San Francisco art museums can dismiss the staff and reduce operational hours to make the city’s proposal, since employees are afraid elsewhere afraid of a wave of cost-saving measures that influence cultural institutions, including the Brooklyn Museum and the Guggenheim in New York.
The Asian Art Museum (AAM) and Visual Art Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF), which consists of the Young and the Legion of Honor Museums, presented the staffing last month for the city’s annual budget, the budget of the city, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. Submitted to the office of the new chosen mayor Daniel Lurie van de Stad, the measures in the mandate of former mayor London for all city departments to plan a general cost reduction of 15% to tackle an expected budget deficit of $ 876 million in the next two years.
To achieve this goal, FAMSF is asked to reduce $ 3.3 million of the general city budget of the city fund, which accounts for around 20% of the total budget of the institution and mainly supports maintenance and security personnel. The other 80% is provided by the Corporation of the Fine Arts Museums (COFAM), a private non-profit that supervises non-city employees at De Young and Legion of Honor.
In proposalFamsf said that budget reduction would require that 23 out of 99 should be eliminated in its two museums funded by the city. The dismissals would usually affect full -time security personnel, because around 20 functions in that department would be eliminated on the basis of the plan, in addition to roles in human resources, registration and mechanical engineering.
“The dismissals would have a disproportionate effect on employees who identify as [People Of Color] Due to the high concentration of POC among our security team, the Famsf budget reduction plan noted before 2025 to 2027.
The plan also said that both the Young and the Legion of Honor Museums would reduce the weekly public operational hours by closing on Tuesday. This planning change, which contributes to the existing Monday closures of the museums, would lower its annual visitors with 150,000, which leads to a loss in admission revenue generated by tourism, visits of local communities and student trips, warned the proposal.
While Cofam reported a deficit of more than $ 3.8 million in his 2023 Tax dataHelena Nordstrom, Director Communication of Famsf, said Hyperallergic In a statement that the finances of the organization remain ‘stable’, referring to more than 1.1 million visitors to De Young and Legion of Honor Museums in 2024.
“Although no definitive decision about the city budget has been made, it is to us to understand that the mayor’s budget agency does not want to reduce the operating hours at De Young of Legion of Honor,” Nordstrom said, adding that the institution continues to work with the mayor of the mayor of other cost -saving options.
The Budget reduction plan Submitted by the Asian Art Museum last month includes full -time staff to shrink $ 1.7 million from the operating costs, so that 11 to 13 full -time employees are cut.
“Our security team, already lean and reduced, would absorb the victim of such a reduction,” read the plan, and noted that this reduction would reduce the number of guards that are planned to supervise the museum when it is almost half public to the public. AAM is currently working with 13 to 15 guards during visitors.
“Our experience is that it is unsafe to exploit the museum with this level of security coverage. That is why we should limit access to the visitors to a small part of the museum or close the museum completely, “warned the plan.
Famsf and AAM have not yet responded HyperallergicThe request for comments.
Trade union employees of the museums have pushed back against these budget plans, with the argument that the projected shortage of the city should not be used as a reason for cuts on staff and reduced business hours. They claim that the budget prediction historically does not reflect the reality of the operational costs of San Francisco.
“We believe that it would be ill-advised and detrimental to the museums, the workers, arts Patrons, Students, Tourists, and the City itself to Lay Off Workers and Reduce Operating Hours Based on A Projection That Not Only Has Not Happed Yet (And Where Save Save Saveings and Rere Savings and Rere Saveings and Rere Savings and Rere Save and Rere Save and Rere Save and Rere Save and Rere Save and Rere Save and Rere Save and Rere Save and Rere Save and Rere Save and Rere Save and Rere Save and Rere Save and Rere Save and Rere Save and Rere Save and Rere Save and Rere Save and Rere Save and Rere Save and Rere Save and Rere Sea Save and Rere Save and Rere Save and Rere Save Save and Rere Save and Rere Save and Rere Save and Rere Save and Rere Save and Rere Save and Rere Save and Rere Save Save. That historical has not happened, “Said Jennie Smith-Camejo, A Spokesperson for the Seiu 1021 Union, in an email to Hyperallergic.
SEIU 1021 represents guards, registrar staff and admission clerks at De Young, Legion of Honor, AAM and other cultural institutions in the Bay Area.
In February, Seiu 1021 members work at the AAM, FAMSF and other nearby institutions, including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Oakland Museum of California control Outside the California Association of Museums Conference to demand fair contracts, better wages and more transparency in the decision -making of leadership.
Famsf Museum Guard Raina Johnson, who has worked at De Young and Legion of Honor since 2005, said Hyperallergic That employees are concerned about the stability of their employment and the possible effects on institutional operations.
“We already take on many challenges every day, and if you start talking about reducing staff, what impact is that on the officers?” Johnson said, adding that the trade union has already had trouble in recent years to prevent cuts on the staff who endanger the museum and its activities. “As soon as an emergency situation happens, the first thing they have to do is call us.”
Johnson noted that trade union workers were concerned about the lack of cooperation of museum leaders with employees in drawing up the budget reduction plans. There are currently at least five museum protectors who only started working at the Famsf about a year ago.
“When entering into this budget challenge, we want to ensure that museum leadership and leadership in San Francisco appreciate their equity by the employees who are there to explain the place,” said Johnson.
The mayors’ office has not yet responded HyperallergicThe request for comments.
