The Jail Money Trap

Curbed, December 17, 2021: The Jail Money Trap

…“Somewhat perversely, though, it has been a good time for the bottom line at what has become one of Chinatown’s most contentious institutions: the Museum of Chinese in America. MOCA closed to the public when New York locked down — and by the time it reopened its doors this past summer, the usually cash-strapped nonprofit was in its best financial shape in years. In early 2020, it got hundreds of thousands of dollars in recovery aid after its archives suffered a fire. Then came millions in grants from the Ford Foundation and philanthropist MacKenzie Scott. The biggest windfall of all, though, has been a $35 million grant from the city. The money will allow MOCA to buy the building it has been renting for more than a decade, construct a theater there, and expand its operations. With free admission and a new show called ‘Responses: Asian American Voices Resisting the Tide of Racism’ that includes murals depicting events like the murder of Vincent Chin, it might have seemed ready to meet the political moment, too.

But as MOCA president Nancy Yao Maasbach prepared to welcome journalists and luminaries to the show’s opening in July, about two dozen protesters gathered on the sidewalk. Fresh-faced high-school students and Chinese grandmas with sensible haircuts hoisted signs that read MUSEUM OF CORRUPT ASIANS and THE MUSEUM OF CORPORATE ARTWASHING and HEY MOCA! RETURN THE $35 MILLION TO THE COMMUNITY! “Sanqian wubai wan,” they yelled — 35 million.”

Additional reading:

The New York Times, September 27, 2021: ‘The Whole Thing Upsets Me’: Mayor Finally Visits Rikers

Curbed NY, September 23, 2020: Bill de Blasio’s Plan to Close Rikers Is Crumbling

Hyperallergic, July 14, 2021: Protesters Chant “Boycott MOCA” at Museum of Chinese in America Reopening

ARTNews, May 11, 2021: How the Museum of Chinese in America Emerged from a Fire and Pandemic Lockdown