Editing Metropolitan Museum of Art (section)

=== Finances ===
As of 2021, the museum's endowment as administered by the museum's investment officer Lauren Meserve<ref>{{Cite web |date=2017-10-18 |title=Lauren A. Meserve Named Senior Vice President and Chief Investment Officer of The Metropolitan Museum of Art |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/press/news/2017/lauren-meserve-chief-investment-officer |access-date= 2023-11-14 |website=www.metmuseum.org}}</ref> is US$3.3&nbsp;billion which provides much of the income for operations while admissions account for only 13 percent of revenue as of fiscal 2016.<ref>"Metropolitan Museum of Art Names Lauren A. Meserve Senior Vice President and Chief Investment Officer", BY Alex Greenberger, Artnews Journal, October 18, 2017. {{cite web |url=http://www.artnews.com/2017/10/18/metropolitan-museum-of-art-names-lauren-a-meserve-senior-vice-president-and-chief-investment-officer/ |title= Metropolitan Museum of Art Names Lauren A. Meserve Senior Vice President and Chief Investment Officer &#124; ARTnews |date= October 18, 2017 |access-date=October 18, 2017 |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20171019055150/http://www.artnews.com/2017/10/18/metropolitan-museum-of-art-names-lauren-a-meserve-senior-vice-president-and-chief-investment-officer/ |archive-date=October 19, 2017 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2021/02/22/970190768/the-met-considers-selling-its-art-to-stave-off-financial-shortfall#:~:text=And%20as%20Artnet%20reported%2C%20the,effects%20in%20the%20long%20run.%22 | title=The Met Considers Selling Its Art to Stave off Financial Shortfall | website=NPR.org }}</ref><ref>Katchka, Boris (2017). "What Broke the Met?", April 17, 2017, ''New York'' magazine, pp. 44–50.</ref> The 2009–10 operating budget was $221&nbsp;million (~${{Format price|{{Inflation|index=US-GDP|value=221000000|start_year=2009}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}). The museum admission price as of March 2018 is $25 (~${{Format price|{{Inflation|index=US|value=25|start_year=2018}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US}}) for out-of-state and foreign visitors, while New York state residents can [[Pay what you want|pay what they wish]] to enter. Although subject to re-assessment,<ref name="nyt20170426" /> a 1970 agreement between the museum and the city of New York requires New York state visitors to pay at least a nominal amount; a penny is acceptable.<ref>{{cite news|title=NYC art museum accused of duping visitors on admission fees|url=https://www.foxnews.com/us/nyc-art-museum-accused-of-duping-visitors-on-admission-fees/|date=March 25, 2013 |publisher=Associated Press/Fox News|access-date=March 26, 2013|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130326021118/http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/03/25/nyc-art-museum-accused-duping-visitors-on-admission-fees/|archive-date=March 26, 2013}}</ref> The Met's finance committee is led by [[Hamilton E. James]] of [[The Blackstone Group]], who is also one of the board members at the Met.<ref>{{cite news |first=Robin |last=Pogrebin | title=Times Topics: Metropolitan Museum's Director Resigns Under Pressure | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/28/arts/design/met-museum-director-resigns-thomas-campbell.html | newspaper=[[New York Times]] | date=February 28, 2017 | access-date=February 28, 2017 | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170301035335/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/28/arts/design/met-museum-director-resigns-thomas-campbell.html | archive-date=March 1, 2017 }}</ref> The Met is reported to have an Aaa [[Bond credit rating|credit rating]], the highest such rating possible. This was last affirmed by [[Moody's]] in 2015.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.moodys.com/research/Moodys-assigns-Aaa-to-Metropolitan-Museum-of-Arts-NY-250M--PR_316776|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019004655/https://www.moodys.com/research/Moodys-assigns-Aaa-to-Metropolitan-Museum-of-Arts-NY-250M--PR_316776|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 19, 2017|title=Moody's assigns Aaa to Metropolitan Museum of Art's (NY) $250M Series 2015 bonds; outlook stable|date=January 20, 2015|work=[[Moody's]]|access-date=May 6, 2017}}</ref>

