The Academy Foundation earlier this month laid off all five staffers with its Oral History Projects team, effectively dissolving the department responsible for conducting and preserving interviews with notable members of the film industry.
Two of those laid off were transitioned into different union roles within the Academy Foundation, the organization said, Friday.
The layoffs were part of a consolidation of the collections department at the Academy Foundation, which along with the Academy Museum is operated under the umbrella of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Four of the five staffers who previously comprised the Oral History Projects department were in union roles.
In a statement posted on social media, the Academy Foundation Workers Union, AFSCME Local 126, called the cuts “a sad and reckless choice.” It also expressed frustration with what it called the Foundation’s “lack of transparency” and “disregard for the skills and expertise of our colleagues” during the restructuring.
“The Academy’s decision to abandon this dedicated project devalues the labor required to produce intellectually stimulating and rigorous long-form interviews, as well as underestimating the historical worth of each individual story,” the union wrote in an email to The Times.
The academy said that existing oral histories will remain accessible through its archive, and that it will continue to preserve film history through its museum, collection and digital initiatives.
The Academy Foundation established its Oral History Program in 1989 with the goal of documenting the careers of industry professionals using audio recordings. These conversations were archived in the Margaret Herrick Library.
The now-dissolved Oral History Projects department was founded in 2012 to streamline the collections process, and to date has recorded more than 185 interviews — each between four or five hours long. These provide invaluable details about filmmaker’s lives and careers, and the Academy Museum regularly draws on the Academy Foundation’s library and film archive materials for its exhibitions and film screenings.
“Through the work of OHP, the Academy has also become the primary preservation repository for filmmaker interviews from the guilds and other sources,” notes the organization’s website.
“The Academy’s Oral History Project (OHP) recorded and collected audio and video interviews with the individuals who form the rich fabric of filmmaking history — production and costume designers, documentarians, executives, actors, animators, technicians, composers, and more,” the union wrote in an email. “Without the department, these meticulously researched and skillfully crafted oral histories are no longer being produced.”
This is not the first time the academy has laid off staffers since it opened the Academy Museum in 2021. A 2022 restructuring effort, which created a new Academy Collection and Preservation Department, resulted in the layoffs of 16 members from the organization’s archive and library.
In an internal email to staff obtained by The Times, academy CEO Bill Kramer, said that the restructuring was necessary as the organization navigated “two worlds that are rapidly evolving — the film industry and the non-profit arts community.”
“We are working hard to stay focused on our mission while addressing this pivotal moment. And while we know how difficult these moments can be, we are confident in our steps to shape a sustainable organization that is well-suited to meet our goals now and in the future,” Kramer said.
Times staff writer Josh Rottenberg contributed to this report.
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