Downsizing and Restructuring Continue, Affecting Employees with Decades of Service

By Dolores Quintana

Last week, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences laid off a significant number of staff members in the Academy Archive and Library. It was 16 employees in total, according to Variety, and several were staff members who had been with the Academy for anywhere between one to two decades. According to a source, the newest round of layoffs were issued without warning.

This move seems to be a continuation of the downsizing that has been slowly and quietly occurring at the Academy in 2023 and 2024 under the guidance of CEO Bill Kramer. Kramer stated in an email sent to staff, acquired by the Mirror Media Group, that these layoffs represented two percent of the Academy's overall workforce and were an effort to bring the collecting and preservation teams together, which includes the archive, the library, and collecting unit of the museum.

The Academy Foundation Workers Union has issued a statement about the layoffs at the Academy Foundation, via email which said, "The Academy Foundation laid off several members represented by the Academy Foundation Workers Union (AFWU) of AFSCME Local 126, an affiliate of AFSCME District Council 36. Facing any number of layoffs is upsetting for our Union, and even though AFWU is unable to prevent management from issuing these layoffs, we can and will fight to ensure our departing members leave the Academy Foundation with as much financial aid as possible by receiving the severance pay and severance benefits, they deserve."

"We are currently negotiating strong severance packages for those impacted. We will continue to ensure that Academy Foundation management abides by our collective bargaining agreement and will respond in the appropriate manner if it is violated. We expect to reach an agreement on this matter soon. Our union siblings represented by Academy Museum Workers United (AMWU) of AFSCME Local 126 were not affected by layoffs."

According to a source, the partial list of employees laid off includes Moray Greenfield, who worked for the Academy for over 20 years, and Nancy Aubrey, who worked for 20 years, from the Theater Operations Team. Some of the employees who were laid off on October 30 are Anne Coco, Associate Director of the Graphic Arts Collection, who worked for 32 years, Mike Pogorzelski, Director of the Film Archive, who worked for 24 years, Lea Whittington, Associate Director of Technical Services, who worked for 20 Years, and Sonja Wong, Vice President of Registration and Collection Management, who worked for 11 years. According to Indiewire, "several senior archive curators, library staffers, the nitrate vault manager, and the head of cataloging" were also laid off.

Brianna Toth, Smithsonian Libraries and Archives video preservation specialist posted a thread on social media raising the alarm about the layoffs on Wednesday morning, "Yesterday 7 of the 30+ employees were laid off at the Academy Film Archive without notice. This included the Director & Head of Preservation who was one of the best managers I ever had. This feels like a death knell for the 3rd largest film archive in North America."

Her thread continued and stated this disturbing news, "Many of the people who were axed were pivotal in making the collections what they are today. None of them deserved this. The decision was "effective immediately" and they had no time to pass on work or institutional knowledge. They were simply told to leave."

These were not the only layoffs that have occurred this year. In May 2024, four Sci Tech Team members were laid off including Mary Howard, who had 14 years with the Academy, Cameron Jappe, George Joblove, who had worked for the Academy for 7 years, and Norma Vega, who had worked for the Academy for 17 years.

This follows the news that The Academy's annual gala raised $11 million that will fund the exhibitions, education initiatives, and public programming at the Academy Museum and preceded the announcement of the Academy's acquisition of more than 52 million historic cinema items and films, including the Studio Ghibli animation collection, featuring drawings by Hayao Miyazaki; Quentin Tarantino's original handwritten script draft for Pulp Fiction (1994); objects from Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio (2022); costumes worn by Jamie Lee Curtis, Kurt Russell, Meryl Streep, and Joanne Woodward; personal collections of Curtis Hanson, Barbara Kopple, Ve Neill, Oliver Stone, and Paul Verhoeven, some of which were gifts to the museum.

The email, acquired by the Mirror Media Group, sent to staff by Bill Kramer says, "Dear Academy Team,

As you know, we have been focused over the last two years on strategic structural changes at the Academy. We are working hard to bring teams together that share roles and responsibilities -- and with this we have some colleagues who have left the organization while others have moved into new roles. While these moments can be challenging, they are designed to align our operations by combining functions with shared purposes and priorities.

As part of our efforts to bring all of our collecting and preservation departments together -- the archive, the library, and the collecting unit of the museum -- we have spent the last several months assessing the structure of these teams. As part of this work in building the new Academy Collection and Preservation Department, some team members will be leaving the Academy this week.

All impacted employees have been alerted to these changes -- and while this effects less than 2% of our overall workforce, we know that having to say goodbye to colleagues is incredibly hard. We are deeply committed to providing support for those leaving and are finalizing a new reporting structure that we will share soon.

The Academy is part of two worlds that are rapidly evolving -- the film industry and the non-profit arts community. We are working hard to stay focused on our mission while addressing this pivotal moment. And while we know how difficult these moments can be, we are confident in our steps to shape a sustainable organization that is well-suited to meet our goals now and in the future.

We are deeply grateful for your work and support. Please do not hesitate to reach out if you have any questions.