Gaëtane Verna, the embattled executive director of The Ohio State University Wexner Center for the Arts, is resigning effective immediately.
The news comes a week after columbus telegram According to the report, Wexner had a cumulative deficit of $1.1 million in fiscal year 2024, and more than a dozen employees signed a formal letter of no confidence in Verna’s leadership. The letter was sent to university officials.
this send According to the report, employees at the center learned of the resignation in an Oct. 29 email from Ohio State University Provost Ravi M. Bellamkonda. According to the email reviewed sendTrevor Brown, senior vice provost for academic affairs, will “work closely with the center leadership team to guide this transition” until an interim leader is named.
“Wex is known for its talented creatives and dedicated professionals, and with your continued support, we will continue to serve the community and support artists from Ohio and around the world during this transition and for many years to come,” Bellamconda reportedly wrote.
Verna was appointed executive director of Wexner in August 2022, following more than a decade as director and artistic director of Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery in Toronto. The Canadian Pavilion at the 2024 Venice Biennale is titled “Kapwani Kiwanga: Trinket”, commissioned by the National Gallery of Canada and curated by Verna.
She inherits Wexner, which faces financial turmoil exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic. After her arrival, the center’s financial situation and workplace culture appeared to deteriorate further.
The center’s fiscal 2024 revenue fell short of forecast revenue by about $2.5 million. send Reportedly resulting in a $1 million deficit. A review of the Wexner Center Foundation board’s finances also found the center spent $365,000 on website updates, $185,000 on new projectors and $1 million on “unspecified capital expenditures.”
“We believe that her approach has resulted in high turnover, organizational dysfunction, financial instability and reputational damage over the past three years,” the Columbus-based outlet quoted the letter as saying. News. (The 27 museum employees represented by Wex Workers United did not receive the letter because the union has its own protocol for filing grievances with museum leadership.)
One year before the date the letter was sent, columbus telegram published a report in which Wexner staff detailed a “dysfunctional culture perpetuated by the museum’s executive director” that forced more than two dozen employees to leave.
The letter echoes many of those claims and points to new examples of alleged financial irresponsibility, including the university issuing a “red card” to the center due to financial turmoil and launching a major capital project with a reported budget of $1 million that allegedly lacked “transparent budgeting, staff consultation or a complete feasibility study.” The letter also criticized Werner’s decision to use university funds for a series of exhibition catalogues, a project that the signatories said would cost more than $200,000 and raise “serious questions about equity, transparency and responsible use of the budget.”
this send Reports in August, citing current and former employees and human resources documents, said 23 employees had left under Verna. That month, the center’s director of development operations and director of finance and administration both announced their departures. In July, two employees were also laid off due to “a lack of funding for the Wexner Center,” as Werner wrote in an email shared with local media.
Details about Wexner’s interim leadership are still being released.
