UN Forum on Museums Spotlights a Historic Crisis
As museums grapple with financial difficulties due to the pandemic, leaders from around the world met to discuss the importance of cultural institutions during the United Nations General Assembly.
Even during difficult periods, there is a duty to safeguard art institutions that are vectors of history, education, culture and tourism, said Fuqing Wu, director general of the Zhizheng Art Museum in China. The number of museums worldwide has increased from 22,000 in 1975 to 104,000 today, he said.
The Zhizheng Art Museum sponsored the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s Second High-Level Forum on Museums, which was held virtually on Thursday and Friday. The first forum was held in 2016, Wu said.
“Museums are the eyes of a city,” Wu said. “They are witnesses of history. They represent the soul of a country.”
Officials from Barbados to Cambodia discussed problems that museums face because of COVID-19 — deaths of employees and visitors, lack of tourism, long closures, limited staff, navigating vaccinations.
Those issues were felt locally too. In New York City, museums were some of the first institutions to close and among the last to open to full capacity.
The number of visitors frequenting museums decreased for many institutions during the pandemic, according to the Smithsonian Institute. The Smithsonian compiles visitor numbers on a yearly basis for all of their museums.
Last year, the National Museum of the American Indian Heye Center in New York had 49,646 visits compared to 348,599 visits in 2019, according to the Smithsonian. Similarly, the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in the Upper East Side had 38,582 visits last year compared to 263,637 in 2019.
This summer, 26 museums in the city received a total of $104 million in federal grants, according to new data from the U.S. Small Business and Administration.
Museums received about 9% of the funding that was disbursed across almost 800 arts and entertainment establishments across the city, according to the SBA.
Seven museums received the largest possible grant of $10 million each: the American Museum of Natural History, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, Solomon R. Guggenheim, Whitney Museum of American Art, Wildlife Conservation Society, and the New York Botanical Garden.
“Cultural institutions educate and inspire, and play a crucial role in preserving, protecting and presenting history,” said Brian Walker, a vice president at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, which received $8 million. “This is particularly true in New York, where museums are such a big part of the fabric of the city.”
Some museums are also taking extraordinary measures, such as seeking permission to use restricted funds for general operating expenses.
For example, deaccessioned art, a term for officially selling artwork from a museum’s collection, is being used to cover ongoing expenses rather than to acquire more art.
Institutions can use proceeds from deaccessioned art for necessary expenses, including staff compensation and benefits without penalty until next April, according to a release from the Association of Art Museum Directors.
Earlier this month, Christie’s auction announced a sale of photographs, prints and multiples from the Metropolitan Museum of Art to provide funding for existing art collections, according to a release. Last year, the Brooklyn Museum also put pieces up for auction.
The Met did not respond to three phone calls and three email requests for comment. Christie’s also did not respond to several requests for comment.
In February, the Marina Kellen French Director Max Hollein released a lengthy statement to address deaccessioning at the Met. “There has never been a question of whether The Met would survive this historic crisis; we will become stronger and, by necessity, leaner,” Hollein said, estimating revenue losses of up to $150 million through June 2021.
The deaccessioning of art is a bad practice in principle, but it’s also a question of context, said John Miller, professor of professional practice in art history at Barnard College. The Met is well-funded, so he doubts it needs to sell work to keep running.
“I just went out to see the John Edmonds show at the Brooklyn Museum last weekend, and I was surprised to find that many of the galleries are empty,” Miller said. “To me, this looked like a museum running on a shoestring. So, in this case, deaccessioning, while undesirable, seems more forgivable.”
