Metropolitan Museum of Art works to rebound from money woes

NEW YORK (AP) — The Metropolitan Museum of Art, a behemoth of culture and wealth, is rebounding from more than a year of internal turmoil and financial problems.

As part of its recovery efforts, the museum is considering a mandatory admissions fee for visitors from outside New York state. The set fee, possibly $25 for adults, would be the first in the venerable museum's 147-year history.

Facing a $15 million operating deficit, the Met filed a formal proposal with New York City this month to charge visitors who don't live in the state a set admission, instead of the current voluntary contribution.

"We've had financial challenges — significant ones — over the last couple of years that have culminated over the past year, and a rather significant need to reorganize the institution and to retrench our finances," said Daniel Weiss, the museum's president.

About 100 staff positions have been eliminated through buyouts and layoffs. The number of special exhibits staged each year is being slashed from 55 to about 40. A $600 million new wing that had been planned, but not fully financed, is postponed indefinitely. Instead, the Met will be focusing on more pressing capital needs, Weiss said, including spending as much as $100 million to replace a block-long "ocean of bad skylights" built in the 1930s over art galleries.

Met director and chief executive Thomas Campbell stunned the art world in February by announcing his resignation, amid criticism of the museum's financial management.

"It was clear we were on a path that was not sustainable, and if we didn't deal with it, it was going to get worse in a hurry," said Weiss, who took the reins from Campbell and is now the interim CEO.

He blamed the museum's financial problems on "a perfect storm" of money-sucking factors: too many costly special exhibitions; restaurants and gift shops where revenues declined; and public programming that was overly ambitious.

Revenue from admissions and membership also had slipped.

But make no mistake, there's no immediate danger to the museum, which has endowments of $3 billion.

Admissions fees might help ease the current budget deficit, which was about 5 percent of the $315 million in operating costs in 2016.

"The deficit is not high compared to the total budget, but remember, these numbers are not just about the money: Donors want to back a winning story, and any indication that it's not makes them skittish," said Andrew Taylor, an arts management expert at Washingtonbased American University.