Museum Cutbacks
Dallas Museum of Art enacts staff layoffs and cuts back on hours
The Dallas Museum of Art laid off 20 members of its staff on October 24.
The Dallas Museum of Art has executed a set of cutbacks including layoffs and a reduction in the hours they're open to the public.
According to a release, the museum laid off 20 staffers and will now be closed on Mondays and Tuesdays, as well as Friday nights.
Starting December 1, the museum will be open Wednesday-Sunday from 11 am-5 pm; they had previously been closed on Mondays only. The new schedule also reflects shorter hours on Friday, when they'll close at 5 pm instead of staying open until 9 pm as they did previously.
The 20 layoffs represent 8 percent of the total staff; two other full-time positions are being reduced to part-time.
The museum is declining to say what positions have been eliminated. They've been in a hiring freeze for much of 2023.
The release cites industry standards as well as attendance figures as justification for the Tuesday closure.
"In addition to Mondays, we are now eliminating public hours on Tuesdays, as we’ve seen other institutions do," it says. "We based these decisions on an assessment of attendance patterns and earned revenue impact, and prioritized our most popular programs."
This move does not apply to student field trips, who will still be able to visit on days the museum is closed to the public.
They've also instituted a reorganization of staff and operations to focus on increasing revenue and decreasing operating expenses, and will rely more heavily on their permanent collection, including works that have not been on view in some time, which will be repackaged into "interesting exhibitions."
General admission to the museum will remain free, but certain special exhibitions will continue to require an extra fee.
