The Portland Museum of Art announced Thursday that it will be laying off thirteen employees, citing the continued impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, decreased attendance, and “economic and urban stress.”
According to the museum, those laid off included both salaried and hourly employees. The recently unionized Gallery Ambassadors and Security Associates were not affected.
In a statement released Thursday, the Museum explained that it spends about seventy percent of its budget on wages and benefits, and they “need[ed] to reduce personnel expenses” due to the “challenging environment” in which they are operating.
The Museum suggested that because it “continue[s] to be adversely impacted by the instability of the COVID-19 pandemic” — and “the multi-year positive impact” of the Employee Retention Credit (ERC) and Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) “will soon expire” — changes to their operations have been “necessitated.”
It was also noted in their statement that the Museum is “not immune to economic and urban stress, including the deterioration of the Congress Square neighborhood and inadequacies of [their] dated facilities.”
Since 2020, the Museum has seen a thirty-five percent decrease in attendance, which they attribute to the fact that “fewer visitors and workers are coming back to Congress Square,” as well as to their limited space for “programmatic growth.”
“Like many museums, municipal, and cultural organizations, we continue to be adversely impacted by the instability of the COVID-19 pandemic,” the statement said. “The museum was fortunate to receive ERC credits and PPP loans to maintain staffing and programmatic growth during unprecedented times, but the multi-year positive impact of this support will soon expire.”
“As expenses continue to remain high and unpredictable, the real and persisting negative effects of this historic moment have necessitated changes in the PMA’s operations,” the Museum wrote.
“The museum is therefore reducing its staff size by thirteen positions” said the statement. “These positions include salaried managers and employees, as well as hourly employees. Frontline support staff, including Gallery Ambassadors and Security Associates, are not impacted by these reductions.”
“The PMA, like other neighborhood businesses, also acknowledges that we are not immune to economic and urban stress, including the deterioration of the Congress Square neighborhood and inadequacies of our dated facilities,” the Museum wrote. “Since 2020, the museum has seen a 35% decrease in attendance because fewer visitors and workers are coming back to Congress Square and our spaces for programmatic growth are limited.”
“We will maintain and care for our aging campus and find ways to unify and leverage our Congress Square location,” the statement concluded. “And we will ensure our programs, events, and exhibitions support our mission of Art for All and values of courage, equity, service, sustainability, and trust.”
Click Here to Read the Portland Museum of Art’s Full Statement
The Portland Museum of Art is currently working toward a $100 million, 60,000 square foot, expansion project known as the “The PMA Blueprint” that was first announced in 2022.
As it is currently written, this project would necessitate demolishing the building that formerly housed the Children’s Museum and Theatre of Maine — bought by the art museum in 2019 — a move that has been temporarily blocked due to the building’s historic preservation designation.
The building — located at 142 Free Street — was first constructed as a theater in 1830 and has served a number of purposes in the intervening years.
In 2009, 142 Free Street was labeled as an historic place within the Congress Street Historic District.
Discussions over the proposal to change the building’s status in order to allow for it to be torn down and replaced are still ongoing.
A lengthy hearing on the potential reclassification was held Tuesday, and the Planning Board is scheduled to take up the question of potential reclassification again at its next regular meeting on February 27.
It look good as housing for the illegals but first put bars on the windows!
Boycott Democrat strongholds. Get Woke Go Broke. Do NOT visit and give a penny to any place in Maine that flies the rainbow flags & pushes leftism.
Bit of a joke to see the museum dance around de-fund police, legalization of drugs, lack of prosecutions, other liberal policies, and the resulting crime increase. Before these radical-left policies, we patronized Portland on a regular basis, going to the library, restaurants and other shops weekly. We have not set foot in Portland since 2021 due to CRIME and a lack of personal safety. It has nothing to do with the virus events. If Portland wants to improve, being honest and direct about the problem is the starting point. Anything else is just a boondoggle and a waste of taxpayer money.
Do they mean the effects of the countermeasure/antidote? COVID has been a nothingburger for over two years.
Fredrick Reynolds has the correct idea below. This is something all of us can do to affect change. New York City might show the way.
So sad. 🤣
I remember the days before the “renaissance” of the Old Port and Downtown Portland. If the Marxists who voted for the 9 out of 9 Democrats on the City Council keep it up, the city will return to those days or worse.
Btw, the PMA blames the scamdemic for its troubles, but never mentioned Jackboot Janet’s or OBiden’s crushing policies for the city’s economic decline. I think that’s called poetic justice, karma or both and that elections do have consequences. Idiots!
Well darn. Who’d of thought. <Sarcasm OFF>