MFA is facing layoffs, cutting around 10% of jobs

Local News

The layoffs of 33 employees come amid financial instability as the museum struggles to attract visitors following the pandemic.

Newly opened galleries for modern art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. December 12, 2025. Handout. Courtesy of Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Confronting a widening structural deficit, the Museum of Fine Arts said Wednesday it will lay off 6.3% of its staff as part of a sweeping restructuring plan.

The museum called the cuts “painful but necessary,” adding that it is “deeply grateful” to the departing employees.

The MFA Director, Pierre Terjanian, told the Boston Globe that the layoffs were necessary because the museum faces a projected $13 million deficit, and even with the staff cuts, the savings would be only $5.4 million.

According to Chelsea Farrell, an organizer with the United Auto Workers Local 2110, which represents MFA employees, the union is still gathering details.

She said the union learned about the layoffs on Tuesday. So far, the union is aware of layoffs affecting 16 of its members and 17 other museum employees.

“We are deeply concerned about the impact of these layoffs, both on the affected staff and on the remaining staff of the museum,” the union shared in a statement.

It continued, “Workloads at the museum are already high, and cutting back on the very staff members who make the MFA, Boston such a great institution is a blow both to the affected individuals and to the institution itself.”

The union plans to meet with the museum management to discuss how to avoid layoffs and, if they occur, to ensure leadership bears its share of the burden.

It is the second time the MFA has had cuts in recent years. In August 2020, the MFA eliminated 113 full- and part-time positions, with half of them coming from voluntary early retirements.

The Globe reports that the museum’s endowment has risen to $830 million and that the MFA recorded more than 1 million visits in 2025.

Even so, the Globe notes, attendance remains well below pre-pandemic levels, when the museum averaged about 1.2 million visitors annually, and memberships are still down by more than 10,000. The Globe also reports that expenses have continued to climb — by more than $17 million — outpacing the museum’s revenue gains.

“It’s not just the pandemic, it’s more people doing things at home, online,” Terjanian told the Globe. “There is more competition for entertainment, and so we need to evolve.”

The MFA did not immediately respond to a request for comment or additional information.

Beth Treffeisen is a general assignment reporter for Boston.com, focusing on local news, crime, and business in the New England region.

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