A new study by UNESCO and the International Council of Museums (ICOM) has concluded that almost 13 percent of museums worldwide will never reopen after the COVID-19 shutdown.
Although many art institutions have found ways to continue their work through an innovative online approach during the outbreak, some weren’t organized that well, and even have been temporarily shut down, which another study points out—90 percent of the world’s 95,000 museums have temporarily closed.
“The museum field cannot survive on its own without the support of the public and private sectors,” said ICOM President Suay Aksoy. “It is imperative to raise emergency relief funds and to put in place policies to protect professionals and self-employed workers on precarious contracts.”
The closing of these many institutions made a devastating financial impact. Americans for the Arts carried out a survey that showed the U.S. arts and culture sector has lost $5.5 billion to date, with the American Alliance of Museums estimating that shuttered museums in the U.S. lose at least $33 million each day. Some of the biggest institutions weren’t left untouched either, with MoMA recently announcing it would reduce its budget by $45 million and see layoffs of 160 staff positions, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s prediction of its financial loss of $100 million back in March.