Guggenheim Axes Ten Employees

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York has laid off ten staffers, or about 2.5 percent of its workforce, theNew York Timesreports. Among those let go are two deputy directors and several longtime employees of the communications and visitor services department. The museum, which this past summerraisedthe price of admission from $25 to $30, attributed the layoffs to the same factors that had led to the price increase, among them declining attendance, a shrinking number of members, and the inflation-driven rising costs of labor, insurance, and shipping fees.

“Over the past months, we have taken proactive steps to reduce our deficit by raising admission fees and cutting costs wherever feasible,” museum spokesperson Sara Fox said in a statement. “Regrettably, the museum will not have the ability to support our previous number of staff.”RelatedVINCENT HONORÉ (1975-2023)FORGOTTEN BOTTICELLI PAINTING RECOVERED FROM PRIVATE HOME Maida Rosenstein, director of organizing for Local 2110, the chapter of the United Auto Workers under which about 150 Guggenheim workers are organized, said the union was blindsided by the layoffs, which she called “a real slap in the face” to longtime staffers who were let go. Local 2110 represents two of the dismissed employees; Rosenstein said the union, which only months agowon its first contractwith the museum after more than two years of bargaining, was attempting to meet with management to discuss the layoffs. The New York institution is the latest of several US arts institutions to send staff packing in an attempt to regain financial footing: The Dallas Museum of Art in Octobershedtwenty staffers and announced it would close on Tuesdays for the foreseeable future; despite what it painted as a bleak financial picture, the museum is still going ahead with a planned multimillion-dollar expansion.

In November, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Artcuttwenty staff positions, saying attendance had declined by 35 percent from 2019 levels. As well, the Guggenheim is still struggling to open its Abu Dhabi outpost; last month, it named Mariët Westermann as its next director. Westermann, who is vice chancellor at New York University’s Abu Dhabi campus, is expected to get the beleaguered project over its 2026 goal line. The layoffs “will better position the Guggenheim to be a future-ready, sustainable museum while continuing to uphold our mission,” said Fox..