Hasta La Ideas

Following seemingly every other museum in the country and across the world, the J. Paul Getty Trust is the latest to suffer cuts due to the struggling economy. This week, the organization announced that it would be cutting more than 200 positions (some vacant, but 91 employees will be leaving), will pull their spending way back, and expect to delay upcoming exhibitions and purchasing. They have also said that they plan to not implement any new raises and that their higher ups will be taking a six percent pay cut. All of this, of course, stems from the Getty’s investments turning sour and shrinking endowments, something we talked about back in the middle of March when Trust president James Wood was just hinting at when the axe might fall and employees would start losing their jobs. Here’s a bit about the money situation:

[Spokeswoman Julie Jaskol] said the cuts will include reductions in the number of exhibitions and less money for acquisitions of the ancient Greek and Roman, pre-20th century European and photographic art that the Getty primarily collects. Employees will meet with department heads Wednesday and Thursday to get details of how the unprecedented cuts will affect them; until then, Jaskol said, the Getty won’t provide more details on the budget.