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I agree with both the tone and the substance of Alan and Rachel have to say.  Erich points to a comment labeled "ExploStaff" that echoes comments I have seen on Facebook about this:

"An only partially accurate representation of what's happening at work today.

Over a half of the workshop received notices today, most legacy folks who were around to work with the founder were laid off or encouraged to take early retirement packages, plans to outsource our public relations department, and most of the creative staff to be restructured underneath the business development group. That, is the tail wagging the dog.

Most of our senior scientists and artists received layoff notices today, as did I. 

On the other hand, they have plans to grow the business development department. 

Today, one of our long time creatives put a shroud on the sign that hangs over the shop that says: 
"Here is being created
the Exploratorium
a community museum
dedicated to awareness"'

======

Yes, staff reductions are sometimes necessary in the face of economic uncertainty, Alan and I lived through a couple of recessions and doubling the space of NYSCI.  One question that needs to be answered by management (not publicly, but as part of the internal deliberations) is:  is the institution going to use these reductions to restructure or redefine the institution, or are you going to do what you can to preserve the core so that the institution can grow back more or less unchanged?

In the case of NYSCI, we typically used the latter strategy.  It sounds like Explo is using the former.  On a personal level, the loss of 80 jobs (reading closely, its a loss of 80 headcount, with leaving positions unfilled, early retirement buyouts etc, and probably a significant portion of that headcount would be casuals directly related to the scale of their visitorship---front of house etc) is very sad particularly when colleagues and friends are among those who have to leave unwillingly.  

Professionally, the restructuring of the organization has the potential for much more sustained impact.  Explo has always been an outlier with unionized exhibition shop/developers and a...dynamic...organizational structure (I think the fundamentally individualistic nature of the place made many people there were unwilling to say that they worked *for* anyone or were in *any* bureaucratic structure).  I can only imagine how much care and thought must have gone into the idea that "most of the creative staff [will be] restructured under the business development group" (which echoes what I have seen on facebook, though this poster is anonymous and salt should be liberally applied.)  Given the unprecedented and unmatched allegiance among the staff to the original vision of the Exploratorium, as reflected in the new building, any tinkering with the core of that vision must be extremely delicate and challenging.

Most of us know people who work at the exploratorium, and I've always been amazed at how a meeting there is likely to include 10 of the smartest people in the room in one room.  So with that in mind, we really do wish them the best and will be watching how this evolves.  It is an indication of how much the Explo means to both SF and to the museum community that this bump in the road has elicited so much commentary in various online forums.

Good luck Explo friends reading this.  Our hearts and minds are with you!

Eric Siegel


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