The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art plans to lay off nearly 8% of its workforce, citing "financial challenges" to its operating model.
Twenty-nine SFMOMA employees will be terminated as the museum continues to grapple with increased competition for philanthropic support, low attendance and a $5m structural deficit.
“SFMoMA has an exceptional team—one that is immensely dedicated, passionate and talented. For that reason, among others, today’s reduction is difficult to both implement and share,” Christopher Bedford, the museum’s director, wrote in a public letter published on 7 May. “These are tough decisions, yet they are necessary in setting a sustainable future course for the museum.”
This is the second time Bedford has presided over significant layoffs during his three-year tenure as director.
The cuts will affect nine part-time and 20 full-time workers, as well as eliminating another 13 positions. Twenty-six of the terminated employees are Office and Professional Employees International Union Local 29 members, which is currently engaged in collective bargaining with SFMoMA in an attempt to stall the layoffs. The union said there had been “no notice” to staff regarding these surprise terminations, urging the museum to “cut from the top” instead. Employees now say leadership is "avoiding" them after a scheduled meeting between the union and administrators was cancelled, according to The San Francisco Chronicle.
In his public letter, Bedford emphasised the role the Covid-19 pandemic and the persistently lower attendance have played in the museum’s uncertain future. SFMoMA has revised its annual expected attendance down to 600,000, a by-product of decreased foot traffic and stalled tourism in San Francisco post-pandemic. These figures inspired seven lay-offs and the elimination of thirteen open positions in 2023, in addition to increases in ticket prices.
“We now know that we cannot simply return to a pre-pandemic era,” Bedford wrote. “We must set a new path forward grounded in the facts of the present.”
In his letter, Bedford highlighted attempts to identify new sources of support and potential philanthropic partnerships, underscoring the time and effort it will take to solidify those connections.
Such philanthropic funding has become all the more crucial since the start of Donald Trump's second term as US president, which has ushered in drastic cuts to federal support for the arts. Already, a $210,000 federal grant to improve accessibility at SFMoMA appears to be in jeopardy, according to the San Francisco Standard.
"Establishing new revenue streams and growing philanthropic support, by nature, however, take time," Bedford wrote. "As these efforts take root, we must continue to be vigilant about our budget and make critical decisions to reduce costs and scale the institution in alignment with our current context. Those reductions, unfortunately, include expenses both unrelated and related to our staff."
