Nga of Vietnam from February to April 2007.

To celebrate the collection, Friends of the Bass sponsored a grand parade down Collins Avenue, complete with elephants and colorful characters dressed in traditional garb from the Orient. Fabulous photos were taken of former Mayor David Dermer and Thi-Nga waving to the crowds from the back of a silver convertible Jaguar. There were tea parties and cocktail parties; Miami Beach had royal fever.

Then local art gadfly Justo Sanchez buzzed in and spoiled the fun. The ascot-wearing Sanchez, spouting a Harvard education, questioned the pedigrees of both the exhibit and the Princess, and set out with a vengeance to prove his theory. Inquiries led to an investigation by the American Association of Museums, which sent a letter to the Bass on May 31 giving it 30 days to answer allegations of ethical breaches that threatened its accreditation. In the end, the association was unable to find sufficient evidence to prove any of Sanchez’s claims.

However, the museum didn’t come out in an entirely innocent light.

SunPost articles about the investigation blew open the museum’s books, which had been tightly guarded under Camber. The City Attorney’s Office ruled that, because the museum received public funding, all its records were public, including Friends of the Bass and Bass Trustees meetings. Those meetings are now properly advertised and open to the public.

Camber quit toward the beginning of the association’s investigation, and Farmer was assigned to run the place until a new director could be found. When he moved into Camber’s office on July 2, he was tasked with running the museum and finding a suitable permanent director as quickly as possible.

Camber’s absence left a power vacuum and, combined with the museum being under a microscope of scrutiny, Farmer had his hands full.

Tensions came to a head during an emergency trustees meeting Dec. 4, when Thi-Nga tried to fire Farmer. According to the minutes of that meeting, Thi-Nga was upset that Farmer had given curator Ruth Grim a written warning of insubordination.

“The [Princess] stated she found that unacceptable,” according to notes from the meeting. That portion of the meeting was somehow not taped, as required by law. “The Princess gave other examples relating to her interaction with Mr. Farmer, including a trip to Paris being planned for then-Mayor David Dermer and herself to cultivate relationships with French museums and ministries,” the notes continued. “The [Princess] further indicated that she was personally concerned that this could affect the organization and fundraising.”

Farmer gave Grim the written warning because of the way she presented to trustees a traveling collection of clothing and accessories owned by Princess Grace of Monaco that Thi-Nga wanted to exhibit at the Bass. Thi-Nga instructed Grim to give the presentation, but she never informed Farmer, who heard about it for the first time along with the trustees. Someone close to the story explained that Thi-Nga thought she ran the museum — which she didn’t.

Thi-Nga decided she wanted to fire Farmer and replace him with Grim. City Manager and Bass Trustee Jorge Gonzalez said that would leave the museum without a curator. At Roger Bass’ suggestion, the trustees decided to ask departed Director Camber to come back and serve as interim director.

Less than three weeks later, Thi-Nga resigned on Dec. 16 in a three-paragraph typed letter with an elaborate crest stamped on top.

That brings the saga to the present. After negotiations with City Manager Gonzalez, Camber decided not to come back to the Bass as interim director.

“I have developed a lot of other activities,” Camber told Bass Trustees and Friends on Feb. 21.

To help find a new director, Linda Sweet, principal of Management Consultants for the Arts, has been hired for $50,000 plus expenses. She will be presenting prospective candidates in early March. The city hasn’t determined what it is willing to pay a new director, according to Farmer, though Camber earned a $134,063 annual salary at the time of her resignation.

Museum staff and board members are looking to the future. There are major membership-driving events in the works with 944 magazine and the new David Barton Gym, and board members will be sending out recruitment letters to attract new creative energy.

“Whatever is in the past remains in the past, and I think this museum has brighter days ahead,” Gonzalez said.

Promises of Paradise: Staging Mid-Century Miami runs through April 13, though it may be extended because of its popularity.

The Bass Museum of Art is located at 2121 Park Ave., Miami Beach. Admission is free for Beach residents with proper identification, $8 for nonresident adults and $6 for nonresident seniors. Call 305-673-7530 or visit www.bassmuseum.org.

Comments? E-mail ben@miamisunpost.com