Brooklyn Academy of Music lays off 13% of its staff
The First Art Newspaper on the Net    Established in 1996 Friday, November 29, 2024


Brooklyn Academy of Music lays off 13% of its staff
The Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York, Feb. 2, 2020. The Brooklyn Academy of Music, one of the most important cultural organizations in New York, has laid off 13 percent of its staff members and reduced its programming as it seeks to plug a “sizable structural deficit” during a challenging time for the arts, officials confirmed on Monday, June 26, 2023. (Jose A. Alvarado Jr./The New York Times)

by Matt Stevens



NEW YORK, NY.- The Brooklyn Academy of Music, one of the most important cultural organizations in New York, has laid off 13% of its staff members and reduced its programming as it seeks to plug a “sizable structural deficit” during a challenging time for the arts, officials confirmed Monday.

BAM moved last week to eliminate 26 positions, according to a letter sent to staff members by the organization’s president, Gina Duncan.

In the letter, which was reviewed by The New York Times, Duncan said that the changes were necessary in part to help BAM to “weather the downturn in charitable giving for the arts, and address an outdated business model that heavily relies on a shrinking donor base.” She said that the organization faced a “sizable structural deficit” each year.

“This is us putting on our oxygen mask so that we can continue to fulfill our promise to be a home for adventurous artists, audiences and ideas,” she wrote in the email.

Duncan noted that the academy had already pared down its Next Wave Festival scheduled for this fall and added that programming for next season as a whole would be reduced. (The festival, often a highlight of the city’s cultural year, will feature seven programs this year, down from 13 last year.)

“These difficult decisions were made after a rigorous organizational review process,” Duncan wrote in the memo.

“We cannot spend our way out of a deficit, and we cannot present programming beyond what we can afford,” she added.

The year before the pandemic, in April 2019, BAM obtained a $2.8 million loan from Bank of America, according to its financial papers. The papers said that the balance, more than $2.4 million, would come due next June.

Megan Grann, a union representative of Local 2110, which represents technical, office and professional workers, said that 17 of the people who lost jobs had been in the union. She said that at least three had been offered “possible new positions” within the arts institution.

“We are really just not happy with this development, to say the least,” she said. “Our primary goal right now is to try to mitigate the damage as much as possible.”

The layoffs come as BAM, which began presenting work in 1861, finds itself having to navigate the post-pandemic challenges that many arts organizations around the country are facing. Earlier this month the Center Theater Group, a flagship of the Los Angeles theater world, laid off 10% of its workforce and halted productions at one of its three stages, the Mark Taper Forum.

But BAM is facing those difficulties while also experiencing significant leadership turnover after many years of relative stability.

David Binder, the institution’s artistic director, is expected to step down next month after roughly four years at the helm. His two predecessors, Joseph V. Melillo and Harvey Lichtenstein, each spent more than three decades at the institution.

On the executive side, Duncan took over as president in 2022, after the departure of Katy Clark, who held the job for five years (and was permitted to keep an apartment that BAM helped her purchase). Clark had succeeded Karen Brooks Hopkins, who spent 36 years at the institution, including 16 as president.

Nora Ann Wallace took over as chair of BAM’s board in 2020, after the death of its previous board chair, Adam Max.

Like other arts organizations, BAM has also had to contend with headwinds generated by the pandemic, which shuttered live performance for months. While many organizations survived the shutdown with the help of federal aid, once they reopened many found that it had become more difficult to attract audiences and donors alike.

When Binder announced this year that he was leaving, the institution had 222 full-time staff positions, down from 256 before the pandemic. Most recently, the number of such positions had dwindled to around 200, and the latest round of cuts are expected to move the number below that threshold.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.










Today's News

June 27, 2023

These bronze statues reveal ancient healing rituals

The artist making glassware with Solange Knowles and Saint Heron

The Morgan presents "Into the Woods: French Drawings and Photographs from the Karen B. Cohen Gift"

A new British arts venue tracks its city's changes

Métis artist Rosalie Favell creates her own kind of hero in new AGO exhibition

Rita Reif, antiques and auctions columnist, dies at 94

Why Mark Ruffalo and Wendell Pierce are fighting for a crumbling church

Bruce Museum first venue to exhibit Mark Dion and Alexis Rockman: Journey to Nature's Underworld

Santa Barbara Museum of Art is presenting The Private Universe of James Castle

The Hispanic Society Museum & Library unveils Jesús Rafael Soto's Penetrable in New York City

Laguna Art Museum has opened Joseph Kleitsch: Abroad and At Home in Old Laguna

Frist Art Museum organizes exhibition exploring how black identity and experiences are expressed in collage

USC Fisher Museum of Art announces the presentation of Kara Walker: Cut to the Quick

Troubetzkoy, Wyatt Jr., and a collection of Ertè sculptures highlight Moran's ReDesigned sale

Art Omi is now presenting Pippa Garner: $ell Your $elf

The thrilling programme for Shubbak Festival 2023 has been announced

The work of artist Amy Winstanley 'Lost Hap' is now on view at Margot Samel

CHART art fair returns to Copenhagen for its 11th edition

Philip Schuyler is knocked off his pedestal in Albany

Exhibition reflects on conceptual art in the San Francisco Bay Area in the later part of the 20th century

RIBOCA3 launches INTERMEZZO in collaboration with 44Möen

Rose B. Simpson: Counterculture now open at the Whitney

Brooklyn Academy of Music lays off 13% of its staff

Asia Society names new leader

Sale of the Stuart and Phyllis Moldaw Collection exceeds estimates

Five Essential Music Magazines to Get Featured in: Amplify Your Musical Reach

Jeff Glozzy Explores Differences Between Oil-Based And Latex Paints

5 Tips For Selling Artwork And Collectibles

7 benefits of painting for mental health

Tips For Achieving The Perfect Crunch In Nashville Hot Chicken

Essential Winter Clothes for Women: Staying Warm and Stylish"

How Tokyo Became a World Leader in Massage Therapy




Museums, Exhibits, Artists, Milestones, Digital Art, Architecture, Photography,
Photographers, Special Photos, Special Reports, Featured Stories, Auctions, Art Fairs,
Anecdotes, Art Quiz, Education, Mythology, 3D Images, Last Week, .

 



Founder:
Ignacio Villarreal
(1941 - 2019)
Editor & Publisher: Jose Villarreal
Art Director: Juan José Sepúlveda Ramírez
Writer: Ofelia Zurbia Betancourt

Attorneys
Truck Accident Attorneys
Accident Attorneys
Houston Dentist
Abogado de accidentes
สล็อต
สล็อตเว็บตรง
Motorcycle Accident Lawyer

Royalville Communications, Inc
produces:

ignaciovillarreal.org juncodelavega.com facundocabral-elfinal.org
Founder's Site. Hommage
to a Mexican poet.
Hommage
       

The First Art Newspaper on the Net. The Best Versions Of Ave Maria Song Junco de la Vega Site Ignacio Villarreal Site Parroquia Natividad del Señor
Tell a Friend
Dear User, please complete the form below in order to recommend the Artdaily newsletter to someone you know.
Please complete all fields marked *.
Sending Mail
Sending Successful