Jim Cuno, president and CEO of the J. Paul Getty Trust, said the changes include increased funding for acquisitions and the conversion of the Museum’s gallery teachers corps into an expanded program led by docents. The Museum will lay off 10 staff, and has asked for volunteers for 24 additional positions that will be eliminated in the Museum’s Education, Exhibitions, and Imaging Services departments, and in the Visitor Services department.
The changes will not affect curatorial or conservation staff and will maintain the Museum’s public programming and exhibition schedule. Programming for students, families and adults will remain in place, and there will be no reduction in the number of school visits, including students from Title One schools.
“The Getty is very fortunate to have a significant endowment, but we have an obligation to put those resources to their best use toward achieving the Getty’s core mission,” said Cuno. “Working with Museum leadership, we conducted a review of the Museum’s operations and found there were areas where savings could be generated to support key priorities.”
Cuno identified the Museum’s priorities as follows:
- Building the Museum’s collection by acquiring works of art of the greatest importance;
- Preserving its curatorial ambitions (research, exhibitions, and scholarly publications);
- Strengthening its conservation work; and
- Serving a large and diverse public through educational programs and online access to information about its collection, curatorial and conservation research, and curricular resources.
“Increased funding for acquisitions will ensure that our visitors, now and in the future, will have access to works of art of great beauty and importance, in our collections and through a robust program of exhibitions,” said Cuno. “In addition, the changes will free up resources to support the greater online dissemination of information about our collections and educational curricular resources.”
Staff who are laid off, including those who volunteer, will receive a severance package including regular pay and benefits during a 60-day non-working notice period, and will be eligible to receive two additional weeks of pay for every year of service over four years. The Getty will pay all accrued vacation and personal hours, up to three months of COBRA payments and a generous allowance for outplacement services.
These changes complete a reorganization of the Museum that began earlier this year when the Bookstore, Visitor Services and Event functions were consolidated within the Trust. No additional changes are anticipated.
“I believe that the actions we are taking will result in the Museum being more focused on its core priorities and better positioned to deal with continued economic uncertainty,” said Cuno.