MoMA Offers Voluntary Buyouts to Staffers During ‘Transitional Stage’

The news comes during a $450-million expansion.

People walk into the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). Courtesy of Spencer Platt/Getty Images.
A man walks by the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). Courtesy of Spencer Platt/Getty Images.

A man walks by the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). Courtesy of Spencer Platt/Getty Images.

For the second time in just over a week, a major New York museum—and one that is in the midst of a major expansion—has announced cutbacks.

New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) will offer voluntary buyouts to those who are approaching retirement age, according to the Art Newspaper.

According to a statement sent to artnet News,

The Museum of Modern Art is offering its employees who are 55 years of age or older, and who have at least 9 years of service as of July 31, the opportunity to participate in a voluntary retirement program this summer. The Museum is in a transitional stage in terms of the scope of its operations, which are at a reduced level during the renovation period. The program is entirely voluntary and is intended to benefit staff who are considering retirement this year.

MoMA earlier this year unveiled plans for an expansion—its second in a decade—that carries a price tag of nearly $450 million.

Museum of Modern Art director Glenn Lowry. Photo Patrick McMullan.

Museum of Modern Art director Glenn Lowry. Courtesy of Patrick McMullan.

In late April, the Metropolitan Museum of Art likewise announced that it would downsize staff by the dozen to curb a $10 million deficit. That news came despite the museum’s expensive lease on the Whitney Museum of American Art’s Madison Avenue building and costly (and contentious) identity redesign.

The news from MoMA comes on the heels of a monster gift of $100 million from record company executive David Geffen, and while fundraising is underway for an addition of some 50,000 square feet of gallery space in an expansion designed by New York architecture firm Diller + Scofidio that involves the demolition of Todd Williams and Billie Tsien’s American Folk Art Museum building.