CHICAGO – The Art Institute of Chicago received two recent pieces of good news, announcing its largest cash gift ever and having Moody's Investors Service revise its outlook to positive.
Moody's revision of the A1 rating from stable impacts $202 million of outstanding debt.
"The outlook revision reflects expectations of continued strong cash flow and prospects for significant debt reduction while maintaining liquidity," Moody's analysts wrote. "The outlook also reflects favorable operating performance, with at least steady student demand, donor support and museum visitorship."
The rating recognizes the Art Institute's diverse mission as a large, internationally known art museum and prestigious art school.
The museum saw 1.5 million visitors last year and has an art school enrollment of 3,500.
Challenges include the museum's debt structure with bullet maturities and competitive pressures on both museum attendance and school enrollment.
The museum announced a cash bequest on Tuesday from longtime benefactor and art collector Dorothy Braude Edinburg, who died last year. The $35 million is the largest single bequest of funds received by the museum and Edinburg earmarked the funds for new art purchases.
"We will use this incredible funding to carry Dorothy's vision forward — to inspire, educate, and delight future generations through the collection and presentation of exceptional art," said museum president Douglas Druick.
The Art Institute last year received its largest gift of art ever in a 42-piece collection valued in published reports at $400 million. Under an agreement with the owners, the works will remain on public display for at least 50 years. The collection includes two Andy Warhol self-portraits and well-known Warhol works of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Elizabeth Taylor. The collection includes paintings, sculptures, and photographs by artists such as Roy Lichtenstein, Jasper Johns and Jeff Koons.
The museum was established in 1879.
Its permanent collection includes more than 300,000 works of works of art, including paintings, sculpture, prints, drawings, photographs, and decorative arts and textiles.
