Gallery will not close for good

Adrienne Packer

Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2002 | 9:46 a.m.

Financial troubles reported at the New York-based Guggenheim Museum will not threaten the operations of the institution's youngest branches at The Venetian on the Strip, museum officials said.

But the Guggenheim Las Vegas and the Guggenheim Hermitage museums won't receive any of a $12 million gift granted to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum either.

Guggenheim Foundation Chairman Peter B. Lewis this week delivered the $12 million contribution on the condition that Museum Director Thomas Krens accept a whittled-down budget, according to news reports. Those funds are earmarked for covering operating costs and repaying debts in New York.

The Guggenheim Las Vegas will close for three to six months for renovations after the "Art of the Motorcycle" exhibit concludes in January.

But Kimiko Haight, communication manager for the Las Vegas galleries, said Tuesday that the museums are not at risk of closing for good.

"As it stands right now we don't have any intentions of closing," Haight said.

Guggenheim officials were counting on Las Vegas tourists to pump revenue into institution's coffers. But the galleries here opened a month after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and expectations have not been met.

In fact, according to news reports, Krens expected the Las Vegas branch to generate $15 million a year.

Tourism rates plummeted after the attacks and never fully recovered. Rather than the projected 5,000 visitors a day, the museums draw about 2,000, Haight said.

The amount of money generated by Guggenheim's Las Vegas operations was not immediately available.

"Sept. 11 affected us greatly because of the timing of the opening," Haight said. "It was a terrible time to open because of the environment in Las Vegas, the economy."

When the Guggenheim announced plans to create galleries on the Strip, critics questioned whether Las Vegas visitors shared the same palate for culture as the institution's other home cities -- Venice; Bilbao, Spain; St. Petersburg, Russia; Berlin and New York.

But Haight said visitors from a wide range of ages and backgrounds go through the galleries each day.

"We've seen people from fanny packers to the people who have been to museums a lot of times," Haight said.

Lewis has contributed $62 million to the museum since he became a board member in 1993, but has criticized Guggenheim directors for mismanaging the institution's finances.