In 2019, museum president Daniel Weiss announced that the institution would review its policy for receiving financial donations, under pressure from activist group [[P.A.I.N.]] for the role that cultural institutions have played in whitewashing the [[Sackler family]] by receiving their donations.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-03-06/sackler-family-faces-art-world-protests-with-purdue-under-siege|title=Artists Protest Sackler Family Through Museums That Bear Their Name|newspaper=Bloomberg.com| date=March 6, 2019 |access-date=April 16, 2019}}</ref> The museum announced it would remove the Sackler name from locations within the museum in December 2021.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Alexander |first1=Sophie |title=NYC's Met Pulls Sackler Name From Galleries After Opioid Scandal |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-12-09/new-york-s-met-museum-removes-sackler-name-from-galleries?srnd=premium&sref=CIpmV6x8 |access-date=10 December 2021 |work=Bloomberg |date=9 December 2021}}</ref>

==== 2015–2018 setbacks ====
In September 2016, ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'' first reported financial set-backs at the museum related to servicing its outstanding debts and associated cut-backs in staffing at the museum, with the goal of trying to balance its budget by fiscal year 2018.<ref>Jennifer Smith, [https://www.wsj.com/articles/metropolitan-museum-of-art-cuts-staff-1475072125 "Metropolitan Museum of Art Cuts Staff"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170329045832/https://www.wsj.com/articles/metropolitan-museum-of-art-cuts-staff-1475072125 |date=March 29, 2017 }}, ''[[The Wall Street Journal]]'', September 28, 2016.</ref> According to the Met's annual tax filing for fiscal year 2016, several top executives had received disproportionately high compensation, often exceeding $1&nbsp;million per annum with over $100,000 bonuses per annum.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://news.artnet.com/art-world/met-execs-awarded-bonus-and-raises-894431|title=Met Execs Got Hefty Bonuses Amid-Rising Deficit|last=Kinsella|first=Eileen|date=March 16, 2017|work=artnet News|access-date=May 6, 2017|language=en-US|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170325223837/https://news.artnet.com/art-world/met-execs-awarded-bonus-and-raises-894431|archive-date=March 25, 2017}}</ref>

In April 2017, ''[[The New York Times]]'' reported that the Met's annual debt was approaching $40&nbsp;million, in addition to an outstanding museum bond for $250&nbsp;million. This resulted in the indefinite postponement of a planned $600&nbsp;million architectural expansion of the exhibition space for the museum's modern art collection as well as started a general discussion over the Met's [[human resources management]].<ref name="Pogrebin-2017a">{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/02/arts/design/met-museum-campbell-resignation-brodsky-coburn.html |url-access=subscription |title=A Hushed Departure at the Met Museum Reveals Entrenched Management Culture|last=Pogrebin|first=Robin|date=April 2, 2017|work=The New York Times|access-date=May 6, 2017|issn=0362-4331|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170414145243/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/02/arts/design/met-museum-campbell-resignation-brodsky-coburn.html|archive-date=April 14, 2017}}</ref> The chairman of the board at the Met elected in 2011, [[Real Estate Board of New York|Daniel Brodsky]],<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/11/arts/design/daniel-brodsky-is-voted-chairman-of-metropolitan-museum.html |url-access=subscription |title=Daniel Brodsky is Voted Chairman of the Metropolitan Museum of Art|last=Taylor|first=Kate|date=May 5, 2011|work=The New York Times|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170314074207/http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/11/arts/design/daniel-brodsky-is-voted-chairman-of-metropolitan-museum.html|archive-date=March 14, 2017}}</ref> stated in response to the ''Times'' reports that he "looked forward to working with my administrative and board colleagues to support a climate of candor, transparency, accountability and mutual respect".<ref name="Pogrebin-2017a" /> In January 2018, Daniel Weiss as president of the museum stated that a downsized version of the original $600&nbsp;million architectural expansion might be reconsidered as early as 2020 at a reduction to the $450&nbsp;million level.<ref name="nypogrebin"/>

