In a sign of continued financial distress, the Museum of African American History laid off three director-level positions Tuesday, a staff reduction that affects its curatorial, development, and learning and engagement departments.
Museum president Noelle Trent called the layoffs a difficult but necessary cost-cutting decision, saying the museum is “adjusting to the new reality.”
“This doesn’t change our commitment to the projects that we’re involved in,” said Trent. “It doesn’t change our commitment to our communities and our partners.”
In another cost-saving measure, the museum recently curtailed its hours, closing to the public Tuesdays and Wednesdays, remaining open only Thursday through Sunday. (The museum will still be open to field trips and private events on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.)
“I’ve been assessing and reassessing the operations and how we move forward,” said Trent. “This is part of our readjustment and reimagining of our operations.”
Tuesday’s layoffs brought the museum’s staff to seven full-time employees and three part-time workers. It follows a series of financial challenges and other setbacks the museum has faced in recent years, as deficits have mounted and assets have dwindled.
The museum, whose annual operating budget is around $3 million, ran a $1.8 million deficit last year and a $1.4 million deficit the year prior, according to its most recent tax filings. Meanwhile, its net assets have shrunk dramatically, dropping from $11 million to roughly $9 million last year alone.
“The museum has had a number of challenges financially since COVID, and there have been a number of adjustments that have had to be made since I walked through the door,” said Trent, who oversees the museum’s properties on Beacon Hill and Nantucket. “The board and I are committed to making those changes.”
The museum’s financial position has been complicated by the Trump administration, which has targeted grant-making agencies such as the National Endowment for the Arts and the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
In March 2025, the museum was informed that it had lost a $500,000 IMLS grant, which was intended to help develop field trip offerings, outreach, and programming at the museum’s historic sites. The grant has since been restored, but Trent said the uncertainty remains.
“We’re operating in a very new reality, and this reality is ever-changing,” she said. “There are several contributing factors to this, and as you look at all the different things that … were affecting us [in 2025], those did not just disappear instantaneously.”
It was unclear how the museum would make curatorial decisions going forward.
In an email to colleagues announcing she’d been laid off, former MAAH chief curator Angela Tate said the staff reduction meant “the museum will not have curatorial staff for the foreseeable future.”
Trent called that description “inaccurate.”
“We are revising how we manage our curatorial area of the organization,” she said. “We are still committed to doing the work that we are doing in our curatorial space.”
Malcolm Gay can be reached at malcolm.gay@globe.com.