The Met Announces Record Attendance Despite Layoffs

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has been dealing with financial issues, but that hasn't kept visitors away.

The Met announced Thursday they saw a record number of visitors over the past fiscal year, ending June 30. Overall attendance reached 6.7 million total visitors over the 12-month period, an increase of 420,000 from 2014-15. Both the Met Fifth Avenue, it's main location, and the Met Cloisters saw increases in attendance. There were over 200,000 more visitors at the Fifth Avenue and Cloisters locations.

One of the reasons for the overall increase in visitors is the addition of a third location, the Met Breuer, at Madison Avenue and 75th Street on the Upper East Side. The new location, which houses modern and contemporary art, has seen 185,000 visitors since it opened in March.

The Met has had its share of financial difficulties over the past year, though. The Met is operating at a $10 million per year deficit and is looking to cut its overall deficit by $30 million by slashing as many as 100 jobs at the museum. And while an increase in attendees is certainly not a bad thing, it doesn't necessarily mean an increase in revenue. The museum has only a "suggested" entry fee of $25 per person.

"China: Through the Looking Glass," which explored Chinese influence on Western fashion and ran through September 2015, was the most heavily attended exhibit with 815,000 people. The technology and fashion exhibit "Manus X Machina" has drawn over half a million visitors since opening in May. Cornelia Parker's "Transitional Object (PsychoBarn)" — which showcases the house from "Psycho" on the roof of the Met — has drawn 340,000 visitors in its first four months of being open.

>>Read more about the Met's financial difficulties

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons