The Metropolitan Opera is planning a garage sale to stay alfloat.
In a desperate attempt to raise some badly needed cash, the struggling New York cultural institution wants to sell off two revered Marc Chagall murals for $55 million — though whoever buys them wouldn’t be able to take them home.
The purchase would be more of a donation, leaving the massive pieces hanging in the building’s Grand Tier they were commissioned to fit into more than six decades ago.
The Met will lay off 22 employees and cut the high salaries of another 35 workers. APThe new owners would, at least, get their name on a plaque placed beside them.
Peter Gelb, the Met’s general manager, announced that they are considering the scheme Tuesday, alongside some very-real layoffs, salary cuts and show postponements he said he was forced to make as a funding deal with Saudi Arabia looks like it might be turning sour.
“I have to show we can finance the Met going forward and at the same time demonstrate that we can cut the costs that we can cut without undermining our artistic results,” Gelb said in an interview with the New York Times.
“We have to do it.”
Gelb blamed the intense cutbacks on the controversial $200 million deal the opera struck with Saudi Arabia back in September.
In exchange for the chunk of cash, the Met would perform at the Royal Diriyah Opera House near Riyadh three weeks each winter for the next eight years.
But the Middle Eastern country has not yet made good on its deal.
“I understand the Saudis have had to recalibrate their budgets because of their own economic concerns,” Gelb said. “I’ve been assured that it’s going to go forward. But we have been waiting for some time.”
The Met is cutting its schedule from 18 productions to 17, which is down from the 25 it hosted before the pandemic. Getty Images
Peter Gelb, who made nearly $1.4 million last year, will be taking a pay cut. Getty Images
Gelb blamed the deficit on the not-yet-realized deal with Saudi Arabia. AFP via Getty ImagesInstead, at least 22 people who hold administrative posts will lose their jobs — roughly 8% of that workforce, though the Met employs upward of 3,000 people.
The 35 executives who earn more than $150,000 a year will see graduated cuts in their pay of 4 percent to 15 percent, depending on their salaries, the Times reported.
Even Gelb will suffer a pay cut. Last year, he made nearly $1.4 million.
The pay cuts will be temporary, though Gelb did not tell the paper whether those laid off will be offered their jobs back.
The Met is also reducing its next season from 18 productions to 17, postponing its new production of Mussorgsky’s “Khovanshchina,” which had premiered last year in Salzburg, Austria.
Murals painted by Marc Chagall are seen in the Metropolitan Opera House lobby. MET Opera
The Met is considering the sale of two Chagall murals. MET Opera
The murals were commissioned in the 1960s. MET Opera
Together the murals are valued at $55 million. MET OperaThe Met is also considering selling the naming rights to its theater in Lincoln Center, much like how its neighboring David H. Koch Theater is home to the New York City Ballet.
The Met is also likely to lease the 3,800-seat theater to pop artists on nights when the company is not using the space — like “The Last Ship,” a musical written by and starring Sting, that will be presented for nine shows in June.
Fortunately, it doesn’t look like the Met Under 40 program — which offers discounted tickets to young visitors — will be affected.
“We are being as entrepreneurial as possible,” Gelb said.
“What is clear is that we have to come up with new business models. It’s true for all performing institutions, but the costs are so great for running an institution like the Met, that it is necessary to find new ways to fund it.”
Those cuts should save the company $25 million this year and $25 million the following.
The Met has been struggling since the pandemic, after which it drained $120 million from its endowment to stay afloat.
Before 2020, the Met regularly put on 25 productions per season.
