Recession forcing museums to do more with less

NEW YORK — The recession is hitting museums hard from coast to coast, forcing directors to boost admission fees, cut budgets and staff, and put ambitious projects on hold. But in a twist on the bleak economic news, museums are actually reporting an increase in attendance.

"It's not the worst of times for museums, curiously enough," Michael Conforti, president of the Association of Art Museum Directors, says. "Although all nonprofits and profits are struggling, we do have a curious place in this reality."

A snapshot of the economic fallout isn't pretty:

—The Las Vegas Art Museum slashed 30 percent of its budget, then closed its doors in February although its board called the closure "a hibernation" until the economy rebounds.

—The Art Institute of Chicago's endowment dropped 25 percent; it boosted the price of admission 50 percent to $18, prompting city aldermen to threaten to shut down the museum's free city water.

—The Detroit Institute of Arts cut 20 percent of its staff, and Baltimore's Walters Art Museum and the Denver Art Museum both canceled upcoming exhibitions.

The recession has hit so hard that two museums have even done the unthinkable: In New York City, the National Academy Museum and School of Fine Arts, facing a $2.5 million debt, sold two artworks from its collection to cover operating costs. And in Boston, Brandeis University has proposed selling pieces of its collection, if needed, to boost the school's falling endowment.

The outcry to those decisions was immediate and fierce, underscoring the widespread belief that museums can't operate like ordinary businesses because of their unique role as temporary stewards of the world's greatest works of art.

While few museums would dare to sell off their treasures, cost-cutting and restructuring has become the mantra for nearly all institutions, from the largest and richest such as the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles with a current endowment of $4.6 billion (from a high of $6 billion in 2008) to historic house museums such as The Stickley Museum in Morris Plains, N.J., with a half million dollar budget.

Besides raising admission fees, the Art Institute of Chicago ended upper management raises and lowered gallery temperatures; it is on tap to open a new $300 million "Modern Wing" in May, paid almost exclusively with private donations made before the economy soured. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York announced it will cut 250 positions by summer and close 15 museum stores across the country.