Exclusive | Are China’s private art museums in crisis? Cash flow issues, closures threaten sector

Poor economy and budget cuts are forcing closures in Shenzhen and other cities, while UCCA has to cope with cash flow challenges

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The UCCA Centre for Contemporary Art in Beijing. The centre has come under financial pressure recently, with insiders saying it withheld wages from January to June, and that its plans for its Shanghai branch are unclear.

Published: 7:15am, 28 Jul 2025Updated: 2:38pm, 4 Oct 2025

Corrected [2:37pm, 4 Oct, 2025]

[2:37pm, 4 Oct, 2025]
An earlier version of this story said that most UCCA staff did not receive their full pay from January to June. This has since been amended to say that salaries of most senior staff were delayed between March and June for up to 20 days. In addition, a reference to UCCA struggling to claim payments from international partners has been removed.

A wave of closures and cutbacks is sweeping through China’s private art museums, ringing alarm bells about the sector’s sustainability and raising questions about the outlook for one of the world’s biggest art markets.

The Jupiter Museum of Art, in Shenzhen, announced its shutdown in June. Days later, Qingdao’s TAG Art Museum followed suit. Others, such as Ennova Art Museum in Langfang, founded by the company behind Hong Kong-listed ENN Energy Holdings, have been dormant for months.

Even the Beijing-headquartered UCCA Centre for Contemporary Art has come under financial pressure. Insiders say the pioneering 18-year-old institution withheld some wages of senior staff from March to June.

The current crisis in China is a result of corporate backers tightening their budgets, consumers curtailing their discretionary spending, and rising costs, people working at the museums tell the Post.

The UCCA was founded in Beijing’s 798 Art District in 2007 by the late Belgian collectors Guy and Myriam Ullens and is one of the oldest non-profit contemporary art centres in mainland China. Under long-time director Philip Tinari, it has maintained a solid international reputation for its ambitious and timely responses to contemporary trends.

UCCA’s third museum, in Shanghai, opened in 2021 and occupies three floors of the Edge (pictured), a commercial building. Photo: UCCA

The non-profit foundation, backed by private investors, has expanded its footprint aggressively, opening three more branches: in Beidaihe in 2018, Shanghai in 2021 and Yixing in 2024.

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.css-sioo19{color:#c79a00;}Exclusive | Are China’s private art museums in crisis? Cash flow issues, closures threaten sector

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Poor economy and budget cuts are forcing closures in Shenzhen and other cities, while UCCA has to cope with cash flow challenges

Exclusive | Are China’s private art museums in crisis? Cash flow issues, closures threaten sector

Poor economy and budget cuts are forcing closures in Shenzhen and other cities, while UCCA has to cope with cash flow challenges