Brooklyn Museum to Cut Staff, Reduce Programming
167Feb. 8, 2025
TheBrooklyn Museumon February 7 announced a series of cost-cutting measures that include laying off more than forty employees, slashing the average number of exhibitions produced annually from twelve to nine, and canceling weeknight events with poor attendance or inconsistent funding. TheNew York Times, which broke the story, additionally reported that senior management would see their pay cut by between 10 and 20 percent. It is hoped that the measures will lessen the fiscal pressures on the institution, which is projected to be running a $10 million financial deficit by June, when its fiscal year ends.
Brooklyn Museum director Anne Pasternak in a letter to staffers seen by theTimeswrote that the institution had been “experiencing strong headwinds,” further noting, “Inflation has dramatically impacted our operating budget, adding millions of dollars to everyday costs and outpacing funding.” Pasternak named “slow post-pandemic attendance recovery across the field” as another factor.
The cuts are the first the museum has made since laying off about 30 staffers in July 2020 as the pandemic raged, with Pasternak already having taken a pay cut in April. Among the jobs on the chopping block are union and nonunion positions. The union on February 5 sent the institution a cease-and-desist letter in an attempt to stop the layoffs of those it represents without sufficient notice.
“We are dismayed that the museum would choose to balance the budget on the backs of union members,” Wilson Souffrant, president of Local 1502, a division of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, told the Times. Union leaders have expressed concerns that job losses come even as the museum has recently splashed out on celebrating its two hundredth anniversary with a rebranding campaign, a new restaurant, and an exhibition themed around gold. In announcing the job cuts, the museum said it planned to continue forging ahead with its 2026 renovation of its Arts of Africa collection.
The Times reported that total employee compensation has increased by $17 million in the past decade. Pasternak affirmed that the institution had nearly doubled its board and grown its endowment as well as its contributed and earned revenues, but said that costs were higher than revenues. “Wages comprise our largest operational line item—approximately 70% of our operating budget,” she and other officials wrote, “and a financial realignment sadly requires reductions in our team.”