Shake-up at the Terra
Terra Museum founder and chief patron Daniel J. Terra has abruptly fired printing-company heir Robert Donnelley, who’s been the museum’s director since last winter. At his own request Donnelley’s appointment had not been widely publicized, and it appeared he was settling in for what he hoped would be a long tenure as, in his words, “an agent of change.” As recently as a month ago Donnelley, an art enthusiast and former banking executive who had served on the boards of several other cultural institutions, talked confidently in an interview about his long-term plans for the Terra Museum, including a possible move to a new location.
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Terra chief financial officer Stuart Popowcer said last week that details concerning Donnelley’s dismissal were still sketchy. One source close to Donnelley said the fired director had told him that the apparent reason for the dismissal was a cocktail reception Donnelley had cohosted for Time writer Christopher Ogden to celebrate the recent publication of his biography of Pamela Harriman, currently serving as U.S. ambassador to France. Terra reportedly disliked certain aspects of the book and was livid when he discovered Donnelley was behind a party to honor its author. Terra was out of the country last week and unavailable for comment.
But one source who has read the report called it “a pretty serious critique of the place that looks at every dimension of the project, including the financial fundamentals.” While preparing her report several months ago, San Francisco-based consultant Melanie Beene apparently talked to executives at the nine organizations for which the theater is being built: Ballet Chicago, Performing Arts Chicago, the Chicago Sinfonietta, Chicago Opera Theater, Joseph Holmes Chicago Dance Theatre, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Music of the Baroque, Lyric Opera Center for American Artists, and the Dance Center of Columbia College. Among the issues the report explores is whether these groups will use the new facility regularly enough to make it financially viable. It also remains to be seen whether all nine groups will even survive until the theater is open; completion is projected for 1997. A few of the companies, including Ballet Chicago and Chicago Opera Theater, have had serious and well-publicized financial problems in recent years.
