0.9 Chapter seven: retrenchment and the struggle for survival, 19  (Page 4/20)

The closing of the Sotheby's loan and its associated public controversy marked the beginning of yet another chapter in the Society's saga. The special advisory committee, like its predecessor five years before, was charged with recommend­ing a course for the Society, which ranged from pursuing mergers and affilia­tions to the possibility of total dissolution. The committee was chaired by Wilbur Ross, senior managing director at Rothschild, Inc., an investment bank, and chair­man of the National Museum of American Art in Washington, D.C.

The ross advisory committee

Under Ross, the advisory committee wasted no time taking bold and decisive action. At its first meeting, on February 3, 1993, it voted to close the Society, recommending that forty-one of the Society's seventy-six remaining employees be relieved of their duties. The action, which was scheduled to take effect on Feb­ruary 19, would end public access to the Society's library and would discontinue the Society's lecture series and school programs. (Museum exhibitions had been closed since January 1.) Only a core group of employees would be retained to maintain the collections and participate in long-range planning. In a press release issued by the Society, Pearlstine said: "It is sad that we have reached this point, but without substantial public support or a radical restructuring, the Society simply cannot exist. The tremendous gains made by the staff over the past four years are outweighed by the formidable financial requirements to operate an institution of this size and stature. Until a long-term solution can be reached, we are forced to make hard decisions and prepare for the possible dissolution of the Society."

It had been determined that the Sotheby's loan for $1.5 million, which had become official only a week before, did not provide the amount of cash neces­sary to keep the Society open through June as originally expected. The com­mittee decided it did not make sense to continue to fund the Society's persistent structural deficit. Closing the institution would allow the Society to conserve its limited remaining resources until an appropriate solution could be reached. Ross, the advisory committee's chairman, explained: "Our primary focus at this point must be the safety of the Society's magnificent collections. We will direct all our actions towards guaranteeing the best possible outcome for the library and museum holdings."