Tuesday, December 3, 2024

Is Anna Wintour’s Super Expensive Met Ball Causing Job Losses, Cost Cutting at Museum?

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The Metropolitan Museum of Art has just announced it’s laying off three top execs. They are Cynthia Round, the museum’s senior vice president for marketing and external relations, and Susan Sellers, head of design, as well as chief digital officer, Sree Sreenivasan.

The museum is facing a $10 million deficit, they say.

And yet I reported back in May that Anna Wintour’s annual Met Ball for the Anna Wintour Costume Institute has costs that run close to $4 million a year— separate from tax deductible contributions to the museum.

I don’t know what the other two are paid, but according to the Museum’s 2014 Form 990 (the most recent available, which is really for 2013), Round was getting $225,000. That was nothing compared to Chief Investment Officer Suzanne Brenner ($1.4 mil) or Deputy Investment Officer Lauren Meserve ($1.1 million) or Director and CEO Thomas Campbell (about $1.2 million).

metball 2012But at least those people have something to do with art at the museum. The Met Ball– which was like a Halloween parade this year– has really become an act of ego. And the $3 million plus costs are certainly contributing to that $10 mil deficit.

Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.

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