Arts & International Affairs: Volume 2, Issue 1 | Page 127

and private sector partners. A number of factors seem to be driving this
strategy for museums. In some cases, museums are experiencing a reduction
in funding or are confronting a need to enhance their funding to finance
their operations. The Guggenheim was in poor financial shape when Thomas
Krens sought out international partners to serve as satellite locations. To a
certain degree, the Hermitage was also looking for new sources of revenue
when it agreed to establish an outpost in Amsterdam. In all cases, they
can leverage their “inventory”—their extensive collections in storage—
to create new streams of revenue. The Louvre was entirely funded by the
French government until ����. Since then, the government only provides
�� percent of its needs (Ajana ����:���). So, it, too, can benefit from new
revenue streams. Travelling exhibits have offset some costs. For example,
loans from the Louvre to the High Museum in Atlanta reportedly netted the
Paris museum $�.� million to use for gallery restoration (Maher ����). When
the Hermitage takes an exhibition abroad, it typically asks for one or one
and a half million dollars (Tromp ����:���). This suggests that satellites are
the next natural step in an already transnational projection of its collections,
partially to augment funds.
The governments who partner with museums have multiple motives that
are both material and ideational. In several instances, the city or region
perceives a need or an opportunity to stimulate its economy. They see the
museum as a magnet or an anchor that can attract tourists and also generate
jobs in the museum itself and in cognate services. Bilbao is the obvious
example of such a strategy. “Supported by the governing conservative Basque
Nationalist Party (PNV) and publicly financed to the tune of $��� million by
various levels of government in the Autonomous Community of the Basque
Country, the Guggenheim Bilbao is the product less of cultural policy than
of economic policy” (Fraser ����:��).
Saadiyat Island is an economic stimulus strategy of a different sort. Whereas
Bilbao sought to reinvigorate a declining, deindustrialized region, Saadiyat
Island is the centerpiece of a new economic development project that is being
created from scratch on an island off Abu Dhabi. Abu Dhabi is extremely
rich. At the same time, there is benefit to be derived from enhancing this
wealth and diversifying its economy away from oil and toward tourism
(Thompson ����:��; HRW ����). The appeal of increased tourism and
possible accompanying job creation also resonated in Amsterdam, Helsinki,
and Las Vegas.
In addition to the commercial prospects, numerous other motivations are in
play when governments partner with museums. For example, related to the
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