The Tremendous Arts Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF), the umbrella establishment overseeing the de Younger and Legion of Honor museums within the metropolis, laid off 12 staff, citing a 20% drop in museum guests because the pandemic and “increased operational costs.”
The layoffs affected roughly 3.5% of FAMSF’s complete workforce, which contains roles funded by town and others supported by a non-public nonprofit that oversees the museums. Service Workers Worldwide Union 1021 (SEIU 1021), the unit representing some FAMSF positions, knowledgeable Hyperallergic that 4 union positions had been affected: a public packages coordinator, a museum technician, an information providers affiliate, and a publicist.
“The union stewards were deeply saddened to learn about these layoffs impacting our members and have been working to ensure our colleagues are compensated correctly for their years of service,” a spokesperson for SEIU 1021 mentioned in a press release.
The union mentioned imminent layoffs weren’t talked about throughout latest negotiation conferences, and mentioned pay cuts to management positions must be thought-about sooner or later as an alternative of layoffs.
A spokesperson for the FAMSF instructed Hyperallergic that the layoffs didn’t affect city-funded positions, which embrace safety and upkeep workers, however declined to state which jobs had been terminated. The cuts had been made “across the organization,” CEO and Director Thomas Campbell mentioned within the assertion.
Nonetheless, these funds suggestions weren’t the rationale for FAMSF’s latest cuts, a spokesperson from the group clarified to Hyperallergic, including that metropolis appropriations will not be being diminished in Fiscal Yr 2026.
“San Francisco has experienced a prolonged period of softening tourism, which has led to reduced attendance at our museums,” Campbell mentioned. “We faced a financial gap that could not be closed without this action.”
Set up view of the 2023 De Younger Open (picture John Seed/Hyperallergic)
Daniel Lurie took workplace in January as town’s new mayor, changing Breed, and proposed slight will increase to the museums’ funding in his funds signed into legislation yesterday, July 24. FAMSF’s metropolis appropriations elevated by 3% this yr, the FAMSF spokesperson mentioned, however shall be directed largely towards utility and insurance coverage prices.
SEIU 1021 opposed FAMSF’s preliminary plan to chop workers as required by town, which might have included the elimination of 19 city-funded safety guards and diminished working hours. The cuts would have additionally predominantly affected staff who’re individuals of colour, the establishment mentioned.
The Legion of Honor and de Younger museums are removed from the one establishments to report a post-pandemic squeeze. In Might, the San Francisco Museum of Fashionable Artwork laid off 29 staff, accounting for 7.5% of the establishment’s complete workers, citing a $5 million deficit worsened by a post-pandemic vacationer hunch. The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum laid off 20 workers members abruptly in April, citing comparable pandemic-related constraints. Additionally in New York, the Brooklyn Museum narrowly averted additional workers cuts due to a $2.5 million windfall from town final month.
