San Francisco arts staff face layoffs, confusion amid budget cuts

A layoff notice to Jen Atwood did more than unsettle one employee at the San Francisco Arts Commission. It raised the prospect that the city’s public-facing arts system, the grant programs, gallery work and community support that artists depend on, could become less reliable just as San Francisco is trying to present itself as a cultural city.

Atwood, who had spent more than two years managing grant-making programs, received notice on May 1 that she was being laid off. She later learned her role was not actually disappearing. In another twist that captured the confusion inside the agency, Maysoun Wazwaz also received a layoff notice, then had that layoff rescinded and was offered reassignment. Staffers described the process as chaotic, opaque and deeply demoralizing, with uncertainty spreading through the offices that handle grants, public programming and city-owned art spaces.

The turmoil comes as Mayor Daniel Lurie presses departments to cut personnel costs amid a projected deficit that the city controller’s March 2026 report put at $643 million over the next two fiscal years, improved from $936 million in December. Axios reported that the mayor’s office had described a $634 million shortfall, while Lurie has said arts and culture remain central to the city’s recovery. NBC Bay Area reported that Lurie ordered 127 layoffs across 18 departments on April 7, with the overall reduction expected to reach about 500 positions. Some workers received 30-day notices and others 60-day notices.

Arts workers are feeling that pressure inside an agency already being pulled into a broader restructuring. Lurie appointed Matthew Goudeau in late April as San Francisco’s first executive director of arts and culture, a new post meant to bring the San Francisco Arts Commission, Grants for the Arts and the Film Commission under one umbrella. According to the city, Goudeau, formerly a senior leader at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and a former director of Grants for the Arts, is supposed to improve coordination, effectiveness and support for the arts.

The contrast between that promise and the current upheaval is stark. On July 1, 2025, the city and the Arts Commission announced $10.4 million in grants for 145 local artists, arts nonprofits and six cultural centers, including more than $7.5 million for 98 individual artists and 47 arts nonprofits, plus nearly $3 million for cultural centers. The city said the grant cycle drew a record 533 applications, with 73 peer panelists reviewing 483 eligible applications in public panels held from January through April 2025, and nearly half of the individual artist awardees were first-time recipients. Now, with staff members unsure who will be cut next, the day-to-day work of meeting deadlines, running galleries and keeping grantmaking visible to the public is under strain.