Recession Forces Jersey City Museum to Slash Public Hours

By • Mar 31st, 2010 • Category: Arts, Featured

The Jersey City Museum has announced that, as of tomorrow, April 1, it will be open to the public for only 5 hours a week, from noon to 5 pm on Saturdays. The museum, which has seen funding cuts from the city as well as a decrease in corporate giving, cites only the generalized “current economic conditions” as the reasons behind its efforts to “reduce operating costs and manage expenses.” Our query on whether these cuts include layoffs has not yet been answered.

The dramatic cut in hours is “a terrible loss for the community,” says artist and gallery proprietor Irene Borngraeber, who has covered the museum for JCI. She says the move is further proof that it is hard for arts organizations to sustain themselves in Jersey City.

“Museums are ultimately supposed to be institutions of learning, and it will be extremely difficult for the Jersey City Museum to effectuate that mission and engage with visitors if it’s only able to open its doors to the public for five hours every weekend,” she says. “Now we have to rally and come out in support of the museum, no matter what its present state may be — the risk of losing it entirely is simply too frightening.”

Like Borngraeber, the museum itself is calling on the community to show its support “during these critical times.” For more on ways to support the museum through membership or small donations, click here.

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is the founding editor of the Jersey City Independent; he now works for a public-policy nonprofit in Trenton.
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  • PoorCorz

    The economy is in the toilet, so we got rid of the big bad tax-and-spend Democrat governor.

    Now we’re cutting arts funding, along with education funds, transportation infrastructure, municipal aid and other things we ‘don’t need.’ Please note the economy is still in the toilet, and is guaranteed to be for even longer since we’ve decided we can no longer afford to make any investment in it.

    To all you folks who voted for Christie, or didn’t vote at all: make sure you don’t go looking for any socialist handouts when Jersey City is a ghost town in four years or less.

  • BrendaW

    Well said, poorcorz! Christie is destroying this state.

  • art.hack

    what about the ridiculous director?

  • BlahBlah

    The museum is a case study in poor leadership. Yes, the arts budget was cut, but the museum’s current state definitely did not happen overnight; it was years in the making, and many people are responsible for its mismanagement and subsequent decline. And they are still trying to cover it up by not being upfront and therefore not engaging the public — who are the only ones who can save it. Very sad indeed.

  • PainttheTown

    yes i wasn’t surprised by this latest announcement, seems like the museum has been teetering on this edge for a long time. i’m actually shocked they are even staying open, although i guess that’s mostly a technicality at this point. it is very sad, for a city with so many loyal artists, that this had to happen.

    and @BlahBlah, yes i have not seen any more details on this anywhere — the museum seems to be more tight-lipped and insular than the healy office even. THAT is sad.