Museum on Millionaire Row can’t afford any employees
September 7, 2024 4:12 PM Subscribe
Newport Art Museum Left Without a Single Curator After Layoffs.
The layoffs follow on the heels of a mass resignation started by the departure of the Museum’s DEI person and the unveiling of a surprisingly vague new strategic plan. Pro publica estimates they have been running at a deficit of a half a million dollars a year, which has probably put a pretty big dent in the endowment which was about $8 million in 2019 (pdf of audited financials).
The Museum is located on Bellevue Ave, also called Millionaire Row because it is lined with mansions built as ‘summer cottages’ by robber barons during the Gilded Age.
The layoffs follow on the heels of a mass resignation started by the departure of the Museum’s DEI person and the unveiling of a surprisingly vague new strategic plan. Pro publica estimates they have been running at a deficit of a half a million dollars a year, which has probably put a pretty big dent in the endowment which was about $8 million in 2019 (pdf of audited financials).
The Museum is located on Bellevue Ave, also called Millionaire Row because it is lined with mansions built as ‘summer cottages’ by robber barons during the Gilded Age.
In somewhat related and equally sad news, our local art museum here in Bellevue (WA) (also home to many millionaires), announced its closure this week.
posted by Inkslinger at 4:51 PM on September 7 [7 favorites]
posted by Inkslinger at 4:51 PM on September 7 [7 favorites]
So with no curators, and a "guest curator" approach, basically they will get...the flavor of the week?
A museum without curatorial direction is just a bunch of pictures. Shoot, just liquidate it at that point.
posted by wenestvedt at 5:11 PM on September 7 [4 favorites]
A museum without curatorial direction is just a bunch of pictures. Shoot, just liquidate it at that point.
posted by wenestvedt at 5:11 PM on September 7 [4 favorites]
In somewhat related and equally sad news, our local art museum here in Bellevue (WA) (also home to many millionaires), announced its closure this week.
You have to have a really compelling reason to be in Bellevue, if it isn't related to work (and usually work for Microsoft or a subsidiary). Seattle's very well-off neighbor just isn't a cultural hub, and my impression is that its museum never had much that was compelling to offer to visitors. The city's Botanical Garden, on the other hand, developed more organically and is absolutely worth a visit.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 5:22 PM on September 7
You have to have a really compelling reason to be in Bellevue, if it isn't related to work (and usually work for Microsoft or a subsidiary). Seattle's very well-off neighbor just isn't a cultural hub, and my impression is that its museum never had much that was compelling to offer to visitors. The city's Botanical Garden, on the other hand, developed more organically and is absolutely worth a visit.
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 5:22 PM on September 7
Yeah, was going to post the Bellevue closure earlier. Don't think I've ever been there. And have lived in Seattle for a long time...
And wasn't it on the main drag by the mall and all that development around there? Has to be a pricey piece of real estate. Not surprised. they were losing money hand over fist.
EDIT: Seems the rich folk on Billionaires Row are more interested in their money, than the social status one can get for supporting the arts. Quelle suprise!
posted by Windopaene at 6:00 PM on September 7 [1 favorite]
And wasn't it on the main drag by the mall and all that development around there? Has to be a pricey piece of real estate. Not surprised. they were losing money hand over fist.
EDIT: Seems the rich folk on Billionaires Row are more interested in their money, than the social status one can get for supporting the arts. Quelle suprise!
posted by Windopaene at 6:00 PM on September 7 [1 favorite]
"A museum without curatorial direction is just a bunch of pictures."
I'm sure it's still an effective tax dodge in some way.
posted by whm at 6:05 PM on September 7 [4 favorites]
I'm sure it's still an effective tax dodge in some way.
posted by whm at 6:05 PM on September 7 [4 favorites]
A museum without curatorial direction is just a bunch of pictures.Some very excellent museums are just a bunch of pictures.
posted by kickingtheground at 6:05 PM on September 7 [8 favorites]
One blustery November, Mr. Hypatia and I traveled to Newport for a weekend. I noticed the “Newport Museum of American Illustration” listed somewhere and we set forth on foot.
We literally rocked up to a courtyard in the dark, filled with the creepiest statuary of deer and such.
“It said it was in a historic house, here is the sign”, I said as I tried the literal giant door knocker. “It should be open! This is Thursday.”
No answer was forthcoming but very soon we noticed a man peeking over the wall at us. “Hello! Are you trying to get in the museum?”
“Yes! We are!” I thought he must be a curator, or the resident of the house and would let us in, but he said merely: “It’s a tax dodge.”
“What?”
“Yes, he lists it as a museum but it is open only a few days a year, and people come all the time and he never lets them in.” He then lowered himself back behind the wall and we saw him no more.
We trudged back to our bed and breakfast and the next morning our hosts said “oh, yes, we’ve always wondered…”
posted by Hypatia at 6:22 PM on September 7 [66 favorites]
We literally rocked up to a courtyard in the dark, filled with the creepiest statuary of deer and such.
“It said it was in a historic house, here is the sign”, I said as I tried the literal giant door knocker. “It should be open! This is Thursday.”
No answer was forthcoming but very soon we noticed a man peeking over the wall at us. “Hello! Are you trying to get in the museum?”
