The Vancouver Art Gallery appears to be confronting challenging times.
It confirmed Tuesday to BIV that it is laying off staff to "ensure long-term sustainability."
The VAG said it "has begun the difficult but necessary process of reducing its operating budget."
It did not cite a number for how many staff it will let go. Its most recent annual report said that it employed 136 people.
"Staff have been informed that reductions will take place across all areas of the gallery, including staffing," the VAG said in its emailed statement. "These are hard decisions, but they are being made with care and a continued commitment to our public mission."
This comes three months after the VAG parted ways with former CEO Anthony Kiendl, and about six months after it scuttled its plan to build a $600-million new gallery and said it would no longer be working with Swiss architectural firm Herzog & de Meuron. It has since appointed Sirish Rao and Eva Pespini as its two co-CEOs.
Last year, the gallery said spiralling costs forced it to rethink and downscale its plan for a new gallery.
Major donors to the VAG's fund for a new gallery, such as Polygon Homes chairman Michael Audain, told BIV that they are in a wait-and-see mode.
"I am a strong believer in a new building" said Audain, who pledged $100 million to help finance the attraction's proposed move to a new site.
Its most recent annual financial report was up to the end of June 2024, given that it is at the end of its current fiscal year.
The gallery noted a $32,098,981 deficiency of revenue over expenses in the 2023-24 fiscal year, which was a wild swing down from a $35,868,591 surplus of revenue over expenses in the previous year.
The single biggest hit to its revenue in the 2023-24 fiscal year, compared with the previous year was provincial government funding. It received $887,673 in that funding in the 2023-24 fiscal year, down from $27,471,492 in provincial government funding in the previous year.
Admissions revenue rose to $2,731,368 in the year that ended June 30, 2024, compared with $2,660,899 in admission revenue in the previous year.
Rao told BIV last month that he expected a slight increase in visitors this summer due to new exhibitions.
The gallery last year welcomed about 172,000 visitors, with around 40 per cent of them during the June-through-August period, he estimated.
A rise in Canadian nationalism may generate interest in the gallery’s exhibit on Québec painter Jean-Paul Riopelle, Rao said. Another exhibit is on B.C. ceramics, among other attractions, he added.
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