Citing continued hard economic times, the Albright-Knox Art Gallery said Friday that it will reduce expenses by closing on Wednesdays, starting July 15.

As a result, the Elmwood Avenue museum, which has been shut on Mondays and Tuesdays for years, will move from a five-day week to four days — Thursday through Sunday.

The latest belt-tightening is part of a new three-year plan designed to “actively sustain” the Albright’s artistic mission and staffing levels while addressing “financial challenges resulting from the recent economic recession,” the gallery said.

It follows a one-week May closing, when the entire staff went on unpaid furlough.

When that cost-saving step was announced — the result of a 24 percent drop in revenues and a 21 percent decline in the value of the operating endowment — the Albright warned that additional cost-cutting measures were in the offing, including:

Continuing a hiring moratorium that, since August, has prevented permanently filling the position of public relations director.

Halting travel reserved for fundraising.

Eliminating extended hours on Thursday evenings.

Reducing programming on free Fridays.

Reducing the number of major exhibitions in next year’s gallery budget. Those measures are now in effect or soon will be, under the three-year plan, which was put in place Wednesday, the beginning of the Albright’s 2009-10 fiscal year, said Elaine M. Pyne, director of advancement.

Three years is the length of time the museum’s financial advisers project will be needed “to get back to where we were” before the recession, Pyne said.

Although every facet of gallery operations is subject to continuing cost analysis, the gallery is determined to avoid shedding personnel, said Pyne, who took over as gallery spokeswoman after longtime public information director Cheryl C. Orlick retired last fall.

“We are already at bare bones,” Pyne said. “We’re doing our best to stabilize the operation without cutting staff.”

Despite the cost-cutting, “visitors should expect exciting new exhibitions drawn from our permanent collection,” Albright- Knox Director Louis Grachos said. Those exhibits will “engage audiences and advance scholarship” but be “less expensive to present,” he said.

The three-year plan emphasizes revenue-generating measures such as At Work, a work force development program aimed at local businesses initiated in May, to support its core mission: to acquire, exhibit and preserve modern and contemporary art.

In January, the museum raised the admission price to $12, from $10, and established a partnership program to boost support from businesses. Current sponsors will be asked to further increase their support, Pyne said.

The Albright said that it hopes the Wednesday closings will be temporary and that public hours “can be restored to current levels within the next few years, or when new sources of funding are secured.”

School tours offered through the “Art’scool” program and tours for individuals with special needs offered through the Matter at Hand program will not be affected by this change.