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The Brooklyn Museum:S tretch in gD ollar ForArt C lassesA n dBYLIBBYHAYMANChildren%u2019s Art Workshops, Evening Art School Classes, a whole curatorial department, %u201c about 20 employees%u201d , and other services %u201c across the board%u201d . These are the things which will be lost this fall when the Brooklyn Museum executes its 1979 round of cutbacks in order to balance a budget which would otherwise, the Board and administration of the Museum believe, show a $500,000 deficit.No one denies the significance of the cuts, but they have only become known because those losing either jobs or services important to them have called public attention to the crisis. The administration emphasizes the hope that the cuts will be %u201c temporary%u201d ; but for those affected, the immediate dislocation is not really helped by the suggestion that the services may be restored next semester, or next year, or someday.No one affected by the difficult times at the Museum can resist talking about the tremendous deficit in last years major show,%u201c Africa in Antiquity: The Arts of Ancient Nubia and the Sudan.%u201d$700,000 came from Museum funds when the Administration had hoped for a $500,000 grant from Anheuser-Busch, through the advertising agency representing that firm. Commenting on the no-show gift, Michael Botwinick, the Museum%u2019s Director, said in early July,%u201c it would have been good for them, good for us, and good for the exhibition.%u201dLOSS OF CITY MONEYUnlike past cuts at the Museum during the 1974-%u201977 years, the current reductions are not the result of cutbacks by the City of New York. Those cuts had tremendous effects on the level of staffingsecurityallotment pays for. The loss of about fifty employees in those days left the Museum with a reduced schedule, which still exists, includt h e I n f l a t e dIts E xhibits,D epartm entsS t a f f sing closing on Tuesdays as well as Mondays, and keeping some floors or galleries closed each day on a rotating basis.The staff cuts put enormous burdens on those employees left, particularly in educational services, where heavy cuts were made.Now the city%u2019s contribution is holding steady at nearly $2 million, or about a third of the $6.2 million budget, and administrators do not expect a drop in state funding, through the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA), which gave $470,000 last year.The picture for federal funding is more complex, since little of that money goes toward everyday operating costs. The Museum has had a number of federal grants, including the $4.2 million to build a five-story new service wing, behind the original museum structure funded through the Department of Commerce Local Public Works Capital Development Act.The National Endowment for the Humanities gave a $1.5 million matching or challenge grant over a four year period, and will be funding this fall%u2019s major exhibition, %u201c The American Renaissance%u201d , with a grant of about $167,000. Another federal source, Health, Education and Welfare%u2019s Institute for Museum Services, illustrates the funding bind, since it gave $25,000 last year and is a welcome new program, because it is an annual source of revenue, though not a large one. But $25,000 is the Institute's annual limit, while the museum is faced with increased costs, public grant monies are %u201c frozen%u201d .THE INFLATION BINDThis is the funding situation which confronts the Director of the Brooklyn Museum, Michael Botwincame to the Museum in 1974 after jthe stormy departure of Duncan gCameron, Botwinick held the postB Continued on page 13Aug. 9, 1979, The PHOENIX. Page 9