Museum Trend Finally Hits Fresno Met Art Museum Causing it to Shut down
So the time finally came for the Fresno Met Art Museum; it shut down on January 10, 2010. It was one of the largest of all the art institutions in it’s area but due to financial restraints and underfunding, it finally had to throw in the towel.
The Fresno Met wasn’t the only museum to close its doors within the last few years; there is a growing list of 20 U.S. museums that closed last year, including the Las Vegas Museum of Art and the Gulf Coast Museum of Art in Florida. But as I write this article, several other museums, including my beloved Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC, are experiencing the backlash of struggling economy; they’ve had to trim budgets and had to either cancel or hold off on displaying specific exhibits. In an article I found on Bloomberg, “At least 250 employees were fired or took buyouts as the [Met Art] museum reported that its investments declined by more than $600 million, or 24 percent.” With the current trend in full swing, it’s only a matter of time before museums like the Met in NYC suffer the same fate as museums like the Fresno Met.
Why does this trend exist? The simple fact is that they’re completely underfunded nowadays. For instance, the current recession has diminished the value of contributors’ stock portfolios; in turn, causing a decline in fundraising for museums as well. Regardless of the fact that the Met Art Museum in NYC had 4.7 million visitors last year until June, donations plummeted to $43.1 million, which is 46 percent lower than what they normally receive. Moreover, since stock portfolios of several contributors are experiencing a decline in value, long-time donors who used to donate $25,000 to the Fresno Met, are barely making enough to donate $5,000 this time around.
Another reason that may contribute to this trend is the fact that museums cannot honor the amount they spend on their projects. For instance, the Met NYC Museum spent over $70 million renovating it’s American Wing and galleries displaying medieval and Isalmic Art. As for the Fresno Met, they really dug a hole for themselves when the former museum director launched a $28 million project in 2005 to rehabilitate the Fresno Met, which went severely over budget. This caused the Fresno Met to default on a $15 million bank loan from the city, according to LAtimes.
It’s all about the money nowadays and it couldn’t have come at any worse of a time. There’s really not much we can do except for raising awareness of this unfortunate struggle to the masses. Nothing emphasizes the economic downturn more than seeing an institution struggling or closing down. I guess we just have to wait it out and hope that the financial restructuring plans museums are putting into effect are enough to keep them afloat in our harsh times.
Tags: Art, Fresno, Fresno Met, Maranghi, Maurizio, Met, Met Art, Met Art Museum