Last week, I saw an article about the Fresno museum that heartened me — it suggested that there might be a link with Cal State, Fresno. Was this the deus ex machina that would save the Fresno Met?
Then, I realized I had mis-read the piece: it was talking about the Fresno Art Museum, not the Fresno Metropolitan Museum of Art and Science — which closed its doors in January following a $28 million renovation.
Is this a harbinger of more trouble in a city that may not sound big, but is? Fresno is the 36th largest U.S. city: it has an estimated 500,000 people within it boundaries and more than 1 million in its metropolitan area. It’s bigger than Cleveland, Minneapolis, and Pittsburgh, for example, which all have a lot more in the way of museums and visual arts.
Although the city was founded in 1856, Fresnans were late to the art party: they didn’t get around to creating the Fresno Art Museum until 1948 and the Fresno Metropolitan Museum of Art and Science until 1984.
The Fresno Met is over: its science exhibits, furniture and other effects will go on the auction block at 9 a.m. tomorrow, according to The Business Journal. Its art collection will be sold “at a future undetermined date,” the article says. Together, the sums raised are not expected to cover the Met’s $4 million in debt.
Is the Fresno Art Museum — the only modern art museum between San Francisco and Los Angeles — also on the brink? Its website made a special year-end plea from Eva Torres, interim director, who wrote:
the Museum is faced with making some very difficult decisions about the next season of exhibitions and educational programs. We’ve “tightened our belts” and already made some critical decisions and adjustments but we’re still in a very vulnerable position.
FAM was operating in the red, slightly, for the year to June 30, 2008, according to its tax returns. 2009 and 2010 are likely worse.
So the news, in an article in the Central Valley Business Times, that trustees were exploring various possibilities, including the assumption of operational control, with CalState-Fresno, is excouraging. Given the state’s budgetary situation, though, that’s not the complete answer.
Fresno is simply too big to be left without local access to art for its citizens. I hope the community mobilizes in a way it did not for the Fresno Met.
UPDATE, 2/17: “A local attorney is asking the state Attorney General’s Office to investigate whether it is proper for the Fresno Metropolitan Museum to sell off its collection to satisfy its debts….” per the Fresno Bee.