U.S., 30% of museums at risk of permanent closure due to coronavirus. We desperately need help

Thecoronavirus emergency in the United States threatens to take a heavy toll on American museums. This is the complaint of theAmerican Alliance of Museums (AAM), an organization founded in 1906 that represents museums in the US. “We urge Congress to allocate at least 4 billion for nonprofit museums in laws providing economic assistance for the Covid-19 (coronavirus) emergency,” reads a note from the AAM. According to the association, American museums overall are losing at least 33 million a day due to the closures, and as a result, the AAM further writes, “we desperately need federal support to keep jobs, to protect our cultural heritage, to help rebuild the national tourism industry, and simply to survive in the months ahead.”

The U.S. has a wide variety of museums (art museums, history museums, natural history museums, military museums, planetariums, libraries, public gardens and parks, science museums, zoos, children’s museums, aquariums, historical sites) and, the AAM further notes, the museum-related economy is “vast and is facing a serious threat, undermining their existence, due to the closures required to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic.” Museums, the note continues, “are economic engines. The economic impact calculated by the American Alliance of Museums and Oxford Economics shows that this museum economy contributes $50 billion annually to the U.S. economy and generates $12 billion in taxes to local, state and federal governments. In addition, museums are also vital sources of employment, employing 726,000 workers each year. Museums play an essential role in the nation’s educational infrastructure, since they spend more than $2 billion annually on education. The destabilizing effects of the current crisis put the future of these contributions to the U.S. economy and education system at serious risk.”

The closures are affecting a high number of museums: “we estimate,” the AAM notes, “that 30 percent of museums, many in small or rural communities, will not reopen without significant and immediate emergency financial assistance. The first furloughs and layoffs among museum staff have already begun this week [last week for those reading, ed.] There are significant concerns about massive layoffs, especially for workers employed on an hourly basis, who will be hardest hit.” Unemployment in the museum sector could also “exacerbate several community problems, such as lack of access to medical care and food, and also the risk of being homeless.”

Then there is also another problem, much felt in the U.S.: “museums,” the AAM reports, “expect major losses in donations as donors reconsider their resources due to market volatility. Congress should make sure that local communities are able to support their museums and nonprofits by arranging for targeted, temporary incentives that allow all Americans, regardless of what they report, to receive tax breaks in exchange for donations that support the work of nonprofits, including museums, that have sustained damage from the Covid-19 pandemic.”

The AAM reports that Americans have great confidence in museums: 96 percent have a positive view of politicians spurring legislative action to support museums, 97 percent believe museums are important educational assets, and 89 percent believe museums provide important economic benefits to their community. Moreover, says the AAM, “museums are the most trusted sources of information in America, even more so than newspapers, nonprofit researchers, government, or university researchers. Museums can leverage this very high level of trust to educate about Covid-19 and to combat misinformation about its spread. By providing information to the public, museums can reduce the risk of contracting or spreading the disease, and they can help support local health departments, keep the peace, and reduce the risk of increased discrimination or xenophobia often fueled by diseases spreading on a global scale.”

And even now, despite the closures, despite the furloughs, museums “are still meeting the increased demand across the country by providing lectures, online learning opportunities, kits for teachers and parents in areas where schools have been closed, sharing virtual exhibits and content accessible to those in quarantine, continuing to maintain outdoor spaces to provide quiet places to reduce stess during this time of heightened anxiety, and helping the families of health workers by providing care and meals for their children.”

Museums, the AAM concludes, “are landmarks for communities and face challenges in times of crisis like the one we are experiencing. Unfortunately, we expect that more and more museums across the nation will face difficulties in the months ahead, so we stress that museums need, now, financial support.”

U.S., 30% of museums at risk of permanent closure due to coronavirus. We desperately need help

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