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Judith H. Dobrzynski on Culture

RIP: Museum Closures In 2009 — Not A Huge Toll, Actually — UPDATED

The Fresno Metropolitan Museum’s woes — as reported by the Fresno Bee this week — suggest that it may not be long for this world.

“Absent a miracle, The Met will have to close in the very near future,” said Fresno bankruptcy lawyer Riley Walter, who has represented the museum as a financial crisis consultant for months.

building-corner.jpgLike other museums, the FMM (at left) had large ambitions — too large, probably — and undertook an overambitious expansion. As the Bee reported last March, in an article headlined “Big Vision, Big Troubles At Fresno’s Met,” trustees were unrealistic:

[Paul] Gottlieb [the museum’s chairman] says it’s not the trustees’ fault that they were overwhelmed by a “perfect storm” of economic woe: cost overruns impossible to anticipate, then a severe national recession that dried up donations and grants.

“I don’t think we’re in bad shape,” Gottlieb says. “We have a financial challenge. And this board or another board will figure out a way to work through it.”

Let’s hope.

Meanwhile, how many other museums are in the same spot? Impossible to know, of course, but the best source on this is the American Association of Museums, which is where I went.

As Dewey Blanton in AAM’s media relations department wrote, “with the caveat that this is by no means definitive, we know of 28 26 closures. That’s of a field of an estimated 17,500 museums.” They are: 

The Bead Museum

Gulf Coast Museum of Art

Las Vegas Museum of Art

12 historic sites shut by the state of Illinois (the state hopes to re-open these)

National Sports Museum, NY

Sports Museum of LA

Three museums closed by the U. of Arizona

Minnesota Museum of American Art

Three history museums in Oregon City, OR

Two Delaware historic sites

Pioneer Museum, Colorado Springs UPDATE: AAM has learned that the Pioneer Museum received public support and is operating after all.

Railroad Museum of Pa. UPDATE: See comment below.

“Many others came close,” Blanton says, “but have been saved by local or state government or, in some cases, by the community itself. And of course, hundreds of others have cut staff, hours, programs.”

 

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About Judith H. Dobrzynski

Now an independent journalist, I've worked as a reporter in the culture and business sections of The New York Times, and been the editor of the Sunday business section and deputy business editor there as well as a senior editor of Business Week and the managing editor of CNBC, the cable TV

About Real Clear Arts

This blog is about culture in America as seen through my lens, which is informed and colored by years of reporting not only on the arts and humanities, but also on business, philanthropy, science, government and other subjects. I may break news, but more likely I will comment, provide

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