Numbers Returning to Pre-Pan Levels At Yale Art Gallery

It’s taken more than two years but the Yale University Art Gallery has finally returned to pre-pandemic attendance numbers, a significant accomplishment in the arts industry, which was hit hard by COVID-19 lockdowns that began in March 2020.

“We feel pretty confident saying that after watching the numbers over the last six months, we are now at pre- pandemic levels,” says Stephanie Wiles, director of the gallery since 2018.

Wiles offered the qualified statement because attendance has fluctuated, depending on spikes in COVID infection rates over the past two years.

Museums, with visitors able to move freely in large spaces, were the first arts venues that reopened following pandemic lockdowns, while most live performance arts buildings remained closed until last fall. The Yale Art Gallery first reopened in September 2020 on weekends, with a reduction in hours and restrictions on the number of masked visitors. The museum resumed its regular hours in February.

Strong attendance numbers are expected to continue with the museum’s new fall exhibits.

They include “Bámigbóyè: A Master Sculptor of the Yorùbá Tradition,” the first exhibition dedicated to the Nigerian woodcarver. That exhibit and another — “Fazal Sheikh: Exposures” — run Sept. 9 to Jan. 8. Also new at the museum is a Gallery of Numismatics, which opened in May, covering more than four millennium of currency exchange.

Attracting more than 200,000 visitors a year prior to …|CONTINUED|