Although it has gained a reputation as one of the best museums in the nation, the Detroit Institute of Arts faces a host of financial woes that threaten its operations, reports the Detroit Free Press.

The museum lost $17-million in 2008, the latest in a series of shortfalls over the past decade that total nearly $100-million. Unlike other museums comparable in size, the Detroit museum receives little government support and has a weak endowment. Its $100-million endowment provides only 10 percent of its revenue.

Graham Beal, the museum’s director, says, “It’s a looming crisis. We have to address it, and with the economy, we don’t have time to take a year to go through a strategic-planning process.”