Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, September 26, 1993 TAG: 9404130002
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CLEVELAND LENGTH: Medium
But if those children want to see more exhibits, they'll have to make a 50-mile trip to Cleveland.
The museum canceled its art loan program last fall because of a $1 million deficit that forced it to dip into its $404 million in trusts and endowment.
The cutback reflects a national trend among museums affected by rising costs and reduced contributions.
The trend has been aggravated by cuts in government art subsidies, according to the Washington-based Institute for Museum Services, which helps financially troubled museums.
At museums elsewhere:
The Detroit Institute of Arts, which lost 40 percent of its $16 million in state money last year, cut 130 of 300 staffers and trimmed gallery hours and exhibit tours. Some cuts were restored when additional private contributors were found.
The Brooklyn Museum responded to a reduction in its subsidy from the city by rotating its galleries - some are closed while others are open daily.
New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art lost $3.8 million in city and state financing and closed some galleries because it couldn't afford guards.
The Columbus Museum of Art in Ohio laid off 17 of 100 staff members last year and reduced children's programs.
The Milwaukee Public Museum, hurt by county cuts, went from a publicly supported institution to nonprofit status and sought new money sources, including a Potawatomi tribe grant for an American Indian exhibit.
Barry H. Rosen, president of the Milwaukee museum, said that 30 states reduced funds in 1991 for cultural institutions by an average of 50 percent.
The reductions underscore a prediction by Arthur Levitt Jr., a philanthropist and Rockefeller Foundation board member, who said in 1991 that 40 percent of the nation's museums could close by the decade's end because of insufficient funds.
Anita Difanis, director of government affairs for the Association of Art Museum Directors in Washington, said museums also have been affected by reduced private giving.
A survey of 118 museums in 1992 showed a 40 percent drop in private contributions from the $31 million contributed in 1988.
``That money comes out of programs. They've got to be hurting,'' Difanis said.
In Cleveland, critics of the decision to shut down the art loan program hope new Director Robert P. Bergman, hired July 1, will reconsider. The museum has begun a study of its operations and an inventory of the 18,000 loaner art objects now in limbo.
Reviving the loan program hasn't been ruled out, spokeswoman Adele Z. Silver said.
The Cleveland museum has been able to maintain its free admission policy. But that won't help the children of Wayne County, said Roberta Looney, director of the Wayne Center for the Arts.
``Art in person is so much more meaningful,'' she said. ``Seeing it makes it come alive for children.''
Looney said rural children, particularly Amish families who travel by buggy, may lack the money or the opportunity to travel to see museum art.
While the museum's endowment made it immune to cutbacks for 75 years, increasing costs have forced two layoffs and 25 early retirements from its 260-member staff.
``We have to pull back,'' Curator Marjorie Williams said. ``It's an institution that's been well-endowed, but we have to start rethinking what we're doing.''
But schools also face cutbacks, and a museum often is a student's only art resource, said Kathleen Walsh-Piper, who directs programs for teachers at the National Gallery of Art in Washington and serves as a director of the National Art Educators Association's museum division.
``I think it's really a shame if they are cutting back their extension program because schools are also cutting back on field trips and budgets,'' she said. ``This is a time when museum resources become even more crucial for schools.''
by CNB