Facing a projected deficit of $500,000 in years 2013 and 2014, the Everson Museum’s Board of Trustees voted to cancel two traveling exhibits scheduled to visit the museum this year. The board is planning the creation of a special task force to develop and implement a recovery plan for the museum.
The board vote discontinues the “Of Heaven and Earth: 500 Years of Italian Painting from Glasgow Museums” exhibit scheduled to be shown at the museum from April 19 to July 13 and the “African American Art: Harlem Renaissance, Civil Rights Era, and Beyond” exhibit scheduled for October 18 to January 4, 2015.Ticketholders will be contacted via email with refund information within the next week.
The board’s action follows a $135,000 loss from museum operations in 2013. Proceeding with the special exhibitions in 2014 would have propelled the total loss to $750,000 – three quarters of a million dollars – and jeopardized the museum’s ability to meet its financial obligations by the middle of this year, or sooner. Canceling the exhibits will reduce the museum’s projected combined 2013 and 2014 loss to approximately $500,000 and will eliminate the need for the museum to make payments in the next several weeks for participation fees, shipping and advertising.
The Everson Museum of Art, whose roots extend to 1897, is internationally recognized for its extensive and significant collection of ceramics, its pioneering art video collection and its distinctive structural design by the noted architect I.M. Pei. As the first museum devoted to collecting American art, the Everson uses this focus to make possible direct encounters with all art through its collections, exhibitions, scholarship, and educational programs.
The operation of the Everson Museum of Art is made possible with funding from the Dorothy and Marshall M. Reisman Foundation, Syracuse University, County of Onondaga administered by CNY Arts, the Central New York Community Foundation, the New York State Council on the Arts, a state agency, the Everson Board of Trustees and Everson Members’ Council.
More information: http://www.everson.org