The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) abruptly laid off three of five staff members of its Video Data Bank (VDB), including director Tom Colley, on November 12. The cuts have sparked outcry in the new-media art community and raised concerns about the archive's future. Founded in 1976, VDB is a leading archive of video art, distributing over 6,000 works by artists such as Nam June Paik, Coco Fusco, and Bruce Nauman. The layoffs come as SAIC faces enrollment declines and financial shortfalls, with 20 total layoffs across the institution.
This matters because VDB is an indispensable resource for video and media art, serving museums, universities, and libraries worldwide. The sudden loss of leadership and key staff threatens the archive's operations, acquisitions, and programming. The situation reflects broader financial pressures on U.S. art schools, exacerbated by federal policy changes and declining international student enrollment. The art community fears that without experienced staff, VDB's mission and collection may be compromised, despite SAIC's assurances that the archive will continue.