“The Costume Institute Gala generates massive amounts of money,” says Daniel Weiss, the president and chief executive officer of the Met. “But the others collectively generate another $5 to $10 million. We’re talking about substantial resources here.”
The cancellations come as the Met is besieged on all fronts, says Kenneth Weine, the Met’s vice president for external affairs. “One of the amazing things about the Met is the diversity of our revenue sources,” he says. “We have very strong fundraising both from events and individual donors, plus retail, plus restaurants, plus admission, plus city support. This is a crisis that’s hitting every one of those platforms simultaneously.”
Taking Action
Griffin, who says that the Kitchen now “obviously has a huge hole for 2020” in its budget, plans to fill it with small fundraising events in trustees’ homes when self-isolation orders are over and by soliciting donations from large foundations. “We’re getting in touch with foundations that helped us during Hurricane Sandy, when our theater was flooded with three or more feet of water,” he says. “This is of another order.”
Already, a consortium of foundations including the Ford Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and Bloomberg Philanthropies has created a $75 million Response & Impact Fund to assist small and midsize nonprofit organizations in New York. (Bloomberg Philanthropies was founded by Michael Bloomberg, the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.)
The Mellon Foundation’s contribution will go directly to arts organizations. “We at the Mellon Foundation recognize the arts and humanities’ unique power to cultivate hope in the midst of challenges and uncertainty,” said Mellon Foundation President Elizabeth Alexander in a statement.
“As artists and cultural institutions adjust to new fiscal realities,” Alexander added, “we call on funders, businesses, and individuals to join us in supporting the arts and the strength, inspiration, and perspective they bring—in New York City and around the world.”
The real problem, Griffin says, is that the pandemic-related closures have exacerbated an existing instability in the world of cultural not-for-profits.
“Over the past decade and more, we’ve seen the precariousness growing for small organizations,” he says. “There’s a whole economy in culture that has been really clearly on the cusp of disappearing. One can only hope that this isn’t the wave that actually makes that disappearance happen.”
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.