Farnsworth museum closing for two weeks Attendance at Rockland facility down

ROCKLAND – The Farnsworth Art Museum will temporarily close its galleries for two weeks next month to recoup losses from revenue shortfalls in investments and museum admissions during 2003.

Besides closure of the galleries, employees will give up their salaries even though administrative offices and the Museum Store will remain open and staffed.

The Wyeth Research Center also will stay open, but only by appointment. The savings in wages is 2 percent to 4 percent, depending on workers’ positions.

Most employees are forfeiting one week of pay, while “senior management is giving up two weeks,” Stone said.

“Most of the loss came out of investments,” Kit Stone, marketing and development assistant, said Tuesday.

According to Stone, the museum lost an estimated $800,000 in its endowment last year, which meant the museum’s draw on those funds was less than expected. The museum uses about 3 percent of its endowment for operating costs, she said.

The galleries will close Feb. 23 through March 8.

On top of investment shortfalls, the museum saw a significant dip in museum admissions, which were down from a typical 70,000 visitors to about 62,000 last year.

“We don’t know why,” Stone said, except for the national trend museums are seeing in admissions.

Nationally, art museums experienced an average decline in contributions last year of about 26 percent, the museum said in a statement, quoting The Art Newspaper, a national publication,.

“It was the summer crowd that was less” than usual, Stone said, noting that generally museum attendance is up when the weather is bad.

The Farnsworth’s volunteer force does not play into the decision to close, Stone indicated, saying, “It’s remaining static” at 200 volunteers.

The museum is eyeing an annual two-week hiatus during the last weeks of January when attendance is low and the weather is iffy, Stone said.

In addition to saving money, the museum would use the closing for major repairs, renovations and internal planning and education programs.

On the other hand, the museum is considering extending summer hours aimed at attracting “the dinner crowd,” Stone said, and thus boosting revenues. Winters hours may be cut back to save money.

The current winter gallery hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, 1-5 p.m. Sunday, closed Mondays. The Homestead and Olson House are closed for the season. Summer hours have been 9 a.m.-5 p.m. daily.