Monday, March 1, 2010

"National Gallery eliminates 27 positions"

Posted on March 28, 2010 at 7:15 p.m.

The Ottawa Citizen's latest coverage of activity at the NGC notes that reduced attendance has led the gallery to “streamline” its operations by eliminating 27 members of its staff. This effort to save money is in response to what Mayer is quoted as calling "a historic moment" defined by all of us "living in a time when philanthropy will change".

Once again, Mayer’s choice is words is quite interesting.

As we’ve learned, as part of the cuts, the Gallery has eliminated *ALL* arts education programs. Yes, you read that correctly: ALL teen workshops, teacher workshops, studio workshops, special needs workshops, adult workshops, senior workshops, diversity programs, and even subsidized programming for children in low income families will no longer exist.

In our opinion, this move is a sure fire way to reduce future philanthropy because all of the people who will no longer be able to access education programming opportunities are now essentially *guaranteed* to care less about art, and the National Gallery of Canada, which means they will surely *not* be interested in making contributions to the organization in the future. From an educational and cultural point of view, this is clearly ludicrious, but from a strictly institutional development point of view, this is clearly ludicrious.

We can’t see the logic here… Can you see the logic here?

Please find the article below. And, in a few weeks – as soon as we can find the time – we’ll be posting a summary of our thoughts concerning Mayer’s comments on CBC’s The National, and the odd storm that followed…

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"National Gallery eliminates 27 positions"
By Joanne Laucius , The Ottawa CitizenMarch 25, 2010

OTTAWA — The National Gallery of Canada has eliminated 27 positions and restructured the role of its fund-raising foundation.

Nine positions are vacant or will soon become vacant. The remaining 18 employees have lost their jobs.

The jobs have disappeared because the Gallery has consolidated collections, research and education into a new structure designed to “streamline” the organization.

Most revenue-generating operations, including visitor services, membership, annual giving, sponsorship and facility rentals have been integrated under a new “institutional advancement” department.

Publications, web, bookstore, copyright and marketing have also been amalgamated into a combined new department.

Meanwhile, the foundation, established in 1997, is now to focus its attention on endowments and planned giving.

“We’re living in a time when philanthropy will change. It’s a historic moment,” said the Gallery’s director and CEO Marc Mayer, who added the change has the support of the gallery’s board of trustees and the foundation’s board of directors.

Six positions in the foundation have been eliminated and three people have been redeployed. Mayer declined to name the managers who were let go in the reorganization nor would he comment on the status of the foundation’s president and CEO, Marie Claire Morin.

The foundation was established as a registered charity to gain sustainable private support for the gallery. It has attracted $27 million in donations and has built an endowment fund of about $12 million.

The gallery receives annual federal funding of about $49 million a year, which has remained constant in recent years. It spends about $8 million a year in acquisitions.

In total, there are 255 full-time positions at the gallery. The layoffs and reorganization efficiencies are expected to save the gallery about $2.1 million a year, said Mayer.

Like art galleries all over the world, the National Gallery has weathered hard times. When the gallery opened in 1998, it attracted more than 900,000 visitors. By 2008-2009, it was less than a third of that.

Last year, Mayer warned workers in an e-mail that the gallery was facing declining revenue and offered unpaid leave or early retirement to avoid layoffs. In September, eight guides and three other employees were laid off. The gallery’s director of public affairs, Joanne Charette, was let go in January.

Of the 27 eliminated positions, 10 are members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada, said Daniel Kinsella, president of the national component of PSAC, which represents museum workers.

Half of those jobs are with the foundation, mostly program officers who seek private sector funding.

“It sounds like there will be skeleton of a foundation,” said Kinsella.

Four of the remaining jobs belonged to PSAC members who work in programming for the public and schools with a fifth job at the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography.

Kinsella blames uncertain federal funding for the cuts.

“They’re trying to do the best they can with the budget,” he said.

“Private sector funding has dried up. It’s been a real struggle. If you talk to the cultural institutions in town, the private sector is not putting money into institutions.”

Mayer says the museum has not given up on pursuing private sector sponsorships.

“We still have a very ambitious membership program and sponsorship program,” he said. “We are separating the workload, but the work will be done.”

Mayer added that workers whose jobs have been eliminated have been offered a generous severance package and most got six months’ notice.

“We go out of the way to make sure the burden for these people is not severe. We really liked working with these people,” he said. “No one is taking this personally.”

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