San Diego Museum of Art lays off 11 staff as deficit hits $13 million
The San Diego Museum of Art laid off 11 employees on 5 August 2026, citing declining federal grant funding, budget reductions, rising operational costs and an organisational restructure. Chief operating officer Kari Kovach said in a statement to The Art Newspaper that the board of trustees deemed the cuts necessary. The Art Newspaper
The layoffs reached across nearly every functional area of the museum. Among those let go were at least one museum guard, two registrars (staff who track and care for artworks in transit and storage), two preparators who handle physical installation, an exhibition manager, a development director and a member of the membership staff, according to The Art Newspaper. Hyperallergic reported that the affected departments included programs, development, exhibitions and operations. Hyperallergic
At least two of the laid-off employees had worked at the museum for more than 14 years, an anonymous source told The Art Newspaper. The San Diego Union-Tribune reported that the museum faces a growing US$13 million budget deficit.
The funding picture has thinned on several fronts. The museum received a US$25,000 federal grant in 2025 and has received no further federal grants since, Kovach told The Art Newspaper, citing San Diego Union-Tribune reporting. Meanwhile, San Diego mayor Todd Gloria proposed US$11.8 million in cuts to city arts funding — an 86.6% reduction — of which US$10 million was later restored. Even partial restoration left institutions scrambling.
Then there is the parking. Paid parking was implemented in Balboa Park, home to the museum, in January 2026. In the first quarter of the year, Balboa Park museum attendance fell by an average of 34%, an estimated US$5 million revenue decline for the park's cultural institutions combined.
Museum director Roxana Velásquez received a salary of US$488,436 in 2025, according to the museum's most recent tax forms. Executive compensation accounted for 7.3% of total expenses that year. Those figures, drawn from public nonprofit filings, place the layoffs against a backdrop where leadership pay and front-line cuts occupy the same balance sheet.
For a museum whose guard, registrars and preparators are the people who physically protect and move the collection, losing them is not symbolic. The jobs cut are the ones that keep works safe, documented and on the wall.
