By: Kyle Xu

When we think of New York City, we think of landmarks, neighborhoods, and museums. Its display of art and culture are some of the most famous of any in the entire US.

Since the start of 2024, however, the small art museums that define New York have been shutting down, closing, or moving to new locations. Why?

The answer is simple yet cruel: Money.

It all started when in January the Rubin Museum of Art publicly stated that it would be selling its building in Chelsea. It would be undergoing a transformative process in order to focus more on traveling exhibitions and long-term loans to other institutions. However, it had to lay off 40 percent of its staff due to, of course, financial issues. Recently, preferred arts have been changing rapidly, especially for youths, making it harder to accommodate people.

Laura Mattioli, the founder of another closing museum, the Center for Italian Modern Art, told the public that they were “closing because there is a change in the way a young person sees artworks compared to people from [her] generation.”

The story of Mattioli’s museum was also filled with rough challenges. The Center for Italian Modern Art was open for 11 years, but after the pandemic, challenges arose. She stated that amidst all of the things going on within the years, including the pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement, organizations that might’ve funded her museum were drawn more to museums of American art and themes of social justice, leaving her Italian museum high and dry.

Everything fell apart for Mattioli’s museum last week, when instead of being open to the public and displaying beautiful art, the Center for Italian Modern Art was forced to take an alternative, closing its doors and instead looking for a university to buy its archive.

But these aren’t the only cases. All over New York, a crisis is emerging, threatening to leave museums closed and bankrupt. “A third of New York’s museums entered the pandemic in a deficit,” said Erika Sanger, ex-leader of the Museum Association of New York. This means that coming out of the pandemic, many museums must be struggling to make money and sustain workers.

Although New York legislators gave $10 million to fund the Museum of Innovation and Science, many other museums that also need help did not get it. There is a gap between the amount of museums that are helped vs. the amount of museums who need help.
And although many museums will end up like the Center for Italian Modern Art, most will struggle on against the rapid rivers of doubt. Some will sink. But others will stay afloat.