The Met To Cut Exhibits, Delay Expansion Due To Financial Woes: Report

UPPER EAST SIDE, NY — After a tough financial year The Metropolitan Museum of Art will make cuts to its programming and delay a multi-million dollar expansion wing in an effort to reduce operational costs.

Despite increased attendance and its new Met Breuer facility the Met will be reducing its yearly exhibit total from 60 to 40 and will delay the construction of a $600 million expansion designed by architect David Chipperfield by several years, the New York Times reported.

The report cited increased operations costs — including the opening of Met Breuer — and declining attendance and retail revenues as the source of the museum's financial woes. Despite a record attendance of seven million visitors last year the museum is running close to a $40 million deficit, according to the Times.

Much of the blame for the Met's financial troubles has been placed on Thomas Campbell, who has served as director and chief executive of the museum since 2008. But Campbell told the Times that despite the troubling finances the Met is succeeding.

"My colleagues have every right to feel upset," Campbell told the Times. "At the same time, one has to step back and look at the success of the institution."

Campbell told the Times that lofty goals for the Met, such as the Met Breuer expansion and the increased digitization of the museum, have been successes but have had financial costs.

Last year the museum cut nearly 100 jobs through buyouts and layoffs of its curatorial, conservation and administrative staff in an effort to combat its rising deficit.

Read the entire New York Times report here.

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