The forthcoming Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles has laid off 15 full-time employees, representing 14 percent of its full-time staff. An additional seven part-time employees also had their roles eliminated, according to the Los Angeles Times, which first reported the news.
In a statement sent to ARTnews, the Lucas Museum said the full-time cuts mostly affected its Learning & Engagement and Museum Services teams. Despite cuts to its education teams, the museum said, “Education remains a central pillar of the Lucas Museum. One of the main reasons Los Angeles’s Exposition Park was chosen as the location for the museum was its proximity to other museums, USC, and more than 400 schools in a five-mile radius. … Educational program plans are still in development, and we look forward to sharing more closer to opening.”
The Lucas Museum, founded by ARTnews Top 200 collectors George Lucas and Mellody Hobson, has been in the works for over a decade. Prior to the decision to open the museum in Los Angeles in 2016, Lucas and Hobson had considered sites in San Francisco and Chicago. Estimated to cost $1 billion, the museum has faced several delays due to supply-chain issues, which saw it delayed first to 2025 and then to 2026. It was originally scheduled to open in 2023.
In February, the Lucas Museum announced a leadership transition that saw Sandra Jackson-Dumont, its then director and CEO, step down after five years. Her last day at the museum was April 1. As part of the transition, her role was split in two, with Lucas leading the artistic direction of the institution and Jim Gianopulos, a former chairman and CEO of 20th Century Fox and Paramount Pictures, serving as an interim CEO, while it searches for a permanent CEO.
Included in the cuts, according to the LA Times and confirmed by the Lucas Museum to ARTnews, are Regan Pro, deputy director of public programs and social impact, and Bernardo Rondeau, curator of film programs.
Prior to joining the Lucas in 2021, Pro had been the deputy director for education and public engagement at the Seattle Art Museum, where Jackson-Dumont had previously been director.
Rondeau joined the museum in 2023 after serving for more than eight years as founding director of film programs for the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. On LinkedIn, he said he was attending the Cannes Film Festival when he was informed. “I’m deeply grateful for the time I’ve spent there and for the many talented people I’ve had the privilege to work with,” his post reads.
“As the Lucas Museum progresses as an institution from planning to implementing to opening, we have evaluated our current organizational structure and determined that changes were needed,” the museum’s statement reads. “It is a tremendously difficult decision to reorganize roles and to eliminate staff, but the restructure will allow the museum’s teams to work more efficiently to bring the museum to life for the public. The museum will also continue hiring new roles in strategic operational areas in anticipation of the 2026 opening.”
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