Met Museum tells staff it is extending pay until May 2

The First Art Newspaper on the Net    Established in 1996 Tuesday, March 19, 2024


Met Museum tells staff it is extending pay until May 2
Visitors outside the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Karsten Moran/The New York Times.

by Zachary Small



NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City has announced that it will extend pay for all staff until May 2, providing job security for another month to its 2,200 employees as millions of Americans experience layoffs triggered by the coronavirus pandemic.

“Our highest priority remains to support our staff as best we can in helping to keep everyone safe and as financially secure as possible,” said Daniel Weiss, the museum’s president and chief executive officer. “We realize that this announcement of a four-week extension of full salary support does not provide enduring comfort, but at the moment it is the best we can do in a rapidly evolving situation.”

Met employees had previously been told that the museum could only guarantee salary payments until Saturday.

Separately, the Met reached an agreement with the union representing its guards and maintenance crews to provide time-and-a-half hazard pay for essential staff who must continue working on-site during the shutdown.

Even after the museum reopens to the public, officials expect to see reduced revenue and attendance. As a temporary solution, the Met is exploring whether there is any way it could dip into its $3.6 billion endowment fund.

“No endowed organization that loses its revenue can spend down its endowment without limitation since spending from it today has to be balanced against preserving it to support operations tomorrow,” Weiss cautioned in an email co-signed by Max Hollein, the museum’s director,

The museum world often looks to the Met for leadership as it did earlier this month when, shortly after the museum decided to close in an effort to help contain the spread of the coronavirus, hundreds of other cultural institutions followed suit. Few museums, though, have the financial resources that the Met does.

“It’s very challenging right now because we don’t have any type of bench mark,” said Seema Rao, deputy director of the Akron Art Museum in Ohio. “We are all watching the Met for guidance and trying to prioritize our staff as best we can. But we are a medium-sized institution going into our third payroll without any revenue, and many of our funders have also taken hits.”

Faced with a shortfall of almost $1 million, Akron has announced that some of its 35-member full time staff would be furloughed, others would be cut back to part time and department heads would take 10% pay cuts. The Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh have furloughed more than half their 1,003 employees. Last week in Los Angeles, the Hammer Museum laid off 150 part-time student workers. And recently, the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art laid off almost three-quarters of its 165-person staff.

But on Monday afternoon, the American Museum of Natural History announced that it would pay staff through May 15 by requiring full-time employees to take two vacation days per week and cutting compensation for part-time workers.

“The cultural sector as a whole and artists in particular are really hurting right now,” said Michael L. Royce, executive director of the New York Foundation for the Arts, a nonprofit that runs a popular listing of jobs in creative fields. Since early March, the foundation has seen an 88% drop in listings; during the same period, page views have more than tripled for its emergency resource section.

“We are only at the beginning of this crisis, and the full impact is not yet known,” Royce added, “but what we do know is that many in the arts have lost their jobs and need work and emergency relief funding desperately and immediately.”

© 2020 The New York Times Company










Today's News

April 1, 2020

Neanderthals feasted on seafood, seabirds, perhaps even dolphins

Creatures in this underwater forest could save your life one day

Met Museum tells staff it is extending pay until May 2

Weaving a way out of isolation

The larger costs of closing a local museum during coronavirus

14a presents works by Niclas Riepshoff

Mazzoleni introduces a new online initiative

Rural decline threatens Estonia's ancient 'isle of women'

Tierra Del Sol Gallery presents Michael LeVell solo exhibition

Sculptural installation by Elyn Zimmerman is threatened with demolition and designated a Landslide site

Rare Lichtenstein screenprint from Reflection Series headed to Heritage's Prints and Multiples Auction

Galerie Richard presents the American debut solo exhibition of Kim Young-Hun

Molly Morphew's art explores tenderness over distance in lead-up to Barbican showcase

ICA Milano offers a virtual tour of 'Charles Atlas. Ominous, Glamorous, Momentous, Ridiculous'

Fondazione Prada announces "Perfect Failures" a film selection to stream on MUBI

Kettle's Yard installs webcam for virtual visits during coronavirus outbreak

Daylight Books to publish "Atlantic City: The Last Hurrah by Timothy Roberts"

Edward Tarr, renowned trumpeter who delved into past, dies at 83

Infinite visions were hiding in the first black hole image's rings

Nye & Company Auctioneers announces highlights in its online-only Estate Treasures Auction

SMK invites you to explore the realm of art from home

Tomie dePaola, 'Strega Nona' author and illustrator, dies at 85

Zeiss Photography Award 2020 winner and shortlist announced

A complete guide to gambling in Finland

Best gift ideas for your kids

The Short Introduce of Persona 5 Cosplay




Museums, Exhibits, Artists, Milestones, Digital Art, Architecture, Photography,
Photographers, Special Photos, Special Reports, Featured Stories, Auctions, Art Fairs,
Anecdotes, Art Quiz, Education, Mythology, 3D Images, Last Week, .

 



Founder:
Ignacio Villarreal
(1941 - 2019)
Editor & Publisher: Jose Villarreal
Art Director: Juan José Sepúlveda Ramírez

sa gaming free credit
Attorneys
Truck Accident Attorneys
Accident Attorneys

Royalville Communications, Inc
produces:

ignaciovillarreal.org juncodelavega.com facundocabral-elfinal.org
Founder's Site. Hommage
to a Mexican poet.
Hommage
       

The First Art Newspaper on the Net. The Best Versions Of Ave Maria Song Junco de la Vega Site Ignacio Villarreal Site Parroquia Natividad del Señor
Tell a Friend
Dear User, please complete the form below in order to recommend the Artdaily newsletter to someone you know.
Please complete all fields marked *.
Sending Mail
Sending Successful