This N' That: 11/25/2020

Photo by duluoz cats on flicker

By Micaela Bahn

The financial effects of lockdowns coupled with limited government aid leaves U.S museums on the road to an existential crisis

After months of total lockdown followed by limited capacity openings that helped museums inch back to life, it is estimated that America’s art institutions have collectively lost close to $29.75 billion — the next shut down may be the needle that breaks the camel’s back.

A new report from the American Alliance of Museums, which came out in late October, surveyed 850 institutions and found that hundreds are at risk of closing permanently. Today, roughly 30% of US museums remain closed and museums that are open have experienced a 65% drop in visitation.

The average museum has lost $850,000, though the figure is projected to be higher at larger institutions. To make up for budget shortfalls, the survey says, employees have been laid off or furloughed with the highest percentage from Guest Services, Admissions, Frontline, and Retail.  Education follows closely, as most in-person programs have been canceled.

While this sounds like an impossible set of circumstances to rebound from, 70% of institutions do not think it is likely they will have to close in the next 12 months. Museums are currently finding ways around their usual fundraising initiatives — galas have been replaced by virtual events and there have been numerous emergency fundraising efforts. However, this is still not enough as half of U.S museums have just a six-month operating reserve. The government bailout in April met under 5% of the AAM’s projected need. With another bailout stalled in Congress, museums are forced to walk a tightrope that is at risk of breaking.

Photo by Steam Pipe Trunk Distribution Venue on flicker

Employees at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston unionize

Over the last few years, there has been an increase in museum employees unionizing across the country, from the Guggenheim in New York to MOCA in LA. In a landslide 133 to 14 vote, the staff at The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston (MFA) decided to join the tide and form a union. A movement toward unionization had been brewing since 2019 and with the vote secured, museum staff now move toward bargaining with MFA on a contract. MFA director Matthew Teitelbaum said in a statement, “This election was important for our staff and for the MFA as an institution. We have said throughout this process that above all, we support our employees’ right to make this decision and we want to ensure all voices are heard.”

Photo by Eden,Janine and Jim on flicker

The Whitney presents, Working Together: The Photographers of the Kamoinge Workshop

Working Together opened at the Whitney Museum of Art last weekend and is on view through March 28th. The exhibition chronicles the formative years of the Kamoinge Workshop, a collective of Black photographers established in New York City in 1963. It includes approximately 140 photographs by founding members during the first two decades of the arts collective.

“Kamoinge” means “a group of people working together” in the language of the Kikuyu people of Kenya and the communal ideal was essential to the group’s success. While many of its members were for years excluded from the upper echelon of the New York art world, the collective organized shows in their own gallery space, published each other’s work, and met frequently in order to critique and offer critical perspectives on photography. The Whitney’s retrospective is a long time coming, and a crucial view on an era of Black self-determination in the 1960s and 1970s.