Brodsky, the chairman of the Met, stated that after the 2017 financial setbacks, the director position would be appointed separately from the position of CEO. Following a commissioned report from the [[Boston Consulting Group]], the interim CEO, president, and [[Chief Operating Officer|COO]] of the Met, [[Daniel Weiss (art historian)|Daniel Weiss]], said that the Met's 2015–2017 financial setbacks were caused by "slowing revenue, rising costs, and too many projects at once". Weiss was further reported as having hired Will Manzer, formerly an executive at [[Perry Ellis (brand)|Perry Ellis]], to help re-invigorate recently declining revenues at the museum.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.vulture.com/2017/04/what-broke-the-met-museum.html |url-access=subscription |title=With Rumors, Scandal, and a Record Budget Shortfall, What Broke the Met?|last=Kachka|first=Boris|date=April 16, 2017|work=Vulture|access-date=May 6, 2017|publisher=[[New York (magazine)|New York Magazine]]|pages=44–50|language=en|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170501102836/http://www.vulture.com/2017/04/what-broke-the-met-museum.html|archive-date=May 1, 2017}}</ref> On April 26, Weiss stated that the budget shortfall of $15&nbsp;million might require a re-assessment and increase in the museum's current admission payment policy. Weiss added that there remained concerns for a sustainable fiscal model for the Met in which city officials "have a right to a clear understanding of how we would be engaging the public, how we balance access with sustainability".<ref name="nyt20170426">{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/26/arts/design/met-museum-in-quiet-talks-with-city-weighs-an-admission-fee.html|title=Visit to the Met Could Cost You, if You Don't Live in New York|last=Pogrebin|first=Robin|date=April 26, 2017|work=The New York Times|access-date=May 6, 2017|issn=0362-4331|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170506225037/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/26/arts/design/met-museum-in-quiet-talks-with-city-weighs-an-admission-fee.html|archive-date=May 6, 2017}}</ref> In May 2017, the Met filed formal proposal to attempt to charge admission fees to out-of-state visitors.<ref name="Pogrebin-2017b" /> [[Robin Pogrebin]], writing for the ''Times,'' reported that the request for out-of-state admissions would call for the re-legislation of the New York State 1893 Act which requires that the museum's collections "shall be kept open and accessible to the public free of all charge throughout the year", and any unlegislated changes would be subject to challenge by the New York State attorney general, [[Eric Schneiderman]], or one of the tristate counselors, [[Christopher Porrino]] or [[George Jepsen]].<ref name="Pogrebin-2017b">{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/05/arts/design/the-metropolitcan-museum-of-art-admission-fees-tickets-de-blasio.html |url-access=subscription |title=The Met Files a Formal Proposal to Charge Admission to Out-of-State Visitors|last=Pogrebin|first=Robin|date=May 5, 2017|work=The New York Times|access-date=May 6, 2017|issn=0362-4331|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170506050919/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/05/arts/design/the-metropolitcan-museum-of-art-admission-fees-tickets-de-blasio.html|archive-date=May 6, 2017}}</ref>

In January 2018, Pogrebin writing for ''The New York Times'' reported that amid-continuing reverberations from "a period of financial turbulence and leadership turmoil" that the museum president Daniel Weiss had announced that the museum would rescind its century-old policy of free admission to the museum and begin charging $25 for out-of-state visitors starting in March 2018.<ref name="nypogrebin"/> Pogrebin stated that although the museum had made progress in decreasing its deficit from $40&nbsp;million to $10&nbsp;million, that an adverse decision from the City of New York to curtail funding for the Met's operating costs by as much as $8&nbsp;million "for security and building staff" caused Weiss to announce the change in admissions policy. Weiss indicated that the new policy would be estimated to increase revenue from the current $43&nbsp;million it receives from admissions to an enhanced revenue stream as high as US$49&nbsp;million.<ref name="nypogrebin"/>