The “Shame on you, Dali Museum” petition currently has 381 signatures on change.org, and was started by “Innocent Bystander.” The cultural institution “recently fired many local staff members after taking a large sum of PPP money earmarked to help ‘small businesses’ retain employees during and in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic…,” says the petition, which goes on to say the Dalí retained “highly-paid upper management.”
A laid-off employee who would only speak to Creative Loafing Tampa Bay on background said that the museum did keep many employees on payroll after getting PPP funds but that they were indeed caught off guard by the recent, abrupt release of employees. CL has been unable to reach any laid off workers willing to speak on the record.
In a statement sent to CL, The Dalí—which has been closed for 14 weeks—said it was able to maintain all staff at full pay from its own operational budget for four weeks following the closure while applying for the PPP loan.
“The Museum received the loan and worked with our bank and outside CPA counsel to follow all guidelines associated with the funding. The loan was used to cover full pay for all Museum employees for an additional eight weeks, despite remaining closed with no incoming revenue,” the statement added. “Like most businesses that received the loan, the PPP funding allowed us to retain our full staff longer than we would have been able to otherwise.”
The Dalí statement also said the museum retained more than 80% of its staff after the PPP period and that it kept paying retained employees with its own funds while working on a re-opening strategy.
“The retained staff took a reduction in pay, and senior staff members took a greater percentage cut,” the statement said.
CL asked the Dalí for specifics about the employee pay cuts—including exact percentages for executives and management—as well as details about severance and some employees’ criticisms that the nonprofit made the cuts as it eyes a nearly $40M expansion.
In response, a PR rep for the museum said, “Please note that this is a human resources issue. To be respectful of our staff, we do not discuss human resources specifics.”
Read the full statement below.
"This has been an unprecedented and difficult experience for The Dalí Museum, as it has been for everyone across the globe. Since our primary revenue source is visitation, being closed for 14 weeks during the pandemic has had a significant financial impact – especially at the height of tourism season.
The Dalí was able to maintain all staff at full pay from its own operational budget for four weeks following the closure while applying for the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan. The Museum received the loan and worked with our bank and outside CPA counsel to follow all guidelines associated with the funding. The loan was used to cover full pay for all Museum employees for an additional eight weeks, despite remaining closed with no incoming revenue. Like most businesses that received the loan, the PPP funding allowed us to retain our full staff longer than we would have been able to otherwise.
Following the PPP period, we retained over 80% of our staff, then resumed paying retained employees with our own funds while working on a re-opening strategy. The retained staff took a reduction in pay, and senior staff members took a greater percentage cut.
The largest part of the Museum's reduction in expenses has been achieved through operational expense reductions. The Dalí cut non-staff expenses almost in half and is operating on minimal budgets to retain as many staff as possible despite the anticipated challenging financial forecast. When possible, we have rehired employees from eliminated positions and placed them in other areas that had staff vacancies.
We are determined to reinvent ourselves in the spirit of Dalí himself, to remain a vibrant institution, a pride to the community in this new era and beyond."
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This article appears in Jun 18-24, 2020.