Saturday, November 21, 2020. The sun is shining on the asphalt of the streets of Houston, in the state of Texas, where the inauguration of a new museum is taking place. The Museum of Fine Arts (MFAH) reopens its doors after years of work, a renovation that will have cost more than 300 million euros. Despite this good – and expensive – news, American museums are living through an economic and social disaster. An “earthquake”, as indicated by the American Alliance of Museums (AAM), a lobby which has brought together museums across the Atlantic since 1906 and which has just published a new alarmist report on the situation of museums in the United States. Thousands of establishments could soon go out of business, forever.
© French District
Declines in income and reduced workforce
Since March, American museums have indeed had a hangover, being for the most part very vulnerable small structures whose survival depends on two factors: revenue from visits, therefore ticketing, and patronage, with donations from various personalities and philanthropists, private funds being their main source of income, unlike Europe which injects public funds. Two funding slumps now at a standstill since the first confinement and instability accentuated by very cautious financial markets. In addition, as analyzed in a previous AAM survey, all museums, regardless of their size, have suffered significant declines in revenues, sometimes over 80%. Above all, all the establishments had to cut back in their workforce, like the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET) in New York, which, despite its endowment of more than 3 billion euros, reduced its payroll 20% for financial losses exceeding 100 million euros.
And he’s not the only one to have drunk the cup. According to the AAM, more than 30% of museums have thanked many employees, such as the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco or the Museum of Modern Art in Pittsburgh, all of whom have closely separated from the half of their teams. Last May, the AAM then estimated the loss of turnover of its 35,000 members at nearly 30 million euros per day. According to its president, Laura Lott, one in three museums could close permanently, as financial reserves dwindle. The survey was carried out on more than 750 museums in distress, without a safety net. “The closure of these places would be devastating for communities, economies, education systems and our cultural history,” said Laura Lott.
© cnewyork.net
Financial obstacles and external aid
According to the new AAM study, about 30% of American museums are still closed today. Those who have resumed an activity are barely 30% of their usual attendance, in other words too little to survive. “The financial situation is going from bad to worse. Without financial assistance, thousands of museums will close, ”Laura Lott said recently. For this second survey, based on more than 850 institutions surveyed in October, museums forecast a net loss of 35% of their operating budget in 2020 and a total of 28% in 2021. In total, the AAM figures in the sector a loss of nearly 30 billion euros. A dramatic inventory and a situation that is not sustainable in the long term.
So how to do it Six months ago, all of the country’s museums defended their situation before Congress by demanding 4 billion euros for their rescue. A battle fought head on with the AAM, but which remained a dead letter, the money being currently locked. Some financial aid has certainly been granted here and there, on the one hand, thanks to the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and, on the other hand, thanks to the Coronavirus Aid law, Relief ans Economic Security (CARES Act), but it remains well insufficient. Last March, the federal government also released more than 70 million euros in grants. A sum that cannot benefit everyone and in any case far removed from the billions claimed. “Museums implore their federal state and local governments to provide the support needed to recover from this crisis. Congress and the administration are failing, ”said Laura Lott.
While Joe Biden has just been elected President of the United States, real help is expected. However, no cultural program seems to have been presented, neither in the Republican camp nor in that of the Democrats. There remains a federal agency, the National Endowment or the Arts (NEA), which, since its creation in 1965, has made it possible to subsidize cultural institutions. But its budget today weighs just over 160 million euros and Donald Trump has not ceased, since the start of his mandate, to try to obtain its abolition. American museums are therefore cornered, forced to relinquish their treasures at auction thanks to “deaccessioning” – that is to say the alienation of the goods kept in a museum collection – in order to survive. An aberration.
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