by Ania Szremski
On May 24, the Tribune reported that the Art Institute laid off about 65 employees last week (see the full article by Lauren Viera here). I had already heard rumblings of the massacre from a friend on the inside, who just before graduation had about 5 of her colleagues and friends let go from her department.
This round of firings feels a tad incongruous since most museums already went through their major staff shedding periods; so why is the Art Institute so slow on the uptake? It looks like the museum might have banked on the income-generating potential of the Modern Wing a little too optimistically.
