Daily News from New York, New York • 488

FRIDAY APRIL 25, 1988 ji ii iiii ji 1 1 1 1 9 Mill S'llilfclM in i if i Charles RtippmanDaily News Princess Paola of Belgium painting near bronze of "Man Drinking Booze" at opening of Belgian exhibit at museum Wedesday. Maoseuinro Osaadlgeti pctae ffarr from piretft By MARK LIEBERMAN Officials of the Brooklyn Museum, the world's seventh largest, are bracing for what could be a devastating and perhaps fatal municipal budget cut that could force the 83-year-old institution into further cutbacks of its already reduced hours of operation. Museum officials held a lengthy budget meeting yesterday in anticipation of Mayor Koch's formal budget proposal, due May 8. The mayor's preliminary budget, unveiled in January, projected a $200,000 slash in city funds for the museum. Museum director Michael Botwinick said following the session that his staff would prepare a series of recommendations to the museum board for cutbacks to reflect decreased city support The cutbacks under consideration, he said, include: get about 20 of their operating funds from the city.

Museum officials acknowledged relatively small public support though memberships at the Brooklyn facility. Botwinick said a recent survey indicated that the Metropolitan Museum of Art has more Brooklyn Heights residents as members than the entire individual and family membership of the Brooklyn Museum. 'Responsible share' He said that while the Brooklyn Museum receives a "responsible share" of corporate support in its annual fund-raising campaign, it does not receive corporate support for major exhibitions to the same extent that other cultural institutions in the city and nation do. "Let's face it. one top museum aide added, "the corporations are going to put their money where they can get the most publicity." Although city budget aides hinted that Koch's formal budget proposal could A 60 reduction in the pupils who visit to the museum each year.

A 50 cut in the museum's art school classes. Reducing the number of yearly exhibitions at the museum from eight to five or six. Closing the museum on weekdays. Botwinick also warned that the museum, now the only free major museum in the city, might be forced to impose an admission fee. "I'm not saying we're going to do it," he said, "but with the kind of city crunch we're getting, admission will be required or we will not have the money to keep the building secured." According to city budget officials, the Brooklyn Museum is more heavily dependent on city support than any other major cultural institution in the city, receiving about 31 of its operating budget from City Hall.

Other institutions provide some relief for the Brooklyn Museum, skeptics pointed to the museum's major fund-raising event, slated for tomorrow night, as indicative of the lack of government concern. Although the event, the museum's 23d annual ball, will honor Cultural Affairs Commissioner Henry Goldzahler, along with Rene Van Hauwermeiren, the consul general of Belgium, Koch is not scheduled to attend. No plans to attend Brooklyn's Gov. Carey, according to his office, also has no plans to attend the affair. The governor is a member of the "committee of honor" set up to arrange the event, which celebrates, the 150th anniversary of modern Belgium and the museum's major spring exhibition, Belgian Art: 1880-1914.

Proceeds of the ball go to support museum activities. Officials at the institution said Belgian banks and businesses in the metropolitan area were supporting the event, along with Abraham St Straus. Ticket prices for the ball range from a benefactor table of 10 for $1,000 to a pair of tickets for $125. Botwinick said he was not surprised at the failure of the museum to draw the broad community support that museums in other cities do. "We're not the only museum in town," he said.

No 'doomsday' warnings The effect of the expected city budget cuts, Botwinick said, will be compounded by higher costs due to inflation and the loss of federal and corporate matching grants. He said the museum would not attempt to fight the threatened cuts with "doomsday" warnings, insisting "we will be responsible." But, he said, any cuts would require the museum, which attracts an estimated 500,000 visitors annually, to shift its emphasis from displays to maintenance of the artifacts in its collections. "We have $1 billion worth of art here and it's our responsibility to make sure it is here for our children and our children's children," he said. "That means we will have to translate any dollars we have to basic care and njaintenance-r-a careUiking unction." After opening ceremonies, other museum-goers look over painting that is part of exhibit set to run through Oune 29.