Workers Protest Abrupt Layoffs at Guggenheim Museum

Chants of “Guggenheim’s cheap!” “New York is a union town!” and “Up with the union, down with the layoffs!” reverberated down Fifth Avenue in Manhattan’s Upper East Side this evening, April 16, as more than 50 cultural workers rallied outside the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum to protest the abrupt termination of 20 staffers. 

The museum announced the layoffs in late February, citing extended post-pandemic financial constraints. Fourteen of the affected workers are represented by Local 2110 United Auto Workers (UAW). At the time, the union chapter’s president Olga Brudastova told Hyperallergic that impacted staff were cut immediately and without notice. It was the museum’s third round of layoffs in five years, alongside raised ticket prices, reduced operating expenses, and hiring freezes.

Timed with the opening reception for artist Rashid Johnson’s solo exhibition at the museum, tonight’s rally began shortly after 5:30pm on the sidewalk in front of the museum’s entrance. Joining in solidarity, workers from the New Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, the Hispanic Society, Brooklyn Museum, Dia Art Foundation, and the American Folk Art Museum tirelessly walked in circles on the sidewalk, carrying colorful handmade signs. “Stop the Department of Guggenheim Efficiency,” read one sign, in reference to the Trump administration and Elon Musk-led DOGE’s alarming cuts to federal jobs and funding.

While formally dressed reception attendants awkwardly skirted past to enter the museum’s exclusive opening event, union members handed out red, orange, and green fliers to passersby that encouraged supporters to email Guggenheim Museum Director Marïet Westermann in support of workers.

“I would like [museum leaders] to look at the people they’re laying off, and not just the numbers,” Maureen Ahearn, a recently laid off staffer who had been working at the Guggenheim since 1992, told Hyperallergic. 

The 64-year-old said she is “discouraged” about finding another job in the museum world. Until recently, she had been working in the museum’s archives and library services, one of six departments affected by the layoffs.

“They could have moved me to another job or decreased my salary, but there was no notice,” Ahearn said.

In response to Hyperallergic‘s request for comment, a Guggenheim Museum spokesperson said, “Earlier this year, our financial picture required us to make the difficult decision to reduce staffing and reorganize some teams to position the museum well for the future. The impacted colleagues included members of UAW Local 2110, whom we thank for their hard work on behalf of the museum and its mission. All terms of our contract negotiated with UAW Local 2110 have been adhered to.”

By 7pm, a line of more than 100 reception attendees had filed outside the Guggenheim entrance. Several people in line who spoke to Hyperallergic said they were not previously aware of the museum layoffs, only learning about the staff cuts from the leaflets distributed by union organizers.

One attendee, Gabrielle Ford, said while waiting in line that she thought the Guggenheim’s decision to lay off workers instead of bargaining with their union was “disheartening.”

“On top of being ‘wrongfully discharged,’ they’ve also not been able to have their voices heard, and that’s when people become suspicious,” Ford told Hyperallergic, adding that it felt “odd” to be attending the reception.

The museum action comes against the backdrop of a widespread economic challenges affecting cultural institutions across the United States, including the Brooklyn Museum, which recently hit pause on a highly scrutinized plan to reduce its workforce in the face of a $10 million budget deficit. The museum laid off at least five non-unionized workers and offered 27 unionized employees buyouts before halting further cuts.

Ellen Nigro, a Brooklyn Museum conservator, was at tonight’s protest with two co-workers. “The workers are the community, so by laying their workers off, the museum is taking away the livelihoods of its community members,” Nigro said.