More museum news

Our director just passed along a couple more articles addressing the financial difficulties museums are facing at the moment, one of which is a small bright spot and the other of which is a new challenge.

The former consists of the news that the Rose Art Museum at Brandeis will stay open for the moment, while the trustees of the university debate its fate.

The latter is the news that Florida State University is facing huge budget cuts from that state's legislature and is considering closing the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, which FSU took over in 2000. The closure discussed so far would be temporary, but the idea behind it is disturbing:

The FSU Board of Trustees wrote in a letter announcing the cuts that they need to look at programs that do not directly serve students, including Ringling.

As with the situation at Brandeis, this is an incorrect impression. Any university that has research as part of its mission, as FSU does, serves students directly through its museum of art by facilitating that research, as well as by helping provide them with a well-rounded education. We sincerely hope the Ringling is able to stay open.