American museums are always strongly affected by the consequences of the COVID crisis, and do not hesitate to make layoffs to restore their accounts. In 2020, the Metropolitan Museum of Art had reduced its 20 %workforce, after being forced to close its doors during the pandemic. Last month, the Brooklyn Museum announced the dismissal of around forty agents due to inflation and the decline in the attendance of school groups after the end of the pandemic. It is now the Guggenheim museum’s turn to announce the abolition of 20 positions, or 7 % of its workforce. Six departments are concerned, including that of education, with the exception of conservatives and senior executives.
This is the third wave of layoffs at the Guggenheim Museum in five years, despite the efforts of the director Mariët Westermann, in office since 2024, to compensate for the deficits caused by the drop in the number of visitors: increase in entry prices, reduction of the duration of exhibitions. “The general financial situation is still not what it should be”said the director.
The Guggenheim museum, however, did not give any indications on its deficit. Its operating budget in 2023 amounted to $ 72 million (almost the same amount in euros) and its endowment fund at $ 125 million. Salaries represent around 60 % of the budget.
At the same time, the Guggenheim opening project in Abu Dhabi, long delayed, should open its doors in 2025, but no official date has yet been communicated.
