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BREAKING: Corcoran Gallery of Art to Join Forces With University of Maryland

The troubled art museum is expected to announce a joint venture with the school Wednesday afternoon.
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Photograph by Flickr user Whistling in the Dark.

Trustees of the Corcoran Gallery of Art are expected to meet Wednesday and vote on
a plan to join forces with the University of Maryland, according to people familiar with the decision. The exact outlines of the plan—the finances, the players, and what it would mean for the city’s oldest art gallery—were not immediately clear Wednesday morning.

Terrance Shanahan, a Save the Corcoran leader, said he expects the Corcoran
and the University of Maryland to make an announcement today regarding a joint venture.

Corcoran spokesman
Mimi Carter said more details of the plan would come at roughly 4 PM today, after the board of trustees meets.

The future of the Corcoran has been up in the
air due to plummeting donations, falling attendance, and chaotic leadership. It was
the subject of a feature story in the December 2012 issue of
The Washingtonian.

Protesters outside of the Corcoran. Photograph by Robin Bell.

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Senior Writer

Luke Mullins is a senior writer at Washingtonian magazine focusing on the people and institutions that control the city’s levers of power. He has written about the Koch Brothers’ attempt to take over The Cato Institute, David Gregory’s ouster as moderator of NBC’s Meet the Press, the collapse of Washington’s Metro system, and the conflict that split apart the founders of Politico.