INDIANAPOLIS MUSEUM OF ART TO PAY OFF OVER $17 MILLION IN DEBT
The Indianapolis Museum of Art has announced that it will be able to pay off more than $17 million in debt by the end of 2016. For the first time since 2004, the museum will owe less than $100 million. “We are on the road to financial stability,” chief financial officer Jerry Wise said. “Paying down the principal on our debt is a significant step in ensuring a sustainable future for the IMA.”
The museum currently pays approximately $3.5 million each year in interest payments. Director Charles L. Venable has worked towards substantially lowering this cost since he joined the institution in 2012. “Our significant interest payments hinder the organization, as they consume funds that otherwise could be used to fund IMA programs and staff,” he said. The board recently extended Venable’s contract with the museum to 2026. In the next ten years, he will be in charge of implementing a business model that should lower the rate at which the museum draws from the endowment fund to less than 5 percent. When Venable became director the draw rate was almost 8 percent. After cutting costs across the organization, the budgeted rate for the upcoming fiscal year is 5.25 percent. “We have been able to do more with less, and continue to grow with a record number of members. We are improving not only financially, but also qualitatively as an organization,” Wise said.
According to the Indianapolis Business Journal, Venable inherited a museum that had lower-than-expected attendance rates, high operating costs, and an unhealthy dependence on the endowment. He has combated these problems by making large staff reductions, engaging with former donors, making strategic hires—specifically in the marketing and audience development departments—and spearheading a transition from an admission free organization to a charging institution.
“We want to be the epicenter of the visual art world in this state,” Venable said. “That means we have to reach out and, over time, figure out how to take this organization outside of our verdant campus. We won’t do it in six months, but ten to fifteen years is a time horizon where you can get a lot accomplished.”
