Attendance drop forces High to trim expenses

The High Museum of Art is tightening its belt in response to a significant downturn in attendance.

The museum, part of the Woodruff Arts Center, has implemented a series of cost-saving and energy-conservation initiatives aimed at balancing its budget by the end of the fiscal year in May, including freezes on hiring and salaries.

The most public money-saving measure was short-lived. After inquiries by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the High abandoned a new weekday afternoon closure of its permanent collection galleries, begun on Feb. 5.

The limited hours “were always envisioned as a temporary measure through end of the fiscal year,” said Susan Clark, director of marketing and communications. “We have found a way to address our budget shortfall through other cost-savings initiatives.”

High Director Michael Shapiro characterizes the moves as common business practice.

“This is prudent fiscal management,” he said. “We have run in the black for 14 years, and one reason is that we are careful with our resources.”

Clark said one reason attendance is down is the troubled economy. Visitor surveys showed big drops in the number of out-of-towners, who account for as much as 40 percent of attendance for special exhibitions.

Other arts institutions in town, less dependent on regional tourism, haven’t experienced similar declines. At the High’s sister organization at the Woodruff, the Alliance Theatre, single-ticket sales and subscription renewals are up, said spokesman Robert Saxon. Annual attendance remains the same at the William Breman Jewish Heritage Museum, said Jane Leavey, the museum’s executive director. The Atlanta History Center expects about the same number of visitors as in 2006, said center spokeswoman Hillary Hardwick. And the Fernbank Museum of Natural History reports a rise in attendance in 2007.

The High’s most recent major exhibit, “Inspiring Impressionism: The Impressionists and the Art of the Past,” which closed Jan. 13, did not attract the expected crowds. Attendance has declined in the early part of year two of “Louvre Atlanta,” the three-year collaboration with the world’s most famous museum. From mid-October to mid-February, 161,473 people saw the Louvre exhibit, down from 196,781 for the same period a year earlier, said museum spokeswoman Cassandra Streich.

“We knew that the second year of ‘Louvre’ wouldn’t be as big as the first, so we added ‘Inspiring Impressionism’ to draw people in, and we projected it would draw the same numbers as ‘Van Gogh to Mondrian: Modern Art From the Kroller-Muller Museum’ [ in 2004],” Clark said. “We don’t always get it right.”

The High also has had to cope with unforeseen expenses, such as higher energy costs for the museum, which opened its Renzo Piano-designed expansion in late 2005.

There are no plans to alter programming going forward. The museum says it has secured major sponsorships for upcoming exhibitions and has raised all but $1 million for the $18 million “Louvre” project.

“We’ve had our bumps in attendance [since the expansion opened], but membership is steady,” Clark said.

Shapiro said the more important issue is the endowment, which, at $100 million, is too small for an institution the High’s size.

“I would like to be in a position to get 20-25 percent of operating income from endowment rather than the current 11 percent,” he said.

“We’d still be hungry, but we wouldn’t be as subject to macroeconomic changes and the vagaries of attendance.”

Staff writer Mark Davis contributed to this story.