Guggenheim Cuts 7 Percent of Staff Amid Fiscal Woes
154March 4, 2025
TheSolomon R. Guggenheim Museumin New York on February 28 announced that it would lay off twenty employees, or 7 percent of its workforce, in an effort to improve its financial health. The cuts represent the third such round of measures taken by the museum in the past five years and come just weeks after the Brooklyn Museumrevealedplans to lay off forty-seven employees and significantly reduce its annual programming. The Guggenheim, like many museums around the globe, has been plagued by the slow return of visitors in the wake of the Covid-19 crisis. Its situation is hampered by a decline in international tourism to the US, which has not yet returned to pre-pandemic levels and seems likely to be further dented by US foreign policy.
“Our overall financial picture is not where it needs to be,” wrote Guggenheim director and CEO Mariët Westermann in a staff letter, portions of which were reprinted in theNew York Times. “To be fiscally responsible now and position the museum well for the future, we have made the difficult decision to reorganize some teams and reduce staffing across the museum.”
The cuts at the Manhattan institution touch six departments, including education, archives, publications, and advancement, with curators and management emerging unscathed. Unlike the Brooklyn Museum, which shaved 10 to 20 percent off executives’ salaries, the Guggenheim will not be cutting pay for top executives.
The Times reported that the Local 2110 chapter of the United Auto Workers, which represents unionized workers at the Guggenheim, received no advance notice regarding the layoffs, and that it had filed a grievance regarding the matter and issued a call for negotiations. “We will take whatever steps are necessary to protect our members’ jobs,” union representative Olga Brudastova told the publication.