Academy Film Archive Lays Off Multiple Staff Members in Restructuring as AMPAS Announces Expansions to Collection

variety.com:

J. Kim Murphy The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences laid off a major contingent of staff members in its archive and library on Wednesday, including Academy Film Archive director of 24 years Mike Pogorzelski.

A source with knowledge of the layoffs says that several impacted employees had worked at the Academy for more than a decade.

The changes, announced on Wednesday by Academy CEO Bill Kramer in an internal statement obtained by Variety, come amid an ongoing restructuring initiative at the organization.

The cutbacks place the archive, the library and the collecting unit’s operations under a newly formed Academy Collection and Preservation department. “As part of this work in building the new Academy Collection and Preservation department, some team members will be leaving the Academy this week,” Kramer wrote, adding the note that “less than 2% of our overall workforce” had been impacted. “We know that having to say goodbye to colleagues is incredibly hard.