譯/王麗娟
When financier Jeffrey Gundlach showered $42.5 million on the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo, New York, it radically altered the museum's long-term agenda.
The gift was predicated on the challenge that the museum raise $50 million more in just three months, with the money going to a major new building as well as an operating fund that would help guarantee its upkeep.
金融家傑佛瑞．岡拉克致贈大禮4,250萬美元給紐約州水牛城奧爾布賴特─諾克斯美術館時，它徹底改變了博物館的長期行事計畫。
這份大禮建立在一項挑戰上，美術館必須在短短3個月內，籌措到額外的5000萬美元資金，這筆資金將投入一棟重要的新建築以及確保它能正常營運的基金。
Such transformative gifts are unusual for any museum, but they are rarer in cities where wealth is not as high as in cosmopolitan behemoths such as New York, Houston or Los Angeles. Smaller cities generally lack the influx of newcomers who are willing to make a splash with a big gift in their adopted city, and their museums depend on luring repeat visitors.
Sometimes, to do that, museums are forfeiting admission fees. As Julian Zugazagoitia, director of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Missouri, puts it: "If a museum is free, you can come and go. You can come often and do one gallery at a time. A museum can be like a restaurant, you can taste one thing at a time."
這種改造性的禮物對任何博物館來說都不尋常，對財力不及紐約、休士頓或洛杉磯這些世界級大都會的一些城市更是難得一見。一般而言，較小城市較難見到樂於捐贈引人注目大禮給他們定居城市的新居民潮，它們的博物館因此只能仰賴吸引回頭客。
有時為達此目的，博物館會放棄收取門票。正如密蘇里州堪薩斯市納爾遜─艾金斯美術館館長朱利安．祖加扎吉蒂亞所說：「倘若美術館免費，你就會來來回回。你可以經常來參觀，一次欣賞一個館。美術館也可像餐館一樣，一次只來品嘗一道美味。」
Indeed, of the 242 museums that are members of the Association of Art Museum Directors, fully one-third are free, said the association's director, Christine Anagnos.
That trend puts particular pressure on institutions to exploit their existing resources and to bond with other local arts organizations in original programs for the public. Whether these programs take place in the museum or outside, the strategy is to lure more visitors who may well become members.
「美術館館長協會」會長克莉絲汀．亞納格諾斯說，事實上，協會的242家美術館成員中，整整有三分之一不收門票。
這種趨勢對這些機構形成特殊的壓力，必須更加善用既有的資源以及和其他在地藝術組織結合，提供原創性展覽供民眾觀賞。這些展覽無論是否是在美術館內舉行，策略都是為了吸引更多可能成為會員的參觀者。
And museums are doing just that. Erik Neil, who took over as director of the Chrysler Museum of Art in Norfolk, Virginia, three years ago, said that 75 percent of the museum's visitors come from within 50 miles.
Neil has worked to involve African-Americans as well as personnel at the nearby Navy base and lesbian, gay, transgender and bisexual groups. Among the efforts: an exhibit of "Women and the Civil Rights Movement" and "Thomas Hart Benton and the Navy."
一些美術館正在這樣做。三年前接手成為維吉尼亞州諾福克市克萊斯勒美術館館長的艾瑞克．尼爾說，他的美術館75％的參觀者來自50英里內。
尼爾努力讓非裔美國人，附近海軍基地人員，以及男女同性戀、跨性別、雙性戀者都參與其中。他的作為包括舉辦「婦女與民權運動展」，以及「湯馬斯．哈特．班頓與海軍展」。
To make the Chrysler Museum more welcoming, Neil has done away with museum guards. Instead, he relies on paid employees to act as hosts to visitors. For example, he said, "If visitors have questions, the employees can get in touch with a curator for the answer."
Directors are also breaking through museum walls to extend the art experience into the streets and on to museum lawns with cocktail evenings for young members or even art events that go beyond the museum doors.
為讓克萊斯勒美術館更受歡迎，尼爾撤掉了美術館的警衛，改而仰賴支薪僱員扮演接待來賓的主人。他舉例說道：「如果參觀者有疑問，這些僱員可以聯繫策展人以提供解答。」
館長們同時突破美術館的厚牆，將藝術經驗延伸到街頭和美術館的草坪上，不僅為年輕會員舉辦雞尾酒夜，還有踏出美術館大門的一些藝術活動。
說文解字看新聞
文/王麗娟
美國一些較小城市的美術館為求維持營運，開始改變生財之道，其中之一是捨棄（forfeit）門票費（admission fee），改而強化會員制（membership program）。
較小城市的美術館如此做，主要是因他們仰賴（depend on ）回頭客（ repeat visitor）一再重回美術館，才有收入可言，因此強化會員制收取年費，對美術館的長期經營更為有利。
文章指出，較小的城市欠缺（lack）如潮水般湧入（flux）的新來者（newcomer），這些可能成為新遊客的新居民潮在大城市較會出現，且這些新居民很可能是樂意為他們所選定居住（卜居）的城市（adopted city）獻上足以引起注目的大禮（make a splash with a big gift）的人。make a splash字面意義為發出水的濺潑聲，意為製造轟動，引起眾人注意。
