We are announcing support campaign “Ticket to the Future”

Nonprofit MO Museum has lost its major revenue of ticket sales due to COVID-19. Tickets account for up to 50% of the MO’s budget, and the losses caused by the pandemic stand at around EUR 250,000. On 27 April, MO Museum will not open its doors yet. Hence, we are announcing a support campaign “Ticket to the Future” in the hope of community support. We also promise that for each ticket purchased, we will present the Lithuanian health-care workers with the same amount of museum tickets valid throughout the year.

“In this challenging time, every kind of support is very important to us. So we offer a “Ticket to the Future” – a ticket for you, your friends or people who think alike. You will be able to use it as soon as we open again, meanwhile, today this help for us is vital. We believe that together we can preserve MO Museum the way it is – the way we have grown to love it and become proud of it. And we promise that based on the amount of purchased MO’s “Tickets to the Future” we will donate the same number of museum tickets to Lithuanian health-care workers,” Director at MO Milda Ivanauskienė presents the opportunity to help the museum.

According to Ivanauskienė, the funding for the museum projects from the Lithuanian Council for Culture has helped the museum shift the existing budget but does not yet reflect the extent of additional support needed. Private sponsors and patrons have already sponsored the museum this season and it will be great a if they extend their annual contracts and do not reduce their support. Therefore, the community is now being addressed, all those who have already been or are still planning to visit MO and who care about the future of the museum. They are all invited to support the museum and buy a Ticket to the Future.

Other means of support

In addition to the Ticket to the Future campaign, the MO Museum team has prepared other ways of support, too. The second way to help the museum is to buy a Museum Membership – MOdernist card – for yourself or your friends. The third option is to provide 1.2% of your personal income tax support to MO Museum, which will be directed to the development of children’s education in 2020 and 2021. And the fourth way is to transfer the selected amount as a donation by bank transfer. All information is available HERE.

Museum remains closed for the time being

The director of the museum adds that the key moment when it would seem reasonable to open the museum is the lifting of the quarantine or further easing of the quarantine as well as the movement of people.

“As long as the main message to the residents during the quarantine remains “do not leave your home, if it is not necessary”, we will wait until mid-May, when we hope the situation is more stable. At present, the opening of the museum would only worsen the already difficult financial situation. We expect losses of about EUR 250,000 due to the closure and the related postponement of our plans for 2020,” says Director at MO.

Upcoming plans

While the museum is closed, the MO team does not intend to give up. During the quarantine, we were one of the first to react to the situation and together with our initiative #menasnaMO offered inspiring content and virtual exhibitions online.

We are now preparing for the moment when we will be able to enjoy everyday visitors again. And we are already thinking about what museum experiences we will be able to offer given the new circumstances.

“We always strive to enrich the museum visitors’ experiences. We are creating a programme on the MO Museum terrace and in the Sculpture Garden. We will open the season of Vilnius Talking Statues and will hear three more statues talk. We are also planning new experiences in the museum, and we will keep you informed about them soon,” Ivanauskienė shares the nearest plans.

The quarantine has forced adjustments to the opening plans of the MO Museum’s big exhibition, “Why Is It Hard to Love?”. Exhibition installation works, which began in early March, have been terminated and the exhibition was not opened on 4 April as planned.

“Foreign curators Saskia Boddeke and Peter Greenaway did not manage to complete the installation of this exhibition. Currently, we are dependent not only on the lifting of the quarantine in Lithuania but also on the resumption of flights. So far, it is difficult to say the exact exhibition opening date, but immediately after the situation changes, we will try to open it as soon as possible,” adds Director at MO.