The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (photo by the author for Hyperallergic)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has laid off 81 employees in its visitor services and retail departments. The museum, which was first in New York to close its doors due to the pandemic, has updated its projection of lost revenue to $150 million.
In addition to the layoffs, the museum announced today, April 22, that its top executives will be taking salary reductions. That includes 20% pay cuts for director Max Hollein and president and CEO Daniel H. Weiss and 10% for 11 other museum officers.
Salary and benefits constitute more than 65% of the Met’s annual budget. In March, artnet reported that according to tax filings, the highest-paid executive at the museum is chief investment officer Lauren Meserve, who earned $1.6 million in 2018-2019 (an 8.3% increase from her salary of $1.47 million in 2017–18). Weiss is second on the list of highest-paid employees with a total pay package of $1.25 million (a 25% increase over the $1 million he made in the previous year). Hollein, who entered his position at the start of 2019, made $764,093 in the six-month period.
“Our two primary objectives continue to be doing all that we can to support the health and safety of our community and to protect the long-term financial health of the Museum,” said Weiss in a statement to Hyperallergic. “The arts and culture community is facing a crisis of unprecedented magnitude in our lifetimes.”
In March, the Met sent a letter to its department heads forecasting $100 million in losses and remaining closed until July. Although it led the way in reacting to the pandemic, it hesitated from reducing staff until now.
“On this our 150th anniversary year, we take strength from the resilience and vision that built our beloved institution,” Weiss continued. “While we are not immune from the impact of this pandemic, The Met is a strong and enduring institution and will remain one.”
The Latest
Remembering the Migrants Who Died in US Detention
Artist Jackie Amézquita will lead a caravan of trucks with the names of the deceased to LA sites representing systems of oppression and solidarity for immigrants.
Mark Thomas Gibson’s Cartoons See the US Going Nowhere
If Thomas Nast, who is considered the “Father of the American Cartoon,” has an heir, it is Gibson, who goes one step further and elevates caricature and commentary into art.
LSU School of Art Grants Highest MFA Stipends in the Southern US
With funded assistantships, full tuition waivers, and generous stipends, Louisiana State University helps students lay the groundwork for a successful lifelong art practice.
Kahori Kamiya Transmutes Grief Into Play
Through artworks that encourage viewers to explore varied vantages, Kamiya conveys her accrued wisdom and experiences without the weight of their pain.
Maya Deren in Vivid Focus
Maya Deren: Choreographed for Camera depicts how the artist’s life and ideas cemented her place as a champion and influencer of culture.
School of the Art Institute of Chicago Offers Summer Art and Design Courses Online and On-Campus
Emerging and established artists can choose from over 50 Adult Continuing Education courses at one of the most influential art and design schools in the US.
AI Image Generators Finally Figured Out Hands
Midjourney fixed its inability to render hands realistically, one of the telltale signs of an image being AI-generated.
Lorraine O’Grady, Emily Jacir Among American Academy of Arts’s 2023 Awardees
Artist Faith Ringgold and scholar Helen Hennessy Vendler received this year’s gold medals.
IDSVA Offers a Non-Studio PhD in Visual Arts: Philosophy, Aesthetics, and Art Theory
With no campus, the Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts is a truly nomadic institution, existing everywhere our students and faculty are.
MTV’s The Exhibit Needs a Cutthroat Judge
In episode three, the artists created works about the pandemic and bonded with each other, which is cute but doesn’t really make for good TV.
Cauleen Smith’s Drylongso Depicts a Bygone Oakland
Smith’s 1998 film exudes the DIY charm of a low-budget, first-time feature while keenly depicting the complexities of both race- and gender-related inequalities.
Tyler School of Art and Architecture Opens 2023 MFA Thesis Exhibition Series
Students working in diverse disciplines explore temporality, connectedness in time and space, and global reckonings. On view in Philadelphia.
Take Ai Weiwei’s Middle Finger Anywhere in the World
A new collaboration between the artist and Avant Arte invites users to flip the bird anywhere and everywhere on Google Maps.
Required Reading
This week, gifted DeSantis a “fascist” snowflake, NASA’s Webb telescope captures a supernova, corporatizing London’s creativity, and much more.
This is a sad reminder of the 104 layoffs in 1972 after the budget overruns caused by the 100th Anniversary celebration.