Philadelphia City Council members and local advocates rally to keep Academy of Natural Sciences museum open

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Philadelphia City Council members and advocates for the Academy of Natural Sciences museum rallied at City Hall and introduced legislation today to protest the museum’s closure. It’s the oldest natural history museum in the U.S. and opened almost 200 years ago.

The museum announced it will close on Sept. 30, though the scientific research and public education programs will continue.

Councilmembers Nina Ahmad, Jeffery Young Jr. and Anthony Phillips all said they were surprised the museum never reached out to the city ahead of its public announcement that it would close.

“Their leadership did not approach Philadelphia City Council to say that they were in dire need of support. Not one time,” said Phillips. “That is irresponsible.”

Today, Councilmembers Ahmad and Young Jr. introduced a resolution to hold hearings on the museum’s upcoming closure.

Ahmad said the resolution to hold hearings will include subpoena power, so that they can compel people to testify.

She said she took a quick look at the publicly available financial statements from the Academy, but would also like to see other audit reports, as well as how management discussed the closure before announcing it to the public.

“We have to band together to think outside the box to see what solutions we have. But we weren’t even given that opportunity, and a decision was made,” she said. “So I do think that there is room for us to think creatively around this and to give this museum another 200 years of life.”

She said the city has rallied together on short notice to save cultural icons before, citing an example from 2006, when thousands of Philadelphians, the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts rallied to raise $68 million in 45 days to hold onto an important painting of surgeon Samuel D. Gross, by Philadelphia native Thomas Eakins.

At the rally, Ahmad suggested a few ways the city could save the museum, including asking the Philadelphia Orphans’ Court to access the institution’s endowment; asking for emergency state funding; issuing bonds; or getting the building placed on the Philadelphia Register of Historic Places to access special tax credits.

The announcement that the museum would close shocked fans, including 12-year-old Jack Erfer, who spoke at the rally and said he would sometimes visit the museum twice a week.

“It is a disgrace to just close down a place that past generations of children have been able to enjoy. Future generations of children deserve the same experiences,” he said. “​​If university administrators can make seven-figure salaries, then surely they can be expected to have experienced fundraising to try to keep the museum open.”

Last week, local advocates organized a rally in front of the museum to protest the closure, which hundreds attended, including Councilmember Ahmad.

Deputy Mayor Trish Wellenbach is working as a senior advisor to the Academy of Natural Sciences during this transition, and Mayor Cherelle Parker and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro are also working on long-term plans for the institution, according to a statement from the president of Drexel University, which manages the Academy’s endowment, following a 2011 merger.

In a statement, Drexel and the Academy said they did not make the decision to close the museum lightly, adding that they had worked for years to rebuild attendance, had looked at different alternatives, and that closing the museum protects the collection and scientific mission and “represents an important step toward addressing the Academy’s financial challenges.”

They added that they remained actively engaged with the governor and the mayor, and that there is a “a shared commitment and growing momentum toward a durable path forward.”

It is possible for the city or state government to step in to save the museum, said Brian Curtice, a dinosaur paleontologist who runs Fossil Crates, a business that provides scientifically accurate fossil replicas for exhibits.

“The good thing about politics is dinosaurs are fairly neutral across the world, and a politician can come in and say, ‘I saved the museum,'” he said. “This is one of those rare areas where all of the political parties are going to think saving a museum looks good, unless they start digging into the finances and realize why they have to save it to begin with, and then they’re gonna go, ‘I gotta be fiscally responsible.'”

The financial trouble at the Academy’s museum goes back years. In 2011, the Academy merged with Drexel University because of finances. Last fall, the museum cut back its hours to only be open on the weekends, citing federal funding cuts and a drop in visitors since the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Most museums lose money,” he said. “Museums are not meant to be profitable entities, they’re meant to be places to muse, places to learn.”

Curtice has worked with museums around the world, though he has not visited the Academy of Natural Sciences. He did a detailed analysis of the Academy and Drexel’s public financial statements over the years, and concluded that: the Academy’s endowment does not generate enough interest to cover expenses; fundraising plummeted in recent years, so Drexel had to start covering more of the cost; and that Drexel faces financial challenges of its own.

Ahmad also said that with the sudden news about the museum’s closing, she plans to contact Creative Philadelphia, a city office in charge of arts and culture, to check on the health of other important cultural institutions in the city.