Pandemic Puts NYC Artifacts Museum In Danger Of Closing

BROOKLYN, NY — The coronavirus pandemic has put a museum of New York City artifacts in danger of closing for good.

The City Reliquary, which has been in Brooklyn since 2002, said this week that they are fast approaching a deadline to find the $3,000 per month needed to keep their Metropolitan Avenue storefront after the coronavirus crisis decimated their finances.

"Revenue was driven almost exclusively by admission sales, which have practically evaporated in the wake of COVID-19," the museum said in a release. "These losses have made it impossible to cover general operating expenses, namely rent, utilities, and insurance."

From vintage Brooklyn seltzer bottles, to samples of Manhattan schist rocks and a lightbulb from the Statue of Liberty's torch, The City Reliquary is a volunteer-led museum that includes collections of donated or freely-lent artifacts that highlight "the unusual or overlooked corners of New York City history."

After slowly reopening from a months-long closure in July, the museum has transformed to a socially distanced outdoor entertainment space for artists struggling amid the pandemic and has welcomed back museum customers, but only for timed slots on the weekends.

But a plan to continue the performances and museum hours into the winter will depend on getting enough members to pay $3,000 per month before a Nov. 22 deadline. The museum is less than $1,000 away from the goal for this month, they said.

They hope to make up the gap with a new model that offers monthly or annual memberships to the museum.

"Stable, sustaining support from our wide community is by far the best way to keep us around, and we will do everything we can to make membership in this museum worthwhile, no matter the future," they wrote.

The membership program can be found via the NYC-based platform Withfriends, which allows anyone to “subscribe” to local cultural spaces, by supporting them on a monthly or annual basis.

Memberships begin at $10 per month and can be found here.

"If we do not meet our funding goal, we will have to give up our current home and find new creative ways for the Reliquary to exist," the museum said. "We hope to remain a fixture in the Williamsburgh community, as we have been for nearly 20 years, and continue celebrating the everyday history of our city, but we cannot do this without the support of people who believe in our mission."