Museums beat recession
NEW YORK The recession is hitting museums hard from coast to coast, forcing directors to boost admission fees, cut budgets and staff, and put ambitious projects on hold. But in a twist on the bleak economic news, museums are actually reporting an increase in attendance.
"It's not the worst of times for museums, curiously enough," said Michael Conforti, president of the Association of Art Museum Directors and director of the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Mass., known as The Clark. "Although all nonprofits and profits are struggling, we do have a curious place in this reality."
A snapshot of the economic fallout isn't pretty:
n The Las Vegas Art Museum slashed 30 percent of its budget, then closed its doors in February although its board called the closure "a hibernation" until the economy rebounds.
The Art Institute of Chicago's endowment dropped 25 percent; to keep up with costs, it boosted the price of admission 50 percent to $18, prompting city aldermen to threaten to shut down the museum's free city water.
The Detroit Institute of Arts cut 20 percent of its staff, and Baltimore's Walters Art Museum and the Denver Art Museum both canceled upcoming exhibitions.
The recession has hit so hard that two museums have even done the unthinkable: In New York City, the National Academy Museum and School of Fine Arts, facing a $2.5 million debt, sold two artworks from its collection to cover operating costs. And in Boston, Brandeis University proposed selling pieces of its collection, if needed, to boost the school's falling endowment.
The outcry to those decisions was immediate and fierce, underscoring the widespread belief that museums can't operate like ordinary businesses because of their unique role as temporary stewards of the world's greatest works of art.
While few museums would dare to sell off their treasures, cost-cutting and restructuring has become the mantra for nearly all institutions, from the largest and richest such as the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles with a current endowment of $4.6 billion (from a high of $6 billion in 2008) to historic house museums such as The Stickley Museum in Morris Plains, N.J., with a half million dollar budget.
The Art Institute of Chicago ended upper management raises and lowered gallery temperatures; it is on tap to open a new $300 million "Modern Wing" in May, paid almost exclusively with private donations made before the economy soured. While museum officials said the hike in admission fees was not directly related to the economy, some Chicago aldermen said an increase in fees during a recession was unwise. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York announced it will cut 250 positions by summer and close 15 museum stores across the country.
But overall, museums are humming with activity and continuing to present major exhibitions. For now, budget cuts averaging anywhere from 5 percent to 15 percent are not significantly affecting exhibitions and programs.
At the Met, board chairman James Houghton affirmed the museum's commitment to "remain a vibrant cultural resource for the widest possible audience." Spokesman Harold Holzer said, "there's no thought of changing hours, closing galleries, aborting the schedule" in the wake of the budget crisis.
Institutions are dusting off more works from their permanent collections to cut costs. At any given time, most museums display only 1 percent of those collections. The Brooklyn Museum, for example, just opened a major exhibition of Coptic and Pagan sculpture, drawn largely from its holdings. It also is doing more exhibitions that will travel to other museums.
One of them, "To Live Forever," draws on its very extensive and important Egyptian collection, and is traveling to 12 museums.
The Museum of Modern Art in New York will hold a major exhibition in September on Claude Monet's water lilies series all from its own collection. It said it does not disclose exhibition budgets for collection shows or special loan exhibitions.
On a recent afternoon, the parking lot at The Clark was full for a Toulouse-Lautrec exhibition based largely on the museum's own collection. The museum said it is the best attended show in the last eight years. Conforti said the museum found the public's response and reviews of the show were just as good as for temporary installations.
