Here are the first victims of the U.S. museum crisis: New York's MoMA fires all outside educators

A crackdown on the entire education department: in a move taken in early April, the Museum of Modern Art(MoMA) in New York City has laid off all eighty-five outside educators, ending their contracts. The decision, the museum explained in an email sent by the department, was made because of the “unprecedented economic crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent closure of the museum.” Educators hired on outside contracts were paid until March 30 (they were receiving $115 for each lesson lasting between 60 and 75 minutes), all their future engagements were cancelled, and no one, as of April 1 no one will receive any more payment.

And the future is certainly not bright: MoMA’s email states that even if the museum reopens soon, “it will take months, if not years, to return to budget and operational levels that can guarantee educational services.” Going against the trend of other museums that instead have not wanted to cut back on education (on our pages we reported on the case of the Castello di Miramare in Trieste in the words of the director interviewed by Ilaria Baratta), MoMA has therefore decided to start hitting one of the areas that makes the most sense in a museum, since it is one of those closest to the mission of the museum itself, which is not only to preserve culture, but also consists of disseminating it. Yet not everyone in the United States has had the same idea: still in New York, for example, the Whitney Museum has decided to open online educational initiatives that will allow outside employees to continue working (in the Whitney’s case, however, 76 employees, devoted mainly to reception services, have been left at home). The same fate befell MOCA Los Angeles, where half of the employees (97 to be exact) were suspended from their positions.

At the moment, U.S. museums are reeling under uncertainty: the hardest hit are workers employed on external contracts, and government measures are awaited so that the museum sector can try to restart.

Image: the entrance to MoMA. Ph. Credit Nikolai Maksimovic

Here are the first victims of the U.S. museum crisis: New York's MoMA fires all outside educators

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