In an all-staff meeting this morning, February 7, Brooklyn Museum Director Anne Pasternak confirmed that the institution would implement layoffs due to a persistent budget deficit that is expected to reach $10 million by the end of the current fiscal year.
The staff cuts will affect 47 full- and part-time workers, according to District Council 37, one of the unions representing workers at the museum.
To address what Pasternak described as a “significant cash flow problem,” the Brooklyn Museum will also be instituting a hiring freeze for any position that is not “critical for financial growth” and salary cuts of up to 20% for members of senior leadership, she said in today’s meeting. In 2023, Pasternak earned $1,012,633, according to the most recent publicly available filings.
Other planned cost-saving measures include reducing the number of exhibitions that take place each year and increasing the endowment draw, though legal limits restrict the museum from relying too heavily on withdrawals.
Pasternak cited factors including growing inflation affecting everyday costs and government contributions that “have not kept up with rising expenses,” combined with an increasing operating budget that stands at $64 million for the 2025 fiscal year, as contributing to the deficit. Salaries make up about 70% of that operating budget, she said.
“ We cannot continue to operate with the growing deficit we are carrying. No organization can continue in this way,” Pasternak told staff, explaining that the museum would implement “difficult cuts and strategic investments” to help bring its finances into a more stable position.
The institution’s endowment totaled $175.2 million for the fiscal year ending June 2023. That is significantly smaller than the endowment of comparable institutions, Pasternak noted. (The Museum of Modern Art, for example, has an endowment of around $1.75 billion.) The Brooklyn Museum director also said that the museum offers pay-what-you-wish admission for locals, who make up more than half of its public, a model that “limits earned revenue.”
The meeting confirmed fears percolating throughout the museum this week after leadership informed unions on Wednesday of planned staff cuts. Yesterday, Local 1502, a branch of the District Council 37 union representing 130 workers at the museum, issued a statement urging the museum to halt the layoffs and “engage in good-faith discussions with DC37 Local 1502 to explore alternative solutions to financial challenges.”
In today’s meeting, Pasternak stated that the museum would “engage in negotiations with both unions as stipulated in our contracts.” But Local 1502 President Wilson Souffrant told Hyperallergic yesterday that the union should have been notified of the museum’s intent to lay off workers with more notice.
Impacted workers are expected to hear from Human Resources about their employment status throughout the day.
This is a developing story.
Pasternak should share the salary squeeze by halving hers. Her $1M+ compensation is twice what is reasonable. And I hope this deficit makes them realize that chasing entry fees by privileging social justice content over aesthetic/artistic skills just alienates their natural audience of those engaged with experiencing substantial art. Where are their former inventive takes on historical art or scholarly interpretations of current modes? And their re-installed permanent collection of American art is a travesty.
I couldn’t agree more, these salaries are outrageous and increasingly common, while the museum staff who hold the institution together are paycheck to paycheck or expendable.
Pasternak should initially look at her personal gains and salary and make adjustments before she asks others to suffer due to what may possibly have been decisions made under her leadership to not have addressed long standing problems. Do we still define this as “leadership”?
I’ve often published I wouldn’t want to trade jobs with museum or gallery directors and for that matter, university presidents trying to appease the unhappiness, most often from unrelated issues, of employees, artists, board of directors, students, patrons or visitors, by setting reasonable standards. But that’s what they, maybe naively, signed up for, probably never thinking they would have to deal with issues totally out of their control, the likes of Gaza, Covid or a Nazi-like talking head USA President cutting grants right and left to benefit the few. I have no idea what the going rate for Pasternak’s position in similar institutions and cities. Seems to me, a humble welder. extraordinary. From my perspective, attempting to destroying our DEI sanctuaries of art, to push our displaced frustration is like throwing the baby out with the bath water. Once we identify the negative force, we can best “approach” a negotiable resolution to unify our collective unhappiness and move on with art, for art’s sake. Disclaimer: my goal is being “calm.”