Brooklyn Museum implements staff and salary cuts to address $10 million budget deficit

The Brooklyn Museum is implementing significant workforce and salary reductions to address a projected $10 million budget deficit by the fiscal year's end. Director Anne Pasternak announced that 47 full- and part-time positions will be eliminated, affecting over ten percent of museum staff. Senior leadership will face salary reductions ranging from ten to twenty percent. Exhibition programming will be scaled back from an average of twelve to nine shows annually, with low-attendance events being cancelled. Pasternak cited inflation as dramatically increasing operational costs while outpacing funding, noting that wages constitute approximately 70 percent of the operating budget. District Council 37 (DC37), one of the museum's unions, represents affected workers. Union president Wilson Souffrant expressed concern about receiving only two days' notice before the announcement and called for alternative financial solutions. Pasternak stated the museum will engage in negotiations with both unions regarding these measures.