The Guggenheim Transparency Initiative invites our extended community of artists, audience, and staff to envisage a more accountable and ethical institution as we begin preparations for reopening following our COVID-19 closure. Inspired by the calls and demands of recently unionized Guggenheim staff—including those responsible for maintaining our building, constructing bespoke exhibitions designs, and caring for our artworks—this initiative will share internal documents for public scrutiny and invite feedback on budgeting, staff structure, and management priorities.
On our website, we welcome you to learn more about the Guggenheim from the perspective of our workers, without whom we would cease to exist; to write to board members with your concerns about the race- and gender-based wage disparities that we perpetuate; and to design posters with your own slogans to be presented to the Guggenheim Foundation.
Meet Guggenheim Workers
When workers at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum voted to join Local 30 of the International Union of Operating Engineers, the first organized bargaining unit at the institution, they made it clear that their labor is essential to the mission of the Guggenheim and that they deserve better treatment.
The union represents 140 employees, including full time engineers and maintenance mechanics who operate the Guggenheim’s heating and air conditioning systems, as well as full-time and temporary employees who install and take down exhibits.
- Art Services and Preparations (ASaP) staff install, pack, move, and secure artwork of all mediums
- Construction workers construct and demolish walls, install pedestals, platforms and vitrines to house, support, and protect objects
- Lighting workers install, adjust, and maintain all exhibition lighting
- Facilities workers maintain electrical, steam, sewer, and climate control systems of the building
- Multimedia workers install, code and maintain all multimedia work and work that requires a power source
- Fabrication workers build all platforms, structures and frames to support and protect objects
- Preparators workers reframe, mount and hinge artwork; maintain storage facility
Structural Problems
At the Guggenheim, BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) workers in the Facilities department get paid on average $8,209.31 less than their white coworkers, despite having been at the Guggenheim an average of seven years longer than them. A woman Crew Leader in our Multimedia Department will earn less than the men who are working under her. And in our full-time Art Services and Preparatory (ASaP) department, the highest paid woman earns $3.81 per hour less than the highest paid man despite having worked in the same role for longer than him. Across all the Guggenheim departments covered by the union, there are significant wage gaps that aren't explained by seniority or skill level. See for yourself!
Tell Us What You Think
Now that we've made our internal practices more transparent, send our board members an email expressing your thoughts and concerns by clicking here.
What to Read
The Guggenheim’s First Black Curator Is Denouncing the Museum’s Treatment of Her
As protests against police brutality and systemic racism have unfolded all around the world, major institutions in every field have also been called out for their complicity or active participation in the continual oppression and exclusion of people of color.
A Better Guggenheim
Holding the Guggenheim Museum accountable for systemic racism and a toxic work environment. Submit via DM, email, or anonymous form.
Art Workers Rise Up
Like the protestors in the streets, art workers are beginning to imagine a world without gatekeepers, getting ready to storm the barricades, knocking off some heads, and pitching stone men into the sea. And it’s beautiful.
Supporting Our Community
During this time of global crisis, we’ve been looking for creative ways to support and uplift our essential workers and our community as we work towards a more equitable opening of the Guggenheim when the time comes. Design a poster expressing support for the Guggenheim workers or let the board know you are disgusted by the poor treatment of minority workers. Have your voice heard, we are listening.
Download the poster template here and make sure to post with #GuggenheimTransparencyInitiative!
