Skip to content

By Redeploying Her Staff in Some Ingenious New Ways, the Director of Texas’s Blanton Museum Has Managed to Avoid Job Cuts Entirely

Category: COVID-19
Blanton Museum of Art director Simone Wicha. Photo courtesy of the Blanton Museum of Art.
Blanton Museum of Art director Simone Wicha. Photo courtesy of the Blanton Museum of Art.

At the Blanton Museum of Art, maintenance staff are writing thank-you letters to donors, art handlers are researching collections history, and security staff are creating alt text for digital images. Altogether, the director matched the 32 employees whose jobs were most at risk to 30 new lockdown projects.

““I already knew that our staff was multitalented, smart, and adaptable. The surprise has been in learning about their specific talents.”

–Simone Wicha

As museums shuttered throughout the US, many were forced to cut staff through layoffs and furloughs, including New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Broad in Los Angeles. But thanks to some creative strategizing, the Blanton Museum of Art at the University of Texas at Austin has managed to keep its entire staff on the payroll since the school shut down operations on March 13.

Continue Reading at artnet News

AAM Member-Only Content

AAM Members get exclusive access to premium digital content including:

  • Featured articles from Museum magazine
  • Access to more than 1,500 resource listings from the Resource Center
  • Tools, reports, and templates for equipping your work in museums
Log In

We're Sorry

Your current membership level does not allow you to access this content.

Upgrade Your Membership

Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Subscribe to Field Notes!

Packed with stories and insights for museum people, Field Notes is delivered to your inbox every Monday. Once you've completed the form below, confirm your subscription in the email sent to you.

If you are a current AAM member, please sign-up using the email address associated with your account.

Are you a museum professional?

Are you a current AAM member?

Success! Now check your email to confirm your subscription, and please add communications@aam-us.org to your safe sender list.