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The museum has had financial and leadership trouble for several years, with a steady decrease in annual budget over the past decade and an annual deficit in the last fiscal year of $260,000, up from $108,000 in 2006. This summer, staff was reduced from 13 to three, and its longtime director, Bruce Lilly, resigned in July and has not been replaced.

The decision to close comes after the museum learned that it would lose its current home, a space in a former garage that it rents from the county at a reduced rate, when the county sells the building next year.

Board president David Kelly, a Minneapolis lawyer, said the institution hopes to reopen in a new location but has not yet identified a new site or raised any money for a move. Kelly said, "We hope we get community support for this home idea, because it is going to cost some money." He added that attendance was up this year, from 10,500 visitors in 2007, but did not give exact numbers.

For now, most of the museum's collection of works by local and American artists will be stored in a warehouse. Kelly said he hopes to display some items at "somebody else's location."