The di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art, a museum and sculpture park in Northern California’s Napa Valley that has struggled to balance its finances in recent years, has put its property up for sale. The asking price for the 217-acre estate—which includes gallery buildings, an historic residence, vineyards and more—is $10.9m. Crucially, the art is not for sale.
“Our priority is to make sure that the collection stays together and that we are able to do exhibitions and loans from our permanent collection,” the centre’s executive director, Kate Eilertsen, told the San Francisco Chronicle. A possible hoped-for outcome, she added, is that “some very wealthy art-loving philanthropist comes in and says: ‘I’ll purchase it, and I will lease it back to you for $5 a year and you can keep everything here.’”
The centre has made significant changes to its programmes over the past year, including scaling back its programming, reducing its staff numbers and prioritising wedding rentals. It is also working to keep the property, its galleries and its outdoor art collection—which includes marquee works by Mark di Suvero, Robert Arneson, Viola Frey, William T. Wiley and many more—accessible to the public.
The centre’s Napa Valley campus and its admission-free gallery at the Minnesota Street Project in San Francisco will remain open throughout the sale process…