“Yes! We are!” I thought he must be a curator, or the resident of the house and would let us in, but he said merely: “It’s a tax dodge.”
“What?”
“Yes, he lists it as a museum but it is open only a few days a year, and people come all the time and he never lets them in.” He then lowered himself back behind the wall and we saw him no more.
We trudged back to our bed and breakfast and the next morning our hosts said “oh, yes, we’ve always wondered…”
posted by Hypatia at 6:22 PM on September 7 [66 favorites]
I’ve *wondered* about the place; thanks for the information!
posted by GenjiandProust at 7:03 PM on September 7 [1 favorite]
posted by GenjiandProust at 7:03 PM on September 7 [1 favorite]
I wondered how museum as tax dodge works and found this article: How the Ultrawealthy Use Private Foundations to Bank Millions in Tax Deductions While Giving the Public Little in Return.
posted by jabah at 9:46 PM on September 7 [8 favorites]
posted by jabah at 9:46 PM on September 7 [8 favorites]
Mod note: [Deer friends, Hypatia's great comment (The atmosphere! the creepy deer! The giant doorknocker! The peeping man!) and this post have been added to the sidebar and Best Of blog!]
posted by taz (staff) at 11:34 PM on September 7 [8 favorites]
posted by taz (staff) at 11:34 PM on September 7 [8 favorites]
The Bellevue museum didn’t have a permanent collection. I went there a few months and one of the two exhibit floors was empty. Apparently they were too dependent on a few rich donors and it wasn’t sustainable.
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 12:10 AM on September 8
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 12:10 AM on September 8
The tax dodge thing puts me in a mind of an AirBnB I stayed in in Belgrade that had apparently registered itself as a 'museum of Yugoslavian history' based on the fact that they hadn't changed the furniture since the 1970s.
I think there was also a 'gift shop' selling Tito ashtrays at extortionate prices out of a locked glass case in the foyer.
posted by jpziller at 8:35 AM on September 8 [4 favorites]
I think there was also a 'gift shop' selling Tito ashtrays at extortionate prices out of a locked glass case in the foyer.
posted by jpziller at 8:35 AM on September 8 [4 favorites]
In somewhat related and equally sad news, our local art museum here in Bellevue (WA) (also home to many millionaires), announced its closure this week.
Aw that sucks. My husband had a piece displayed there once, as part of a show of art made by local people with brain injuries.
posted by Jacqueline at 10:00 AM on September 8 [4 favorites]
Aw that sucks. My husband had a piece displayed there once, as part of a show of art made by local people with brain injuries.
posted by Jacqueline at 10:00 AM on September 8 [4 favorites]
Here in Chicagoland we have the museum tax dodge called Orange Door. Open by invitation only to its secret location. Which is just a warehouse, but it’s a really nice one, at least according a puff piece of access journalism.
posted by zenon at 8:13 AM on September 9
posted by zenon at 8:13 AM on September 9
This is weirdly reminding me of a scene from the film High Society. That was a musical re-make of The Philadelphia Story, only instead of taking place in high-society Philadelphia, they set it in Newport so they could tie in the Newport Jazz festival for the music.
High Society added a really interesting scene, though. Grace Kelly is a socialite about to get married, and Frank Sinatra is a reporter with a gossip magazine who's been assigned to cover the big event. Sinatra's character is unimpressed with these ritzy elites, and has been making all kinds of digs at Kelly's character throughout; that's in keeping with the original. But in High Society, Kelly's character drags Sinatra's out for a drive around Newport going mansion-spotting. At first Sinatra is cracking wise about the ostentatious displays of wealth and about how many people could be housed in the mansions....but then he starts noticing that some of the mansions are empty, look a little shabby, or in some cases have been boarded up. And that's when Kelly's character finally tells him that yeah, a lot of these "elites" he's been busting on have had to sell off their mansions because the taxes have gotten to be too high. Her uncle is about to make a similar move, in fact.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:24 AM on September 9
High Society added a really interesting scene, though. Grace Kelly is a socialite about to get married, and Frank Sinatra is a reporter with a gossip magazine who's been assigned to cover the big event. Sinatra's character is unimpressed with these ritzy elites, and has been making all kinds of digs at Kelly's character throughout; that's in keeping with the original. But in High Society, Kelly's character drags Sinatra's out for a drive around Newport going mansion-spotting. At first Sinatra is cracking wise about the ostentatious displays of wealth and about how many people could be housed in the mansions....but then he starts noticing that some of the mansions are empty, look a little shabby, or in some cases have been boarded up. And that's when Kelly's character finally tells him that yeah, a lot of these "elites" he's been busting on have had to sell off their mansions because the taxes have gotten to be too high. Her uncle is about to make a similar move, in fact.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 10:24 AM on September 9
As someone who lucked into some available time to visit the newly renovated National Museum of Women in the Arts in DC 2 Sundays ago, I understand this and do what I can to support their art. Closer to home, the Baltimore Museum of Art benefited from women collectors. Glenstone is the work of a hetero couple. Hm.
posted by childofTethys at 2:05 PM on September 9
posted by childofTethys at 2:05 PM on September 9
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