The Tenement Museum on Manhattan’s Lower East Side — which has a $2.7 million cash endowment and depends on earned revenue for over 75 percent of its operating costs — has laid off 13 employees, which amounts to a 20 percent reduction in staff. “Our budget projections now take us through the end of June showing no revenue,” said Morris Vogel, the museum’s president, adding that the institution owes about $9.5 million in bonds with covenants that restrict its ability to borrow money. “We still have to make those monthly payments.”The Met, preparing for its own financial hardship, has developed a three-phase response: having all staff members work from home and continue to be paid through April 4 as the museum evaluates possible furloughs, layoffs and voluntary retirements; from April to July, evaluating how to control spending and reduce operating costs, including freezing discretionary expenditures and hiring; and from July to October, “reopening with a reduced program and lower cost structure that anticipates lower attendance for at least the next year due to reduced global and domestic tourism and spending,” according to the letter. The Met, which estimates the overall damage from the virus will be spread over this fiscal year and next, is also creating an emergency fund of more than $50 million by reallocating discretionary resources usually used for acquisitions and programming toward operating expenses, fund-raising from foundations and donors and pursuing government assistance.

Source: New York Times March 18, 2020 20:00 UTC