THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, February 22, 1996 TAG: 9602220442
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TERESA ANNAS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines
Faced with a rising deficit and the need to slash expenses, officials at The Chrysler Museum of Art recently laid off seven employees and decreased pay and hours for two more.
Among those who lost their jobs Friday were Trinkett Clark, 20th century art curator for seven years, and Rena Hudgins, head librarian since 1988. The cuts affected a staff usually consisting of between 70 and 90 employees. The complement fluctuates seasonally.
``The reason we did this was for the future of the museum,'' said interim director Catherine Jordan. ``This is no reflection on anybody's job performance at all. ``We had to take the bull by the horns. We had to take action. So we combined positions where we could, and reduced where we could. And we put a lot of thought into it.
``I really think of it as pruning back a bush. And it'll flower again.''
Following a national trend regarding arts support, the Norfolk museum has been struggling since the early 1990s to make ends meet as private and governmental funding sources have declined, Jordan said.
In a news release, board President Roy B. Martin Jr. said the museum had endured a 20 percent cut in donations and grants in five years, yet expenses continued to grow.
By late December, Chrysler administrators determined that the institution could end the fiscal year, on June 30, as much as $75,000 in debt, Jordan said. During 1994-95, she said, the museum accrued a $70,000 debt.
Jordan was unsure of the accumulated deficit prior to 1994, but said she believed any earlier debts were eliminated by borrowing against an unrestricted endowment fund that is ``just about gone.''
This year's budget is about $4 million, with $1.9 million coming from the city of Norfolk and $471,000 from the state, she said.
Since 1991, city funding has dropped by about $500,000, Jordan said. City officials recently asked the museum to submit a proposed 1996-97 budget with an additional 10 percent cut in city funding.
As funding has dropped, programs have been cut, she said. Most recently, the museum canceled an upcoming exhibit of objects from Burleigh House, a great house in England.
In another cost-saving measure, the museum plans to pull together more exhibits centered upon art from its own large and nationally known permanent collection, such as the show of Veronese paintings on view this month.
While officials at the museum felt committed to cutting positions toward achieving a balanced budget, ``I was sad all weekend,'' Jordan said. ``It's people, and their lives and their future.''
According to several of the laid-off employees, speaking on condition of anonymity, also laid off were publications editor Lolita Liwag-Sutcliffe, designers Susan Carson and Chris Volkstorf, marketing and communications administrative assistant Melody Campbell, and administrative secretary Catherine Johnson. In addition, Mark Clark, curator of decorative arts for 20 years, was reduced to half-time status, and public-relations manager Donna Drew Sawyer was given a pay cut.
Meanwhile, the search continues for a director to replace Robert Frankel, who left in October to become director of the Santa Barbara Museum of Art in California. An eight-member search committee has examined the credentials of more than three dozen candidates, said Dick Roberts, committee chairman.
``We've had three people to town to visit. But we feel that the search must go on. And we expect to have more in town before it's over,'' Roberts said. ILLUSTRATION: [Chrysler Museum]
KEYWORDS: LAYOFFS BUDGET by CNB