The Rubin Museum has announced last Wednesday, Jan. 31, in a letter addressed to its staff, that it will shutter its Manhattan galleries in New York come Oct. 6, following a pivot to a "global model" of a "museum without walls."
Through this new approach, the institution will continue promoting Himalayan art through traveling shows. It will offer a new grant-making program while continuing its still-active loan initiative. However, this move also comes after mounting financial issues over the years.
Closer view of the shrine in the Rubin Museum of Art Manhattan space in New York.
The Rubin Museum's 'New Incarnation'
The transitionary decision will come with a restructuring that will reduce its total staff by nearly 40 percent.
According to the New York Times, a similar move transpired in 2019, when Rubin's Executive Director Jorrit Britschgi laid off just about two dozen employees to cut costs.
Of the upcoming "global" pivot, the museum's Board President Noah Dorsky said, as quoted in the museum's public release about the matter: "The definition of what a museum is has evolved dramatically in recent years."
"Historically, the Rubin's culture embraces continual change and evolution, and in our new incarnation, we are redefining what a museum can be," he said.
In the letter, Britschgi said that the museum has been "piloting new ways of reaching people" through initiatives launched all over the world, "from Bilbao to Boston, from Kathmandu to London, from New York to Venice."
One such instance involves "Project Himalayan Art," The Rubin Museum's online resource platform, which has evolved into a reliable source of multimedia materials that are of use for students, teachers, and plain art enthusiasts alike.
Another initiative of this nature that it has "tested" is its "Mindfulness Meditation" podcast, which started back in 2015. To date, the downloads for the podcasts reached a total of 189 countries. The Rubin's other podcast, "Awaken," on the other hand, has won an honorary Webby Award.
A report by The Art Newspaper quoted Britschgi saying: "We want to be responsive," when it comes to Rubin's new grant program, which will open this coming March with added details to be posted online at a later date.
"There are two angles; how do we enable scholarship and new research, and how can we support creative exploration and dialogue," he explained, and adding that the decision to sell the New York space will allow the Rubin to explore options for strengthening its global presence.
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