Paintings still hang on the walls at the Portland Art Museum, though few people are around to see them. Hallways are haunted by security guards and the humming of the temperature-controlled galleries, necessary expenses to maintain one of Portland’s great institutions amid the coronavirus pandemic.

“It’s expensive to take care of a museum,” Brian Ferriso, director of the art museum, said. “But at the end of the day, it’s cheap because what you’re taking care of is our shared humanity and history.”

Across Portland, museums are cutting costs while trying to stay active amid the coronavirus pandemic that has shut them down for five weeks and counting. Most closed just before Oregon schools’ scheduled spring break, and many just after debuting new exhibits and exhibitions.

Both present and future economic struggles threaten the existence of some of Oregon’s most treasured cultural institutions, big and small.

“We’re trying to navigate this as best we can,” Ferriso said. “History will look at the decisions we make today and will decide if we made the right ones or not.”

The Portland Art Museum, Oregon Museum of Science and Industry and Oregon Historical Society are all in the midst of those difficult decisions. And while each has struggled, all have continued to find ways to stay connected with the community.

The Body Worlds exhibit "The Cycle of Life" has arrived at OMSI. The exhibit opened to the public Saturday, March 7, 2020. Mark Graves

OMSI

Normally bustling with field trips in spring, OMSI has been eerily quiet, the lights turned off, sun streaming in through its walls of glass.

The tall, echoey corridors that house science-related exhibits – like the recently-opened “Body Worlds” – are accustomed to the shouts and laughter of children. Now they’ve now fallen silent as the museum enters its sixth week closed to the public.

“We are really bummed to miss all of these kids,” museum spokesman John Farmer said. “I know a lot of kids look forward to their OMSI field trip every year.”

OMSI declined to disclose their losses in revenue, though on March 24 the museum announced an unspecified number of layoffs, as well as pay cuts and significant cuts to its operating expenses.

The museum’s leadership isn’t too concerned about the future, Farmer said, but the closure has certainly hurt, cutting off OMSI’s primary revenue streams, including admissions, memberships, rentals, and education and program fees, all at its busiest time of year.

However, those struggles haven’t diminished the museum’s mission to offer engaging education to the community, Farmer said. In-person educational opportunities may be gone, but that’s given museum educators the chance to create virtual lessons that are helpful right now, as Oregon schools remain closed, and which could also be used in classrooms once kids return.

“Just because the hands-on experience isn’t at OMSI doesn’t mean OMSI can’t inspire you to have a hands-on experience” at home, Farmer said. “And not just baking soda vinegar volcanoes.”

The museum has already released several videos and activities for kids, from explaining social distancing through dominoes, to digging into the science of a string telephone.

A sign posted on the front door of the Oregon Historical Society announces its closure due to the coronavirus pandemic.Jamie Hale/The Oregonian

OREGON HISTORICAL SOCIETY

On March 14, the Oregon Historical Society was scheduled to debut its latest exhibition, “Nevertheless, They Persisted,” celebrating the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment that granted most U.S. women the right to vote.

Instead, March 14 marked the day the downtown Portland museum closed to the public, joining museums and other attractions around the state as the coronavirus pandemic began to spread.

The new exhibition was scheduled to run for about nine months, said Kerry Tymchuk, executive director of the Oregon Historical Society, and it still will – starting whenever the museum can reopen to the public.

Financially, the Oregon Historical Society has so far struggled less than most arts and cultural organizations.

The downtown Portland museum offers free admission to all Multnomah County residents, so it doesn’t rely heavily on admissions as a source of revenue. The museum also receives more than $4 million in public funding, according to the most recent financial statements, most of it from a Multnomah County levy renewed by voters in 2016.

After closing to the public, the Oregon Historical Society has cut some expenses, including pay cuts for senior management, but so far, the organization has not had to lay off or furlough employees, Tymchuk said.

With staff still working, Tymchuk said the organization has been doing its best to continue connecting a community that has largely remained isolated at home.

“You adjust to the times, you adjust to the circumstances,” Tymchuk said. “We’re looking ahead to the future and trying to determine what a museum, the new museum, a post COVID-19 museum will look like and be prepared for that.”

During the stay-home order, those adjustments manifested in local history lessons and at-home activities offered through “e-blast” newsletters. The museum has long maintained an online presence, but now it’s ramping that up to “hyper speed,” Tymchuk said.

The organization has also asked the public to submit their personal stories of life during the coronavirus pandemic.

A previous decision may also pay off if crowds continue to stay home after the pandemic winds down: Last year, the historical society raised $2 million in private donations to create a “digital vault” that will put collections online.

Tymchuk said the Oregon Historical Society is in good shape, for now. He’s far more concerned for the smaller history and county heritage museums across the state.

“You worry that this is going to irreparably harm these smaller museums around the state who survive on one and a half or two employees,” he said. “We need to be there perhaps to pick up the slack if they can’t.”

The Portland Art Museum is closed to the public amid the coronavirus pandemic.Jamie Hale/The Oregonian

PORTLAND ART MUSEUM

The closure of the Portland Art Museum came five weeks after it opened a big new exhibition, “Volcano!”, featuring paintings and photographs of Mt. St. Helens, set to run through May 17, one day before the 40th anniversary of the volcanic eruption.

A towering photograph of the 1980 eruption greeted visitors to the museum, marking an anniversary that is now being overshadowed by the pandemic.

Without admissions, rentals and other sources of revenue, the museum expects to lose $1 million each month it remains closed, resulting in a $4 million deficit by the end of the year, museum leadership said.

On April 10, nearly four weeks after closing to the public, the museum placed about 80 percent of its staff on “unpaid leave,” allowing them to use sick leave and vacation days to retain pay and health benefits during the pandemic. Members of the museum’s senior leadership team, including Ferriso, will take a pay cut during the closure.

Meanwhile, the museum has to continue paying for utilities and security to ensure the safety of the museum’s collection. Ferriso said the art museum’s regular security measures are still in place, and that there’s no heightened concern following the recent theft of a Vincent van Gogh painting from a Dutch museum.

“I feel a great sense of responsibility to make sure our staff and institution are cared for as best we are able,” Ferriso said. “I remain hopeful that we will emerge soon to offer the connection and inspiration that our institution has provided for more than a century.”

The Portland Art Museum has offered virtual walk-throughs to see “Volcano!” and some of its other exhibitions from home, one of the few ways the museum has been able to stay connected amid the pandemic.

Ferriso said he hoped the museum could reopen by mid-summer, though with so much uncertainty still surrounding the current pandemic, it’s impossible to plan anything concrete.

The 127-year-old institution has weathered the Great Depression and both world wars, but now faces one of its biggest challenges to date.

“I know the museum will come through this, there’s no doubt about it,” though there may be some long-term change, Ferriso said. “It’ll look different, it’ll be different, because it is a defining moment in history, I believe that.”

--Jamie Hale; jhale@oregonian.com; 503-294-4077; @HaleJamesB

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