07-03-2025
Brooklyn Museum employees rally against layoffs amid financial crisis
BROOKLYN, N.Y. (PIX11) — In a show of solidarity, employees of the Brooklyn Museum gathered outside the institution on Thursday to protest significant layoffs planned due to a financial crisis.
The museum is facing a $10 million deficit, which has led to plans to cut a portion of its workforce. This move has sparked concerns about the impact on community access to cultural experiences and the future of the museum's programming.
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At the heart of the protest is Enrique Mendia, a four-year employee and project manager for the museum's largest free programming event, 'First Saturday.' Mendia is among the union workers facing potential layoffs and attributes the financial woes to mismanagement of funds.
'I'm on the list of the employees to be laid off,' Mendia said, expressing his concern about the broader implications. 'People all over Brooklyn and all over New York City count on it for free programming.'
Mendia criticized the museum's financial priorities, highlighting discrepancies in spending.
'It makes me worried. It makes me sad, it makes me angry. It feels unjust,' he emphasized. 'This is taxpayer money at the end of the day, and there's someone here that directed the museum making over a million dollars.'
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Henry Garrido, executive director of District 37, echoed the sentiments of many protesters by urging the museum to explore alternative solutions to layoffs. 'They should explore every possible alternative solution to prevent the layoffs,' Garrido stated.
Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso placed some responsibility on city leadership, particularly Mayor Eric Adams, for not providing sufficient funding to support public institutions like the Brooklyn Museum.
'This is a mayor's problem,' Reynoso said. 'It is a public service. This is a public institution that does not charge for anyone to go inside. The people that are supposed to cover those costs are city officials like Mayor Eric Adams. And he has not done that.'
Reynoso is urging both the museum and city officials to negotiate temporary financial solutions until June 30, when additional city funds might become available to prevent layoffs.
In response to the protests, the Brooklyn Museum issued a statement acknowledging the rights of union-represented employees to organize and emphasizing that layoffs were considered only after exploring other financial relief options.
'We respect the rights of our union-represented employees to organize and rally,' the museum stated. 'As we have consistently said, the Brooklyn Museum explored all realistic options for financial relief before turning to layoffs and is actively making adjustments across the whole of the institution to right-size its budget.'
The museum is currently engaged in negotiations with unions regarding the terms of the reductions.
For employees like Mendia, the prospect of losing their jobs means facing immediate challenges.
'I would have to find a new job. I'd get on unemployment and figure things out from there,' Mendia said.
As the situation unfolds, protesters continue to demand transparency and accountability from both museum leadership and city officials.
The mayor's office has released this statement 'The Brooklyn Museum is one of our city's most important cultural institutions, and the mayor's office and Department for Cultural Affairs provide substantial funding in support of their mission to engage the public with their cultural programming. But this sector has faced major headwinds in recent years, including changes in post-pandemic audience habits, shifting priorities for philanthropy, and vastly increased costs due to inflation. These unprecedented challenges are putting cultural organizations across the city and nation at serious risk. We're devastated by the job cuts that the museum's budget shortfalls have forced them to pursue and will work with museum leadership as they navigate these challenges and ensure that the impacted workers receive the support they need.'
For more information on the Brooklyn Museum, click here.
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