Posted on 05/05/2004 5:07:59 AM PDT by 2banana
Museum lays off all of its employees
The African American Museum in Philadelphia cited delays in large donations. Volunteers are keeping the building open.
By Anthony S. Twyman and Patricia Horn
Inquirer Staff Writers
The African American Museum in Philadelphia has laid off its entire paid staff because of a short-term budget shortfall and is operating with volunteers, the museum's director said yesterday.
Harry Harrison, the museum's president and chief executive officer, said that on Monday he laid off 15 full-time workers and four part-time employees, primarily because corporate and foundation donations expected in March are now due in June.
Those laid off include managers, among them the directors of the education and exhibition departments, and janitors.
Harrison said the "cash-flow" problem amounts to about a $30,000 shortfall - two weeks' worth of payroll - which he hopes to rectify soon. It is not indicative of the museum's management or its overall fiscal stability, he said.
"The funds didn't come in when we anticipated," Harrison said. "I'm very, very optimistic that the gap will be closed soon."
The museum, at 701 Arch St., was open yesterday and will continue to be open to the public, Harrison said, because volunteers have stepped in and are helping out.
Harrison said he had worked "diligently" to find ways to make up the shortfall but could not come up with the cash.
"A lot of it is promised and pledged and committed," he said.
Many of the foundations pushed back the date when they usually donate money because of the national economic slump, he said.
The museum has a $1.7 million annual budget, according to Harrison.
To close a $227 million gap in the city's operating budget for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1, Mayor Street has proposed slashing the $300,000 annual subsidy to the museum by 10 percent: $30,000.
But Harrison said that prospective cut has nothing to do with the shortfall the museum is experiencing in this fiscal year.
He hopes to rehire the employees when the foundation and corporate funds come, within the next few weeks.
City Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown, an advocate for the city's arts and cultural programs, called the layoffs "disappointing" and said she hoped Council would restore the $30,000 that the Street administration planned to cut from the museum's budget.
"What they do speaks volumes to the cultural fabric of this city," she said.
The chairman of the museum, Donn Scott, an executive vice president at Wachovia Bank, said: "There is no question that we do have a cash-flow problem at this point. We are working around the clock to address that problem, and we would expect it to be corrected in the near term."
Bettye Collier-Thomas, a former museum board member and a professor in Temple University's history department, who is on leave writing a book about African American women and religion, agreed that the museum is valuable and worthy of support.
"This was the first African American museum to be supported by a city when it was established in the 1970s," she said. "But it is extremely difficult to raise the type of funding to run these museums - particularly now, when people are not giving as much - and African American museums have a more difficult time raising funds than mainline institutions."
The African American Museum is not the only institution of its kind unable to pay its bills.
The country's largest African American museum - the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit - says it needs $510,000 in funding from that city to stay open until the end of its fiscal year and pay its staff, according to reports in the Detroit Free Press.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact staff writer Anthony S. Twyman at 215-854-2664 or atwyman@phillynews.com.
About two hours west of Philadelphia: Mr. Ed's Elephant Museum.
I'm a Mr. Ed's Deputy.
I don't know of any either, which isn't saying much. As noted earlier, I'd certainly look for revenues beyond admissions, such as concessions and private grants. But it ought not be the burden of taxpayers to pay for museums or other unprofitable enterprises.
We're being fed the same line in Buffalo. Much moaning and gnashing of teeth that we're not taking advantage of the growing market for "black tourism".
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.