Sierra Schiano on Structural Pressure After LACMA Union Vote

During the break, workers at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) voted overwhelmingly to start a union. Their move is part of a larger trend of unionization efforts at museums and other art institutions across the country. It makes sense in a nation where job stability is shrinking and inflation is rising—with little support from Washington, DC and the cash-strapped art world. We caught up with Sierra Schiano, who works in the education department at LACMA, ahead of the vote to hear more about the museum’s merger efforts.

Let’s start with the internal point of view that led to the coordinated union effort. What are some of the most important structural issues within LACMA, in your view, that have driven this push toward collective representation?

I would not say that there was a single moment or decision that pushed the workers to represent the group. Instead, there were various management issues that my colleagues and I had been frustrated with for a long time. Another ongoing problem was burnout—employees left, but their positions were not filled, leaving others on their team to do more work. Another problem was indifference—LACMA relies on part-time labor for almost its entire Education and Community Program, which means part-time workers cannot count on consistent work year-round. We are told that there are no hours available during the summer and winter holidays—why? Who decides how to allocate resources in this way? Opportunities for museum education and community programs don’t suddenly end when schools take a break.

LACMA’s mission statement states that our mission is to serve the public by providing meaningful educational and cultural information to a wide range of audiences. There is so much LACMA can do—more programs, more events—to fulfill our mission statement while also providing year-round, sustainable employment for its employees. The lack of transparency regarding executive decisions regarding the priority of programs and resources and how those decisions are made from top to bottom, is another important issue.

I think all workplaces should be unionized because it is important for workers to have a voice. Even if these structural issues did not exist, I still want joint representation to ensure that these issues do not arise in the future. It’s like establishing good communication and healthy boundaries is important in any relationship—we do the same thing, but in our workplace.

Attempts to start a union are a confidential and sensitive process. How did yours start, and how did you start recruiting your colleagues?

I first learned about unionization efforts early in 2025, and joined the Organizing Committee (OC) shortly thereafter. As a Traveling Teacher, I work virtually off-site, which was beneficial in this case, because it meant that I didn’t have to hide from my conversations with colleagues about the work and what changes we would like to see at LACMA.

It was a very exciting time because all of our Mobile Teaching colleagues immediately got on board with the idea of ​​a union; almost all of us are part-timers and have been dealing with the problem of being an art teacher. Hiring other part-time academic staff—such as Teaching Artists—became more difficult because those people are so far apart. They work fewer hours than us, and they work alone, rather than in a team.

But overall, I’m glad I was a part of our unionization process because I’ve met more colleagues in the past six months as an OC member than I’ve met in the past three years as an employee at LACMA. It was very encouraging to know that I wasn’t the only one who was frustrated and that other people were willing to work together to do something about it.

Apparently, there has been no shortage of coverage around the world The exciting opening of the David Geffen Galleries. How was this job opening?

My team isn’t very involved with DGG beyond hosting the occasional NexGenLA event, but I’ve heard a lot from colleagues in other departments. In particular, it appears that DGG-related work is exacerbating common, long-standing problems of understaffing, bottom-up decision-making and limited resources.

Speaking of which, what are some of the demands of the union?

Currently, we are working together to determine our negotiating priorities as a group, but in general, we would like higher salaries commensurate with the cost of living in LA, more balanced workloads, increased benefits and increased transparency about facility agreements and services.

He works in the Department of Education and Community Programs. How can a union make your department, in particular, run more smoothly?

One of the things that bothers me most about LACMA is how much it relies on part-time work to facilitate its academic programs. Only managers and consultants have full-time positions with benefits; all Mobile Teachers, Instructional Artists and Educational Assistants are part-time, and we have very variable and limited hours.

I once applied to be a Teaching Artist, but was told that LACMA could not promise that I would be able to work even 10 hours a week. As a Travel Teacher, I can get 15-20 hours during the school year, but zero hours in the summer. Our program budget basically covers September to May, so my partner and I have to find summer jobs every year. And we don’t get paid when schools are on winter break, so you can imagine how stressful it is to deal with rent, health insurance and taxes when your income fluctuates so much from month to month and you’re juggling three or more jobs every year.

With such confidence comes high levels of profitability. We lose two teachers every school break, and we’re a small group to begin with. The Mobile Program currently employs only seven part-time Teachers, so we feel a great loss whenever someone leaves, and we have to rush to train someone new as quickly as possible. The main result is that since we have less staff, we are not able to visit more schools and offer this unique course to as many students as we could with adequate support.

I feel like we could do so much more to bring arts education to communities throughout LA if we had the budget and stability to expand and explore. I hope that with our union, we will be in a better position to negotiate for full positions in education and more support for our programs in general.

The management refused to voluntarily accept the union. What is that for you, and how does that affect the process going forward?

The lack of voluntary recognition showed that, although managers may say they want to fully support their employees, they are willing to do so on their own terms. By insisting on an election, Management has indicated that it will push back against the union by any legally and socially acceptable means. Management repeatedly said in emails and staff meetings that the election would be the most “democratic” option where all employees would have the opportunity to “do research” and “make an informed decision.” But we’ve already done the research, and we’ve already made informed decisions about signing union authorization cards.

If LACMA really respected the voices of workers, it would have offered voluntary recognition. Instead, LACMA chose to spend money on independent polls to ask the same question—”Do you want to unionize?”—and produced the same result! The answer would always be yes! There was no practical difference between the democratic and legal process of voluntary recognition by validating signed union cards and private elections. Personally, I think the independent election was a waste of time and money—resources that Management should be investing in their employees and programs. We should have listened to us in the first place instead of the inevitable delay.

Despite this, my colleagues and I are very happy that we won our election with 96 percent voting for the union! Now we can start the new year fresh and focus on winning our first contract.

Your efforts to consolidate show similar efforts at the Detroit Institute of Arts, the Jewish Museumthe Whitney, the Brooklyn Museum and other institutions. Why do you think this has become a trend in recent years?

I can’t speak to the motivations of other museum workers, but I’ve realized that when we’re faced with a federal government that devalues ​​and directly attacks institutions dedicated to the arts and humanities (I’m thinking specifically of Trump’s plans to eliminate the National Endowment of the Humanities, the National Endowment of the Arts and the Institute of Museum and Library Services), the best way to protect and defend our colleagues or organize themselves. I cannot rely on the benefit of the government or the rich or even my bosses, because those organizations have shown that they are only interested in protecting their goal. But I trust my colleagues, and I believe in teamwork. I am confident that we can build a better world together, one unionized workplace at a time.

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