In a meeting with employees yesterday, Old Salem said it will lay off workers and change the way it tells its story to tourists.
The museum will trim its staff from 120 to 95 full-time workers and from 103 to 79 part-time workers through voluntary retirements and layoffs, said Lee French, the president of Old Salem Inc.
The museum had a $6.2 million budget last year. Old Salem is aiming for a budget of $5.3 million in the next fiscal year, which starts March 1.
Some of the positions have been vacant for some time and will not be filled. A few full-time positions will be converted to part time.
Every department at the museum will be affected, French said.
"There's nothing pleasant about this," he said. "But it's the right thing to do today. It's the right thing to do for tomorrow."
Old Salem's management and its board of directors have worked on the plan for about six months, French said.
The drop in the stock market, which reduced the museum's endowment from $52 million in December 2007 to about $36 million now, intensified the need to cut costs. Most museums draw from 41/2 percent to 61/2 percent of their endowments yearly for operating costs, French said. Old Salem had been drawing 6 percent and would like to reduce that amount to 5 percent.
Last spring the board agreed to chisel away at an $800,000 yearly operating deficit, French said. He said that he expects the museum to reduce that by about $300,000 this fiscal year, which ends February 28.
The museum expects to come close to breaking even during the next fiscal year, French said.
French said that everyone who leaves the museum would get a severance package that includes outplacement counseling.
But laying people off and cutting costs can't be the end of the story, he said. Old Salem needs new ideas and new energy to attract visitors.
"I don't think you can just lay off and expect the world to get better," French said.
Old Salem has an important role to play as a civic space, he said. It needs to present a good face to visitors and local people alike, and it needs to be a place that people look to for innovative programs.
The museum is changing the way it does its tours, starting next Tuesday. Currently, people pay $21 for a one-day ticket that gives them admission to buildings in the village and a history of life there.
Under the reorganization, visitors would pay $21 for a two-day ticket. The history of the village in the 18th and 19th century would be presented on alternate days.
The change will allow the museum to add new programs and present a richer picture of life in the village, French said.
Michael "Mo" Hartley, who is the director of archaeology, will take over the St. Philips complex, which includes the 19th-century church, graveyard and reconstruction of a 1820s log church.
His wife, Martha Hartley, a researcher and planner in the department of restoration, will join him in interpreting the story of blacks at Salem through the St. Philips complex, French said.
Old Salem is also redesigning the tour at the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts, MESDA. A longer-term redesign of the museum would create gallery space for special exhibits, French said.
Tony Furr, the chairman of Old Salem's board of directors, said that although the changes are painful, they are necessary. The museum could continue to operate as it has, but it likely would grow smaller and less dynamic.
"We're giving this place a future to grow," he said.
■ Mary Giunca can be reached at 727-4089 or at mgiunca@wsjournal.com.
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