Even when there are setbacks ““ say, the economic recession ““ visual arts don’t back down. Instead, it takes the punches and comes out on top.
While various businesses are suffering, the museum business is seeing more visitors because of the recession. For instance, the UCLA Fowler Museum is currently gaining more visitors than ever before.
“The silver lining for institutions like ours, however, is that we tend to see an increase in viewership because people are looking for cheap, meaningful things to do,” said Stacey Abarbanel, the Fowler Museum’s director of marketing and communications. “In fact, we are up 15 percent from last year.”
Since the Fowler offers free admission to its galleries, people are now beginning to take advantage of it.
“People are looking for a way to be less frivolous with their money,” Abarbanel said.
However, museums are still taking some hits. Jessica Hough, the Hammer Museum’s director of exhibitions, publications and programs, said museums are funded by endowments (their own investments) and gifts from donations and foundations. Due to the recession, many are finding a decrease in their endowments as well as the amount of gifts they receive.
“We are still waiting to see and get a better understanding of the effects on Hammer because of the recession,” Hough said. “Already other museums are not taking our traveling exhibitions because they no longer have the resources to pay for the expenses.” Hough also added that the museum will most likely begin to buy less art.
The Getty is experiencing the same situation.
“In terms of acquiring new art, we aren’t acquiring more or less,” said John Giurini, assistant director of public affairs for The Getty.
According to Giurini, next year’s budget for The Getty remains to be determined.
“It depends on what is finally approved by our board,” Giurini said. “We have to kind of look at how much we have to work with and where our priorities lie.”
Even if The Getty’s budget is cut, according to Giurini, one of the museum’s main priorities is to continue to grow their collection as well as to retain the quality of the collection.
While the Hammer Museum and the Getty are encountering problems, their situations are not on the scale of the financial crisis the Museum of Contemporary Art faced last year. MOCA was in deep financial trouble and almost closed its doors when it received $30 million from philanthropist Eli Broad and his foundation, the Broad Art Foundation.
“The circumstances of MOCA’s financial situation were unusual,” Hough said. “Every museum has its own unique financial situation that the public is not aware of. You have to look at how it is supported. But usually you would not see this happening to large institutions (like the Hammer and the Getty).”
As for artists in general, some have an optimistic outlook on how the recession is affecting art in general.
“Art will never die,” third-year art student Macon Bunn said. “If anything, (the recession) would make art get more passionate. Hardship inspires art. It’s possible new themes will emerge because of it.”