Brooklyn Museum Will Lay Off Employees and Scale Back Exhibitions

The Brooklyn Museum said Friday that it would soon cut more than 40 employees — between 10 and 13 percent of its work force — to alleviate the pressures of a financial deficit that is projected to reach $10 million by the end of its fiscal year in June.

Anne Pasternak, the museum’s director, said in a letter that will be sent to the staff members on Friday afternoon that the museum was “experiencing strong headwinds: inflation has dramatically impacted our operating budget, adding millions of dollars to everyday costs and outpacing funding.” She wrote that the pressures were “further compounded by slow post-pandemic attendance recovery across the field.”

In addition to the layoffs, officials said that senior leadership will take salary cuts of 10 to 20 percent; the annual number of exhibitions would be reduced to an average of nine from an average of 12; and weeknight events with low attendance or inconsistent funding would be canceled.

“More simply put, our expenses have grown more rapidly than our revenue,” the letter said. “This requires changes to our program, operations, and the size of our team, to help set the course for longer-term sustainability.”

The upcoming layoffs will occur across the museum’s departments, with both union and nonunion jobs set to be cut. They will be the institution’s first major cuts since 2020, when it laid off nearly 30 workers at the start of the pandemic.

Union leaders representing employees at the Brooklyn Museum said that they were concerned with the timing of these new cuts, which follow a series of expensive events and exhibitions celebrating the museum’s 200th anniversary, including a renovated restaurant, an exhibition devoted to gold and a rebranding campaign.

“We are dismayed that the museum would choose to balance the budget on the backs of union members,” said Wilson Souffrant, president of Local 1502, a division of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

On Wednesday, the union sent a cease-and-desist letter to the museum to try to prevent officials from laying off the employees it represents without sufficient negotiations or advance notice.

In recent years, the Brooklyn Museum has attempted to rebuild its audience after the pandemic led to a drop in attendance. (General admission is free, though the museum recommends a suggested contribution of $20 for adult visitors.)

Last year included exhibitions devoted to celebrities like the filmmaker Spike Lee and the musician Paul McCartney; it also staged a show featuring the art collection of Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz.

In the letter, Pasternak said that the museum’s exhibitions had attracted audiences and that the institution had almost doubled its board, increased its endowment and both its contributed and earned revenues. But expenses were still outstripping revenues. During a staff meeting on Friday, the museum said that its total compensation for employees had risen by $17 million in the last 10 years.

The museum also became a target of activists after 34 people were arrested at a pro-Palestinian rally held on its grounds last spring. Protesters had assaulted security staff and damaged artwork while calling for officials to divest from Israel. A group of demonstrators were later arrested on hate crime charges for vandalizing the homes of Pasternak and other museum leaders.

In its letter announcing the layoffs, the museum said it was still on track to begin its 2026 renovation project for its Arts of Africa collection.

But Pasternak and other leaders wrote that layoffs had become unavoidable: “Wages comprise our largest operational line item — approximately 70% of our operating budget — and a financial realignment sadly requires reductions in our team.”