U.S. museums facing deep cuts because of economic crisis
Last Updated: Thursday, January 8, 2009 | 12:46 PM ET
CBC News
The financial crisis has cut deeply into the budgets of major art institutions, especially those in the U.S., which rely mainly on their endowments and private donations.
A survey of 40 museums in the U.S. by the Art Newspaper has shown that many institutions have lost 20 per cent of the value of their endowments.
A majority of these institutions were looking at between a five and 20 per cent cut to their 2009 budgets, with even more cuts looming in 2010.
Officials at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City are staring at a 10 per cent cut to their operating budget while the Denver Art Museum is weighing a 15 per cent chop.
While state and local governments cut museum funding, the declining value of their endowments are what could really affect these institutions, according to the report.
The endowment of the Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA) dropped from $454 million Cdn at the start of 2008 to $348.2 million Cdn at the end of November.
"I am hopeful we will continue to benefit from our patrons' generosity," said IMA director Maxwell Anderson.
Viennese museum faces 'catastrophe'
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art lost a quarter of its endowment last year, causing it to postpone a renovation of one of its buildings.
The Seattle Art Museum is facing a $5.5 million Cdn loss this year in rent. Washington Mutual, a bank that leases eight floors of a building jointly owned by the museum, was acquired by JPMorgan Chase — which, has indicated it may leave the space.
Overseas, one gallery in Vienna has revealed that it's experiencing a "catastrophe" already, losing more than $3.2 million Cdn in support over the past few weeks.
Klaus Albrecht Schröder of the Albertina says he lost a $1.6 million Cdn donation that was to come from an anonymous individual donor as well as this year's $1.6 million Cdn annual contribution from an Austrian company.
In December, Schröder slashed the Albertina's budget by a total of $19.5 million Cdn over the next three years.
The Albertina houses one of the largest graphic collections in the world with more than 1 million prints and 65,000 drawings.
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