SFMOMA programs to be dissolved

The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art is dissolving several longstanding and wellknown programs, The Chronicle has learned.

Among the most notable changes is the closure of the Artists Gallery at Fort Mason Center, a program that was established in 1946. The gallery will close in December. The museum’s film program, which began in 1937 shortly after the opening of the museum and screens at the Phyllis Wattis Theater, will close at the conclusion of the fall season.

The museum’s “Open Space” online publication focusing on interdisciplinary work by artists and writers and its “Raw Material” podcast will end after their fall seasons. “Raw Material” will be reimagined as an audio zine for online and ingallery use. In total, the museum confirmed, the shuttered programs will result in seven eventual layoffs. In March 2020, the museum laid off 131 oncall employees because of the coronavirus pandemic, with furloughs announced in August of that year.

The museum’s volunteer Modern Art Council is also being dissolved. The fundraising and social group presented the annual Contemporary Vision Awards dinner, which will not continue after the cuts. Past recipients of the award include photographer Annie Leibovitz, artist Kara Walker and filmmaker George Lucas.

In a statement to The Chronicle, SFMOMA said: “The reality is that the pandemic has had a major impact on our operations, exacerbating existing challenges such as reduced attendance, growing expenses and constrained budgets.

“In order for SFMOMA to sustain a healthy institution for our community, we must shift our approach to make these goals more actionable and successful in today’s dramatically changed environment. We are committed to programming that enhances visitor experience, both in our galleries and throughout the museum.”

In addition to the confirmed closures and pandemicrelated financial difficulties, SFMOMA has also been dealing with ongoing internal issues relating to the institution’s handling of race and bias. In May 2020, after comments alleging institutional racism at SFMOMA by former communications associate Taylor Brandon were deleted from the museum’s Instagram page, it brought backlash from many in the San Francisco arts community that included several artists and arts collectives pulling out of remote programming. In the days after Brandon’s comment was deleted, museum director Neal Benezra issued an apology, but several highranking museum staffers still resigned in the months following. Benezra announced in February that he plans to step down from his position once a successor is found.

Reached by phone at the Artists Gallery on Thursday, employee Alfonso Cosio said he and two other colleagues were notified Wednesday, July 14, of their impending layoffs.

In addition to sales, the gallery facilitates loans and rentals of works by more than 300 Bay Area artists at all career levels to businesses and interior designers. Cosio said that though the gallery had not yet been able to notify artists of the closure, the news is “on the gossip train now. We’ll probably start getting calls.”