By Kathleen McLaughlin, The IBJ
kmclaughlin@ibj.com
Indianapolis Museum of Art CEO Maxwell Anderson rolled out a restructuring plan today that eliminates 10 percent of personnel and has top managers donating 3 percent of their salaries to the weakened endowment.
"Our endowment dropped by $100 million, and stayed dropped, so we had to react," Anderson said.
The museum's endowment, which supports about 70 percent of its operating budget, fell 26 percent, to $281 million, between Nov. 30, 2007, and Dec. 31, 2008.
The layoffs and other cuts come after trimming $1.7 million from the budget in January. Arts groups everywhere are finding that minor trimming isn't enough to cover the losses that are hitting endowments, donations and patron spending.
The Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art have seen layoffs. Last week, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York said it was cutting costs across the board.
With no market rebound in sight, the IMA reduced its budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1 from $28.1 million to $25.5 million.
That reflects the layoffs, which were effective today.
Fifteen full-time staff and six part-time staff positions were eliminated. Six more full-time positions that were vacant will go unfilled. This summer, the museum will use fewer seasonal grounds-maintenance workers.
After the layoffs, the museum will employ 300 people, full and part-time.
Anderson and his senior staff are making their own sacrifice, of sorts. The top 10 managers volunteered to donate 3 percent of their salaries, or a total of $46,000, to the endowment.
Anderson said there are other cost-savings associated with the layoffs, including the elimination of studio art classes. Other educational activities, such as drop-in classes for children, will continue.
The IMA made it clear that there will be no change to its free general admission. And so far, it's not shortening hours. "We're not convinced that that's necessary right now," Anderson said.
Overall, Anderson said he doesn't think the public will notice the changes. He said there would continue to be a "robust" schedule of exhibitions and events at the new Tobias theater.
While the opening of the Art and Nature Park will be pushed back from this fall to spring of 2010, the museum is going ahead with other initiatives. That includes acquiring a significant piece of modern architecture - the Miller house and garden in Columbus - and creating a conservation-science laboratory. The latter requires a major fund-raising effort.
Anderson said he didn't put the brakes on all new initiatives because, "We have to be innovative and practical at the same time."
The restructuring plan doesn't affect only the bottom line. A team of four senior curators will advise Anderson on the museum's strategy for collecting, especially Asian and African artifacts. Museums throughout the Western world face legal and ethical questions about the origins of their antiquities.
Anderson said the new management team will respond to developments such as a new understanding between the United States and Chinese governments, which essentially halts collecting pre-17th Century artifacts.
"This group is going to help me conceive of what we should be doing going forward in response to changing norms internationally," Anderson said.
Anderson said the senior curators also will help find new sources of support for acquisitions and exhibits. As an example, he said exhibitions on Spanish art and European design have brought the IMA $400,000 in grants from foreign governments in the last six months. There might be more international exchanges of both objects and personnel in the future.
The changes announced today won't necessarily be the last. Anderson said the museum is evaluating its operation on a quarter-by-quarter basis.
"Like every business and non-profit in America, we're watching to see where the economy's going," he said. "I can't make promises about where we're going to end up in a year's time."