Time for another Met Ball! Anna Wintour announced it today. Has something to do with clocks.
The annual spring Halloween party at the Metropolitan Museum is costing more than ever, it seems. For the 2018 Ball, according to the Met’s Form 990, called “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination,” the direct expenses were $4.1 million– a $300,000 increase from 2017. And get this: the total amount the Met spent on grants and fellowships in 2018 came to just $2.7 million– down from $3.44 million the previous year.
Is there something wrong here? Shouldn’t the Met Ball be self-sufficient? What’s the point of having it?
Gross income from the 2018 Costume Institute gala was just $302,500. Total receipts came to $13.1 million. Revenue less contributions was $12.8 million. The Ball is a lot of effort that doesn’t produce much revenue and shows a loss on the Form 990 for Met fundraising projects of over $5.5 million.
Who knows? By the time May 4th rolls around, Anna’s guests may all be wearing Christian LaCroix face masks! The co-chairs for this year: actresses Emma Stone and Meryl Streep, “Hamilton” creator Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Louis Vuitton’s creative director, Nicolas Ghesquière. I’m sure they’ll come up with something. But isn’t there some sponsor to pay off that $4 mil in expenses?
