By: Hadassa Kalatizadeh
When the COVID-19 pandemic had struck in March, the Metropolitan Museum of Art shuttered its doors for six months. Similar to countless other institutions, venues and businesses, the Met’s revenue plummeted as a result in 2020. The museum, located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, reported a $7.7 million deficit in the 2020 fiscal year and $7.6 million the next year, as per its annual report. The organization laid off 222 employees, and another 90 took voluntary early-retirement packages. Last year, the museum utilized $164 million from its endowment to meet its obligations.
Despite the prolonged shutdown, financial setbacks and mass layoffs, top executives at the Metropolitan Museum of Art took home exorbitant paychecks in 2020. As reported by the NY Post, the museum’s President Daniel Weiss and Director Max Hollein each had total compensation packages of over $1 million in 2020. Technically, both of the top executives had their base salaries cut by 8 percent for the year. Despite this, Weiss’ base of $958,219 increased to $1.3 million in total compensation, after a housing allowance and other benefits. Hollein’s base salary of $914,342, after the reduction, came out to $1.2 million in total compensation for the year. Weiss has been President since 2015, and also has been the museum’s Chief Executive Officer since 2017. Hollein, 52, an Austrian art historian, was appointed in 2018 as the 10th Director of the Met.
As per the Post, the Met’s chief investment officer and highest paid employee in 2020, Lauren Meserve, made out with a total of $1.7 million for the year. That includes her $639,142 salary, which suffered a 3.2 percent cut from the previous year, added onto a bonus of $681,225.
The museum spokesman, Kenneth Weine, commented to say that Weiss and Hollein both took 20 percent pay cuts, but those cuts lasted six months. Weine added that part of Meserve’s compensation is tied to the performance of the museum’s investments. Weine noted that 163 of those who lost their jobs at the Met in 2020 were union members- many of whom were security guards- and that they had all since been offered their jobs back.
The Met, founded in 1870, is the largest art museum in the Western Hemisphere. Its main building museum on Fifth Avenue and Central Park is one of the largest art museums in the world.
