Museum woes in 2009

So, what's a museum, with all its fixed costs, supposed to do at a time when people have less money (or less confidence) to give? One solution may be to just give up. The Gulf Coast Museum of Art in Largo, Fla., the Claremont Museum of Art in California and the Las Vegas Art Museum all closed for good. North Carolina's Fayetteville Museum of Art, with a $400,000-plus debt and no funds coming from the Arts Council of Fayetteville-Cumberland County, is on life support and its building is listed at $1.2 million. Add also to the list the Fresno Metropolitan Museum in California, which defaulted on a $15 million loan (as part of a $28 million renovation) and is expected to close "in the very near future," according to a statement by the bankruptcy lawyer representing the museum.

Read the WSJ article here.