After closing its doors on March 14 due to coronavirus concerns, the Milwaukee Public Museum today announced it has temporary furloughed staff and reduced salaries for its executive leadership.
MPM president and chief executive officer Ellen Censky said the loss of two key revenue sources, visits and events, prompted the “challenging fiscal decision.”
Censky said the museum hopes the decision will allow staff to retain their employee benefits while collecting unemployment under the CARES Act, if it is passed in its current form.
MPM had 198 employees as of 2017, according to the most recent available tax filings.
Staff were notified of the furloughs Friday.
Censky said it’s uncertain how long the museum and its planetarium will remain closed. In the meantime, MPM has launched a new weekly email that contains activities for parents and kids to engage with its collections and resources.
“We look forward to reopening MPM doors to our employees and to visitors from across the state and around the world as soon as it is safe to do so. In the meantime, we are committed to helping connect all impacted employees with the federal and state resources they need during this period,” Censky said.
