More on Struggling Museums

We have discussed the economic impact on museums and historical societies on the AW Blog in the past. Fellow appraiser Alvah Beander sent me this short article from Philanthropy News Digest on some of the difficult choices museums are having to make to survive. Yes, deaccessioning is mentioned (the dreaded D word) and it of course mentions the National Academy. The article is short, so I will take the liberty of posting it all, the link is below as well as a link to an NPR broadcast on the subject.

Economic Crisis Forcing Museums to Make Tough Choices

As private and public sources of funding are squeezed by turmoil in the financial markets and a slowing economy, a growing number of museums are looking for ways to cut costs without compromising their missions, National Public Radio reports.

The Queens Museum of Art recently laid off about a tenth of its staff and extended an exhibition of contemporary Taiwanese art rather than open a new show in the same gallery. Meanwhile, the National Academy Museum and School of Fine Arts, on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, resorted to more drastic measures, selling two paintings from its permanent collection for a total of $15 million. The museum, a neighbor to the Guggenheim and the Metropolitan museums, was facing a "monumental crisis" at the time, said director Carmine Branagan. "There wasn't money to pay the guards [or] buy ink cartridges," she said. "I actually worked gratis for many months."

That decision did not sit well with other museum directors. Because prices for art are so high, museums facing a funding crisis are sometimes tempted to sell works, said Graham Beal, director of the Detroit Institute of Arts. But selling off art, said Beal, is akin to chipping away at the institution. "The institution is there to safeguard the art. The art is not there to support the institution."

As a result of the sale, the American Association of Museums blacklisted the National Academy, which means other museums won't lend it works for special shows or cooperate with it in any way. Dismayed by the action, Branagan still believes that selling artworks, though lamentable, is sometimes necessary to save an institution and that "there are going to be a lot of institutions…brought to their knees by the current financial climate."

Zarroli, Jim. “Museums Exhibit Signs of Economic Distress.” National Public Radio/All Things Considered 1/05/09.

To visit the Philanthropy New Digest, click HERE, or click HERE to listen to the Broadcast.