Museum Minutes

• Big bucks for the Whitney as its chair Leonard A. Lauder is forking over $131 million, the museums biggest-ever gift. It's among the top for any museum -- bigger than the recent $100 million Stephen A. Schwarzman donation to the NYPL and a same-size gift by David Rockefeller to the MoMA. The Lauder dollars will go towards growing the Whitney's undersized endowment with the caveat that the museum must hold onto its iconic E. 75th St. Breuer building. [Carol Vogel/NYTimes]
  

• In the wake of the opening of their new Broad Contemporary Art Museum, LACMA announced the purchase of nearby land. A city official hinted that a subway station would be built there. Subway, Los Angeles? Really? Skepticism reigns: "This is a story about [Michael] Govan and LACMA expanding the museum's footprint and acquiring a valuable real-estate chip that could hold a new wing or mixed-use building or could be resold down the line." [Christopher Hawthorne/LATimes]

• The Astoria-based Museum of the Moving Image is in the midst of a $65 million expansion that will include a prominent array of video monitors. Look for an opening in '10. (Odd that this story quotes the architect about the direction of the museum -- "away from ... just about film" -- instead of the MMI director.) [Lisa Delgado/Rhizome]

• Hoop it up! A sports museum is coming to the Wall Street area. Plans are to display the Heisman Trophy, a winning NASCAR automobile, basketball sneakers and other sacred objects of the athletic world. [Richard Sandomir/NYTimes]

• The Rubin Museum's director of public programming is aggressive in seeking out visitors, with events such as those featuring celebrities like Sam Shepard and Lou Reed themed, at least tangentially, to Himalayan art. [Celia McGee/NYTimes]
  

• Tyler Green on the reason behind MoMA's missing 20- and 30-somethings: "Because MoMA charges $20 for admission. When you set an admissions fee that high, one of the visitor groups you're almost certainly going to impact is young people. ... museums are cannibalizing their future audiences." [MAN]

• Kids rule at the American Museum of Natural History even after dark. For $100, you can join the slumberparty under the blue whale, although you have to bring mom or dad. [Deborah L. Jacobs/NYTimes]
  

• Now this is where I'd spend the night... Period rooms! A lovely slideshow of newly redone rooms at the Met and London's Wallace Foundation. [NYTimes]

• No sleepover, how about a corporate dinner party, a.k.a. external events? "In May, the Museum of Modern Art will host the International Contemporary Furniture Fair’s opening-night party for its annual trade show. The Whitney Museum of American Art will host Vanity Fair’s 75th anniversary party in September." [William L. Hamilton/NYTimes]

• What unique challenges to museum directors of single-artist museums face? Let's ask the keepers of Warhol, Naguchi, Rockwell, O'Keeffe and Still . [NYTimes]
  

• ...this and and much-too-much more in the NYTimes' special museum section. [NYTimes]