Chau Chak Wing Museum plan would cut eight positions

By Marcus Bennett

A University of Sydney proposal would cut eight positions at the Chau Chak Wing Museum, remove its head of collections and create three salaried, executive-level directors within a staff of about 30.

The cuts would affect curatorial, collections and public engagement teams. The proposal has shocked and angered curators, who fear that the reorganisation will put the museum’s world-class collections at risk. A petition circulating through the Australian cultural sector describes the proposed management structure as “top-heavy”.

“The loss of these roles, and changes to organisational structure, risks diminishing the museum’s capacity to care for and develop its collections, deliver educational experiences, support academic research and maintain its standing as a leading university museum,” the petition says.

The university’s case for the restructure

The University of Sydney says the changes aim to strengthen the museum’s educational and exhibition programme.

“They include realigning positions in education and public programs and curatorial work, while creating a more sustainable staffing structure to meet growing demand,” the university statement says.

The statement adds that the proposed overall number of full-time-equivalent roles would remain unchanged. It therefore separates the removal of eight positions from the museum’s total full-time-equivalent headcount. The proposal changes the allocation of work, not the stated total.

What does the restructure change for collections and research?

Craig Barker, an archaeologist and the head of public engagement at the Chau Chak Wing Museum, supports the proposed refocus towards education and engagement. He says it will divert attention from curatorial and collection management, and that academic research and international expert connections would suffer.

His own title would become “deputy director of business, education and experience”. Barker believes the emphasis would fall on business.

“Our big frustrations are not that there’s a refocus towards public engagement. It’s something that we want, but it’s at the cost of what we have done so well and where we’ve built our reputation, which is in highest-quality curatorial research,” Barker says.

“The fundamental question is: does the University of Sydney want an internationally recognised, world-class research and object-based teaching facility? Or do we just want a nice shiny building with pictures hanging on the wall?”

Ann Stephen, a senior art curator of the university art collection at the Chau Chak Wing Museum, says her job is under threat. She identifies curatorial knowledge as essential to collection care, research, publications and advice on acquisitions and deaccession.

“Without recourse to such knowledge, artworks can be misattributed, over or undervalued, or simply not understood in terms of any wider context,” Stephen says.

“Exhibition programmes not informed by curatorial knowledge can become merely dumbed-down spectacles lacking historical research or insights.”

The dispute turns on whether the museum can broaden its public role without weakening the specialist expertise that its staff say protects collections and builds institutional reputation.

Staff organise against the proposal

John Buchanan, the branch president of the National Tertiary Education Union at the University of Sydney, says the museum’s staff are strongly unionised and will fight the changes.

“They’ve got deep expertise, and they’ve basically been told: ‘there’s going to be a spill-and-fill change process and get in line to apply for your job again’,” Buchanan tells The Art Newspaper.

“This is an unhelpful way of dealing with a complex problem in the creative workforce, and [the staff] are showing their creativity by being so effective in organising.”

The Art Newspaper understands that morale at the Chau Chak Wing Museum has plummeted. Buchanan describes a process that would require existing staff to compete for posts within the restructured organisation.

Consultation and the museum’s wider role

Formal consultation began in July. The university says it welcomes “feedback and proposed alternatives”.

The modernist museum opened to the public on the university’s main campus in 2020 and charges no admission. It amalgamated the university’s three main collections:

• Antiquities.
• Natural history.
• Art.

Michael Dagostino directs the Chau Chak Wing Museum. He was chosen as the curator for the Australian pavilion at the 2026 Venice Biennale. The museum was also a venue of the 2026 Sydney Biennale.

For researchers and visitors, the decisive test is whether a more public-facing structure can preserve the curatorial expertise that museum staff say underpins collection care, research and the institution’s standing. The consultation begun in July gives the university a formal chance to reconcile those goals before it proceeds.