Culture Chronicle

Reducing Pay for New York Cultural Executives The New York Times - April 25, 2010 By Robin Pogrebin And Kate Taylor

For years chief executives at many major cultural organizations in New York City enjoyed salary growth that was buoyed by a booming economy and rivaled that seen in corporate America. Compensation increases of 25 percent to 50 percent over five years were not unusual, and in some cases packages nearly doubled.

Reynold Levy's annual compensation to run Lincoln Center topped $1 million. Carnegie Hall began paying Clive Gillinson more than $800,000. Glenn D. Lowry, director of the Museum of Modern Art, earned $2.7 million in the year that ended in June 2008, including several one-time bonuses and the cost of his apartment in the tower beside the museum.

But in the past 18 months these cultural executives and many others have frozen their salaries or taken cuts as arts budgets have shrunk. Mr. Lowry, for example, has twice agreed to salary reductions, and last year he received a package worth roughly half of what he took in during 2008. For the full article, click here