The two biggest museum scandals in my lifetime started last year. They’re still unfolding, and they’re in plain sight. The first, and I’ve written about this over the year, is the American museum world’s quick addiction to lockdown leisure. Many museums kept the shut sign on their doors as long as they possibly could. “Sooo inconvenient,” museum lazies purred when asked why they weren’t serving the public. “Sooo convenient” to Zoom the day away from home, paychecks by direct deposit, feet up, sipping a cool beverage, the kind with a maraschino cherry and little umbrella bobbing on top.
The panic closed every museum, library, and performing-arts space in the country. Cultural institutions lost billions of dollars. They’ve lost audiences it took years to develop. The public has lost a year of its cultural heritage. Lots of museums are still closed, and it’s not surprising who they are. COVID is the ultimate excuse for not doing what you’re supposed to do.
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