考研閱讀精選：美國民俗博物館的困境

『長久以來，經濟狀況一直是困擾各大博物館的難題，位于紐約的美國民俗博物館就因為嚴重的財政危機而面臨著艱難的抉擇。』

　　Folk Art Museum Considers Closing

　　美國民俗博物館的困境

　　August 19th,2011 | from The New York Times

　　The financial picture has grown so bleak at the American Folk Art Museum that its trustees are considering whether to shut it down and donate its collections to another institution.

　　Even if ownership of the collection were transferred to the Smithsonian, one possibility being discussed is to have the Brooklyn Museum display some of it long term, making it still accessible to New Yorkers. The folk art museum has one of the country’s finest collections of American folk art, including some 5,000 quilts, paintings and functional objects like weathervanes. But it has long been plagued by serious financial problems.

　　A decade ago the museum borrowed $32 million to finance the construction of an impressive building on West 53rd Street in Manhattan. But the sale of the building for $31.2million, while covering the debt, did not leave the museum with any extra cash. And it left, if anything, an even more difficult conundrum for the museum about how to move forward.

　　The museum still has a small, 5,000-square-foot space in Lincoln Square, where it could continue mounting small shows if the trustees felt that it could sustain the costs of keeping a staff and paying to store, conserve and insure the collection. The museum remains open at that location these days, and admission is free. The building on West 53rd Street is closed.

　　Compared with the Brooklyn Museum, which has had to make hard choices in recent years about what parts of its own enormous holdings to keep, the Smithsonian would appear to have greater resources to take care of the folk collection. But there will most likely be pressure to keep some of the collection in New York, making a loan arrangement with the Brooklyn Museum appealing.

　　The folk art museum has suffered considerable bad fortune over the years. For example, its former chairman, RalphO. Esmerian, promised to donate his collection of folk art, including a version of Edward Hicks’s “Peaceable Kingdom,” but Mr. Esmerian also put the painting up as collateral against money he owed, and in 2008 it was put up for auction.

　　The Museum of Modern Art has said that it does not know yet what it plans to do with the folk museum building. The museum sits between MoMA’s building and the site of a high-rise being planned by Hines, the real estate developer, which will include multiple floors of galleries for MoMA. One possible plan would be to tear down the folk art museum’s building to allow MoMA to make maximum use of the space.

　　In addition to its holdings of folk art, the folk museum has a collection of outsider art, including several thousand drawings, books and related material by Henry Darger.

　　The museum has lost several top employees since its financial problems started a few years ago. Brooke Davis Anderson, who was in charge of the museum’s collection of outsider art, departed last year for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The museum’s executive director, Maria Ann Conelli, left this year.

　　The folk art museum’s situation is a stark warning of what can happen when a museum overreaches in constructing a new home. Founded in 1961, the museum survived some early near-death experiences. When it decided to build a permanent home, it engaged high-profile architects and borrowed the $32 million by issuing bonds through New York City’s Trust for Cultural Resources, a public benefit corporation that helps major cultural institutions borrow money for capital projects.

　　Some critics have attributed the museum’s troubles to its architecture, saying that it was unwelcoming and did not display the art and artifacts attractively. To be sure, the museum never drew the crowds it had projected in estimates made during the planning process, or received enough contributions to support its interest payments. It was the first institution that borrowed through the trust to default on its debt. (640 words)