Head of Brussels Government Seeks to Oust Kanal-Centre Pompidou Director Ahead of November Opening
Brussels Minister-President Boris Dilliès (MR) is seeking the immediate dismissal of Kanal-Centre Pompidou founding general director Yves Goldstein, according to La Libre, just months before the museum’s planned November opening. After opposition from left-leaning coalition partners, Dilliès reportedly backed down but issued Goldstein an ultimatum: leave now or remain until opening with sharply reduced duties, including exclusion from board meetings and budget management and from the jury selecting his successor. Goldstein has led the project for over a decade; the museum cost the Brussels-Capital Region more than $290 million and occupies a renovated 430,000-square-foot former Citroën garage near Molenbeek. Kanal also has a €12 million ($13.76 million) five-year partnership with Paris’s Centre Pompidou, while its promised annual public budget has fallen from €35 million to €28 million this year and is expected to drop to €10 million by 2029 amid austerity.
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This story was covered in Museums Under Pressure, Markets Keep Climbing