Go to the mobile version of this Web site.

Login | Contact Us | Site Map | Paid archives | Electronic edition | Subscription Questions | Extras

Art museum trims budget

Director says no layoffs planned; raises on hold

By Mary Voelz Chandler, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published January 9, 2009 at 12:05 a.m.

Text size  
Members of the Denver Art Museum line up to enter the Frederic C. Hamilton building for a preview of the new wing in 2006.

Photo by Ellen Jaskol / The Rocky

Members of the Denver Art Museum line up to enter the Frederic C. Hamilton building for a preview of the new wing in 2006.

More More Business

More stories »

The Denver Art Museum has trimmed its 2008-2009 budget by 14 percent, but it plans no layoffs as a result, director Lewis Sharp said Thursday.

The museum has cut $3 million from the $21 million budget adopted in early September. As economic conditions began to deteriorate, staff began looking for savings to forestall a potential 15 percent shortfall.

The museum's board approved the changes this week.

"I asked people to identify places to cut," Sharp said. "This is a challenging time. We don't want to lay off people."

The museum is delaying hires to fill empty positions, and leaving jobs open through attrition. No raises will be given this year.

Also, one show has been dropped: "Muraqqa': Imperial Mughal Albums From the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin," which had been set to open July 5.

Sharp said the savings comes from the areas of personnel, programming and operations. The museum will tap a $250,000 surplus from last year, with museum trustees kicking in a like amount.

Some staff trims came last year through reorganizations, such as three positions lost six months ago when membership and guest services merged.

Over the next two years, Sharp said, he will "devote most of my time" to raising funds to endow museum departments without outside support.

DCPA annual report: Not boffo, but respectable

Denver Center for the Performing Arts had a relative boom year, according to the 2007-2008 annual report released Thursday.

Denver Center Attractions, the DCPA arm responsible for touring shows, presented 457 performances during the year, 72 fewer than 2006-2007, but its subscribed seats went up, boosted in part by combining audiences with Denver Center Theatre Company. Total attendance was down by nearly 20,000 seats.

The theater company, with fewer performances (but the same number of shows) as the previous year, had a dip of nearly 4,000 in subscribed seats, but sold more single tickets. Its total attendance went from 182,200 to 194,636. Again, the numbers got a boost through combined shows with Denver Center Attractions.

None of those numbers reflect the situation since the financial crisis hit in September.

While tours such as The Drowsy Chaperone did not fare well, A Christmas Carol and The Miracle Worker met their sales goals. Jersey Boys broke the Buell Theatre's box office record, grossing more than $1,924,310.

The DCPA took its biggest hit in 2007-2008 from reduced individual, corporate and foundation support, which decreased from $4.08 million to $3.65 million. It picked up some of the slack through special events, such as Saturday Night Alive, which raised nearly $300,000 more than the previous year.