The Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies issued some stunning news last week: in response to financial difficulties blamed on the economic downturn, the Spertus—which consists of a college, a museum, and a library—is making operational cuts so drastic they’ll practically shut down portions of the glossy, Krueck & Sexton-designed building that opened less than two years ago. As of July 1 the Joyce and Avrum Gray & Family Children’s Center will be open only two Sundays per month. And by mid-August the Spertus Museum, which is located on the top two floors of the ten-story building, houses an extensive collection of Judaica, and offers ambitious gallery programming, will have its hours reduced to the same two short Sundays plus a single monthly Thursday evening.
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Bottom line: the Spertus can’t afford to keep the most public parts of its lush quarters open.
The cuts—which Lewis says were made with a scalpel, not a hatchet—also include a 26 percent reduction in staff (16 of 60 full-time employees were cut), shorter hours for the Asher Library, and fewer course offerings at the college. A kosher cafe run by Wolfgang Puck was eliminated in March—a move that Lewis expects will save $100,000 annually. In the latest round of layoffs, which took effect this week, casualties included senior curator Staci Boris. Museum director Rhoda Rosen, who weathered a controversy last year that ended with the Spertus caving to pressure and shutting down an exhibit, has survived this as well, though her staff has reportedly been reduced to two people.
Powell’s Bookstores is on its way to reducing its stake in the material world. The Burnham Park store (828 S. Wabash)—an adjunct to the warehouse there—is currently running a 50-percent-off-everything closing sale. It’ll disappear by the end of summer, when the company moves warehouse operations to a spot near Midway that won’t be open to the public. And the north-side branch building (2850 N. Lincoln), owned by founder Michael Powell—who also owns Powell’s Books in Portland, Oregon—has a “for sale” sign on it. Powell’s Chicago partner Brad Jonas doesn’t think it’s likely to go fast in the current market, but the writing’s on the wall. He says a recent jump in property taxes turned it from marginally profitable to marginally not.
