The Corcoran Gallery of Art and College of Art + Design will contribute some $48 million in endowment funds and proceeds from the sale of Persian rugs to help finance a new operating arrangement with George Washington University, which will run the Corcoran's art school, and the National Gallery of Art, which will receive most of its art, the Washington Post reports.

The twenty-five full-time faculty members of the Corcoran College of Art + Design will be offered one-year contracts with the university, while twenty museum employees — including all curators — will be invited to join the National Gallery for at least a year. Dozens of full-time gallery or college staffers will lose their jobs, however, and approximately a hundred and eighty adjunct faculty members will not be guaranteed positions.

The $48 million in endowment funds from the financially strapped Corcoran includes $11.25 million from the estate of Huguette Clark that it has yet to receive, a $5.2 million gift from an anonymous donor, and roughly $35 million from the sale of Persian rugs. Although the proceeds from the rugs were to be used to acquire art, the change in the Corcoran's status means it will not be subject to those guidelines, said the Corcoran's interim director and president, Peggy Loar, and instead will be used by GWU for facility renovations.

The agreement remains subject to approval from the D.C. Superior Court, a process that could take months. Of the remaining funds, $8 million will be used to fund the college's operations, leaving a budget of approximately $5 million for a down-sized Corcoran, which will retain a voice in where the art not acquired by the National Gallery is distributed.

"I think what remains to be seen is this wonderful collaboration and partnership with two institutions with the resources to do what we have not been able to do," said Loar. "We’re not just talking about a stable environment, we're talking about something better. We're talking about something flourishing."