SFMoMA Slashes Twenty-Nine Positions Amid Fiscal Woes
183May 9, 2025
TheSan Francisco Museum of Modern Arthas eliminated twenty-nine roles, or about 7.5 percent of its roughly 430 staff, citing financial difficulties. Twenty full-time and nine part-time positions were cut, a number of which were said to be front-facing or customer-service roles. Twenty-six of those who lost their jobs are members of the Office and Professional Employees International Union Local 29, which is currently involved in contract negotiations with the museum.
The museum additionally eliminated thirteen roles that are currently vacant or that it said would not be backfilled. SFMoMA director Christopher Bedford in astatementchalked up the job losses to low foot traffic in the area, combined with a weak postpandemic rebound in tourism and shifting attitudes to public social gatherings. “Although this decision was necessary, we recognize the impacts on affected individuals, and have provided severance packages, including enhanced packages to our union members above what is outlined in our collective bargaining agreement,” said Bedford in the statement.
Speaking with the San Francisco Standard, Nat Naylor, the San Francisco director of representation for Local 29, said the union had been given less than twenty-four hours’ notice of the cuts and no opportunity to meet and contest them. “We had no chance to discuss the impact of the layoffs, negotiate a stronger severance package, or even assess whether these cuts were justified,” said Naylor, who said that workers were let go in one-on-one meetings and that, according to a witness, some were escorted from the building. An SFMoMA spokesperson said the museum had contacted Naylor the day before the firings to discuss enhanced severance packages, and refuted the claim that employees were escorted from museum premises.
SFMoMA in November 2023 laid off seven staffers and announced that an additional thirteen roles then vacant would not be filled. Though the museum saw its operating deficit fall from $7.6 million in fiscal year 2023 to $3.6 million in fiscal year 2024, it was one of many institutions to lose federal funding in April as the Institute of Museum and Library Services canceled grants under the Trump administration.