U.S. museums cutting back due to recession

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Museums in New York and Philadelphia are cutting jobs, slashing salaries and closing stores because their endowments have been pounded by declines in donations, government aid and investment returns.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is closing 15 of its merchandising stores across the United States, leaving only eight stores open in New York. It will cut about 250 jobs, or 10 percent of its workforce, before July 1.

The museum, founded more than 130 years ago and prominently located alongside Central Park, has lost about $800 million from its endowment since mid-2008, when it was worth about $2.9 billion, spokesman Harold Holzer said. There were no plans to cut exhibits.

"It's a very strange economic climate we are in," Holzer said.

The Met is a nonprofit institution whose funding sources include its endowment, government aid, private donations and admission revenues.

Holzer said that based on endowment losses alone, the Met would have to cut $2.2 million from its $220 million operating budget in the next fiscal year. He added that cuts in the operating budget could total up to $20 million, taking in retail cutbacks and other losses.

The Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia announced a hiring freeze on Friday and said it would cut salaries by 5 percent. Its endowment and other investments dropped to less than $40 million from $60 million in early 2008.

Attendance was down at both museums as art lovers tightened their belts during the global recession. The Met said foreign visitors, who are more likely to pay the suggested $20 voluntary admission fee, also dropped.

"People have less money to spend on cultural and educational experiences," the Academy of Natural Sciences said in a statement.

Other museums in the United States have laid off workers or predicted they will be forced to fire staff.

The Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles almost had to close until billionaire philanthropist Eli Broad came up with a $30 million rescue plan in 2008.

The well-funded Getty Trust that operates museums in Southern California has frozen hiring and salaries.

In New York, the Museum of Modern Art implemented a hiring freeze in October and ordered a general operating budget cut of 10 percent. Other major museums in the city declined to discuss whether they had suffered endowment losses or had plans for layoffs or salary cuts.

(Editing by Daniel Trotta and Peter Cooney)

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Museum of Contemporary Art cuts staff
By Kyle MacMillan
The Denver Post
Posted: 03/13/2009 01:45:04 PM MDT
Updated: 03/13/2009 03:13:09 PM MDT

The artwork climbs up the walls at Shark's Ink: The Legend of Bud Shark and his Indelible Ink exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Denver on March 3. (The Denver Post | CYRUS MCCRIMMON)

The Museum of Contemporary Art Denver is eliminating four of its 20 full-time positions and trimming benefits as a hedge against potential drops in revenue as the economy worsens.

"We need to be in a position where we can survive 2009," said the museum's Karl Kister.

He declined to disclose how much money the cuts would save, but he said the MCA is trying to reduce its annual budget to about $2 million.

The eliminated positions include the museum's communications manager and executive assistant to the director, as well as staff members in education and tech support.

So far, the museum is making no cuts to its exhibition schedule or other programming.

"We don't see a lot of savings in doing that right now," Kister said. "Getting people in the door is what we want to do, and programs drive attendance."

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Walker trims budget by $2 million this year, next
Director Olga Viso will take a pay cut. Other salaries will be frozen, but no layoffs are anticipated.

By GRAYDON ROYCE, Star Tribune | Last update: March 17, 2009 - 12:13 PM

Walker Art Center is the latest Twin Cities arts organization to respond to economic pressures.

The organization, which has cut its budget by $1.1 million (5 percent) this fiscal year, will further reduce expenses by $900,000 (4 percent) in the next fiscal year, which begins in July. The combined cuts mean the Walker's budget will drop from $21.3 million to $19.3 million.

Director Olga Viso said the equivalent of seven full-time positions will not be filled (ranging from senior curator to part-time support). In addition, staff salaries will be frozen and Viso will return 6 percent of her salary this year and 7 percent next year. The final piece is a requirement that staff take five days of furlough by June 15. Viso said that if employees have sufficient accrued vacation, they could use that time to mitigate what would otherwise amount to a 2 percent pay cut. Not envisioned in the cuts are layoffs or significant programming changes. The Walker has 174 full- and part-time employees.

In an interview Monday afternoon, Viso said the reductions were mitigated by anonymous donations that she would characterize only as running "into six figures." Given a range of how many positions would be saved, she said, "More than five, but less than 20."

While no exhibitions or major programs have been eliminated to date, the Walker has reduced budgets in each of its program areas by 10 to 20 percent. Viso said in a previous interview that she does not anticipate suspending any of the Walker's standing programs.

"It's scale," she said. "A series might have one less performance or a film screening could have six instead of eight showings. And it will affect how we sequence exhibitions."

Viso said the Walker has seen some declines in attendance, which affect gift-shop and restaurant sales. Far more significant, though, is the foundation's endowment, which lost 23 percent in value between June 2008 and January 2009, from $197 million to $152 million. Contributed income also has declined.

On March 4, the Minneapolis Institute of Arts cut its staff and budget by 6 percent, and reduced exhibitions and programs by as much as 20 percent next year. Director Kaywin Feldman took a 10 percent pay cut. The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra trimmed staff and also cut senior managers' pay by 10 percent. The Minnesota Orchestra and the Guthrie Theater are expected to announce their budgets later this month.

Graydon Royce • 612-673-7299