NYC’s School of Visual Arts Lays Off Staffers
182Aug. 26, 2025
TheSchool of Visual Artsin New York has laid off roughly thirty employees, citing “financial challenges” as behind the cuts,Hyperallergicreports. Fiscal woes are also said to have led to course cancellations and funding shortfalls at the for-profit art school. The news arrives mere months after about 1,200 SVA teachers—many of them adjunct instructors reckoning with job precarity and a lack of benefits— joined the United Auto Workers Union, which also represents faculty at higher-learning institutions including Columbia University, New York University, and the Parsons School of Design. The union reported that they believed the layoffs touched a variety of departments and positions, with undergraduate and graduate programs affected alongside the library and support personnel.
“Those affected have been notified, and we are providing support during this transition,” said SVA president David Rhodes in an August 5 email to staff that was reviewed byHyperallergic. “We are deeply grateful for their contributions, and for your dedication and resilience as we weather these very challenging times in higher education.”
“Faculty have been hit by significant course cancellations due to low enrollment and budget shortfalls,” Justin Elm, an organizer for SVA Faculty United, told Hyperallergic in a statement. “Losing a class is not the same as being fired, but it represents a direct loss of wages, benefits, and stability, with no guarantee of being able to teach the course again in the future.”
SVA saw a decline in total undergraduate and graduate enrollment between fall 2023 and fall 2024, from 4,016 to 3,812. Founded in 1947 as the Cartoonists and Illustrators School, the institution counts among its alumni such artists as Keith Haring, Kaws, Christine Sun Kim, Elizabeth Peyton, and Lorna Simpson as well as comic book giants Steve Ditko and Peter Bagge.
“We are deeply disappointed that the administration has chosen to address financial challenges by laying off staff, canceling classes, and placing the burden squarely on its most valuable asset: its workers,” said Elm.