Citing Financial Trouble, Charleston’s International African American Museum to Furlough Staff

Citing ongoing financial difficulties, Charleston’s International African American Museum (IAAM) will furlough its entire staff, including senior leadership, according to a statement from the institution.

The 20-day furlough program will begin July 1 and run into December in staggered phases. However, the museum will remain open throughout that time.

“This action is being taken to reduce expenses and avoid layoffs while we refocus on sustainable revenue growth and fundraising efforts,” the museum said in its statement, as first quoted by local media. “We know this affects our employees and their families in real ways. Keeping this team together and supporting them through difficult times is why we chose this path rather than deeper cuts.”

The museum added that it is “strengthening [its] fundraising and financial strategy” and will “continue to communicate openly as that work progresses.”

News of the furlough comes just as the IAAM prepares to mark its third anniversary on June 27. The museum occupies a singular place among Black cultural institutions in the United States: it stands on Gadsden’s Wharf, which served as the principal point of entry for enslaved Africans into North America between 1783 and 1807. More than 40 percent of captive Africans brought to what is now the United States entered through the port, where they were sold into slavery at auction. In 2024, UNESCO recognized Gadsden’s Wharf as one of 22 sites of exceptional significance to the history and teaching of the transatlantic slave trade.

A registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit, the IAAM generated more than $11.1 million in revenue in 2024, up from $7.4 million in 2023, the year it opened. Contributions and grants totaled more than $8 million in 2024, including $2.2 million in federal funding, down from $4.3 million the previous year. Despite the bump in revenue, the museum operated at a loss: expenses reached $12 million, resulting in an operating deficit of $883,273 in 2024. 

Museum officials said that, like many cultural institutions nationwide, the IAAM is grappling with a shifting political and philanthropic landscape that has made operations “uniquely more challenging.” The pressure comes amid a broader contraction in federal arts funding under the Trump administration, which has enacted sweeping cuts to arts and humanities grants, affecting foremost museums, historical research projects, and public arts programs focused on diversity and equity.

Trump has also made clear his displeasure with historical museums that, in the language of a recent executive order, promote “anti-American content.” At the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture, exhibitions have reportedly been revised and some objects related to civil rights activism removed from public display. In a separate controversy, a slavery exhibit at the former presidential residence of George Washington and John Adams in Philadelphia was removed by the National Park Service, though a federal judge later ordered its restoration.

A 2025 survey by the American Alliance of Museums (AAM) found that a third of 511 museum directors across the United States reported losing federal grants or having contracts canceled due to executive orders, with most unable to replace the funding through other sources. The AAM also found that over half of surveyed museums reported attendance had yet to return to pre-pandemic levels, and one-third attributed declining attendance to broader global trends in reduced travel.

“Even as museums struggle financially, they’re investing in the future of their communities,” AAM president and CEO Marilyn Jackson said in 2025. “Museums are doing their part by adapting their business models, engaging with lawmakers, and continuing to serve their communities despite financial headwinds. Now we need policymakers and philanthropists to recognize that investing in museums is investing in education, economic development, and community cohesion.”

ARTnews has contacted the International African American Museum for further comment.