DEI spending limits could impact LI museums as they try to boost attendance

Museums across the country have had a rocky climb uphill since the pandemic lockdown five years ago. As Long Island museums strive to boost attendance since reopening, they potentially face a new hurdle in the wake of major changes to grant programs at the National Endowment for the Arts, the nation’s premier arts funder.

The most significant development is the prohibition of federal money going to groups that support diversity, equity and inclusion.

For institutions  such as the Heckscher Museum of Art in Huntington, that conflicts with its goals. This year, the museum is developing a number of exhibitions focusing on the LBGTQ+ community thanks to a $250,000 grant received in August from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), an independent federal agency that supports libraries, archives and museums.

"The museum serves as a forum for community where sharing, educating and conversing lead to better understanding and empathy," Heather Arnet, executive director and CEO of the Heckscher, said. "Our mission is to create opportunities for everyone to experience art that broadens understanding of the past, fosters community connections to the present and creates diverse possibilities for the future."

Among those programs are its current exhibits "Embracing the Parallax," which features the photography of Berenice Abbott and her partner, Elizabeth McCausland, which runs through March 25, and "All of Me With All of You: LGBTQ+ Art Out of the Collection," which will run from June 7 to Sept. 14.

Since the IMLS money was received before the NEA changes, Arnet said the museum has not been directly impacted by recent cuts in federal grants. She said Heckscher's core support comes from memberships, individuals, corporations and local governmental entities.

While the danger of cuts in federal grants is a real concern, the Long Island Museum in Stony Brook has no intention of changing its focus on diversity following exhibits like last year's "Fire Island: The Art of Liberation" and "Somos/We Are: Latinx Artists of Long Island," its first bilingual exhibit.

"Our mission is clear and our vision statement is clear," Joshua Ruff, co-executive director of the Long Island Museum, said. . "Our aspiration for inclusion of everyone is something we strongly stand for."

Ruff added while the Long Island Museum is not a federal institution, it does have some lines of federal support for exhibits and programs.

Since 2022, Long Island museums have generally been seeing a year-to-year boost in visitors. The Nassau County Museum of Art in Roslyn Harbor last year saw record attendance, with 49,300 guests, surpassing 43,632 in 2019. Executive director Beth Horn attributes that bump to an increase in marketing; exhibits that encompassed architecture, decorative arts and fashion as well as art; and an increase in family and student programs.

"When children visit the museum on school trips, they receive a free family pass, which can be used at any time," Horn said. "This encourages children to return and to share their museum experiences with their loved ones."

The Heckscher hosted 34,000 visitors in 2024, more than 2019's showing of 27,000 and a 71% increase in attendance since 2022.

"A key component was successfully securing a grant from Bank of America to underwrite and promote free admission," Arnet said. "We also got funding from the State of New York to go fully bilingual to support our growing Spanish community."

In addition to signs in English and Spanish, the museum is equipped for visitors to use the Bloomberg Connects app, which can  translate text into any language.

The Long Island Museum, which launched its new season on Feb. 20, hopes expanding its hours on Thursdays will help increase attendance.

"We’re still not open as much as we were prior to the pandemic," Ruff said. "We reduced our hours for operational/budgetary reasons."

The museum did benefit from its 2-for-1 Fridays (purchase one full-price admission and get one of equal or lesser value free), Family Fun Days, which attract as many as 700 people, and summer concerts, Ruff said.

The Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill saw a 12.14% rise in attendance, with 48,994 visitors in 2024, versus 43,689 the previous year, said Melanie Tolan, deputy director of communications. Much of that growth was driven by high-profile exhibitions ("Across the Avenues: Fairfield Porter in New York," "The Art of Food") and free community days in June and December.

Long Island's museums so far have not experienced staff cutbacks like some in New York City — the Guggenheim Museum had a layoff of 20 employees on Friday due to financial challenges and low attendance, while the Brooklyn Museum laid off 50 workers earlier in February. But that doesn't mean museums in Nassau and Suffolk can rest easy.

"We are consistently trying to stay up with people’s tastes and interests. We do our best to really be visitor-centric and we really want to try and provide the best experience for people when they come here," Ruff said of the Long Island Museum. "A site like this is expensive to run, so fundraising is always an important subject for us, always something that we’re working on and we're always looking for assistance from various sources."