On 1 May, the governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, allowed all museums in Texas to reopen at 25 per cent of their former capacity. Now, almost a month later, institutions across the state have taken the decision to reopen, introducing previously unthinkable measures to ensure the safety of their visitors.
At the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston thermal imaging devices were used to check the temperature of visitors. A green square above their head indicated they were safe to proceed, a red one indicated the presence of a fever.
Among the first to reopen, the Houston Museum of Natural Sciences, has had no issue in meeting their new quota – 1,000 visitors per day. Joel Bartsch, the CEO, said: “I was pleasantly surprised. We had a very good turnout, and everyone kept their distance. Not one person complained about having to wear a mask.”
Gary Tinterow, director of the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, also voiced his relief at the success of reopening. “I saw that all the visitors were behaving, and that people were excited and relieved,” he continued: “That gave me confidence that if they could do it, we could do it.”
Tinterow is in a more fortunate financial position than most museum directors. Thanks to a $1.3 billion endowment, used to provide around half of its almost $70 million annual budget, the museum was able to retain all their 660 members of staff during their two-month shutdown. Their neighbour, the Houston Museum of Natural Sciences, were forced to furlough some three quarters of staff and is only now able to consider bringing some back.
Tinterow muses that: “Nobody’s going to complain about having only a few visitors in each gallery. Isn’t that actually the ideal scenario?”
His perspective is perhaps best summarised by a sign he keeps on is desk: “Less is More”.
