By: Felix Xie

Mergers may be on the horizons, as 25% of cultural institutions are drawing from their endowments or reserves

By Felix Xie

Small museums that have contributed to defining the distinct identity of the art scene in New York City are closing, shifting locations, or changing their names, citing difficult financial times.

Last week, the Center for Italian Modern Art closed operations after more than a decade of operation in Manhattan’s SoHo neighborhood and reported it was looking for a university to take over its collection.

Laura Mattioli, founder of the Center for Italian Modern Art, said that recent financial challenges had led to the decision to close.

“We were open for about 11 years, but the situation has changed since the pandemic,” said Mattioli, who has an apartment in the same Broome Street building as the museum. “We sometimes spent more on the travel of artworks to and from Italy than the actual value of the artworks themselves.”

The Rubin Museum of Art declared in January that it was “redefining what a museum can be” by focusing on traveling exhibitions and long-term loans to other institutions. Though, they also as well as selling its Chelsea building, and laying off 40% of its staff.

In May, news came that Fotografiska New York, a hub for the international photography museum in Gramercy Park, was looking for a new place to reside, even as it laid off employees with a closure notice that cited economic reasons.

Fotografiska first opened five years ago in a building that Anna Sorokin — the fake
Anna Delvey, a convicted heiress who deceived the city’s affluent — made famous. The museum had aimed to establish a membership club, restaurant, and bar as a means of generating income for the museum apart from admission fees, creating a for-profit museum. This summer, adults could buy a $29 ticket for admission, which included a glass of wine to sip while exploring exhibitions created by Vivian Maier and Bruce Gilden.

Sophie Wright, the executive director of Fotografiska New York, stated that Fotografiska will eventually relocate to the city and that the museum will continue to employ a small staff. She continued by saying that the human resources director erred when she announced in a letter to almost 180 workers last month that all of the staff would be downgraded by the end of 2024.

“We are a story of a shift in strategy,” Wright said, “but not a story of the end of something.”