A mass exodus of staff at the National Academy Museum and School has seen the departure of registrars, the marketing director, the building manager and senior curator Bruce Weber. Dr. Marshall Price, the museum’s contemporary curator, left in March to become a curator at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University.

The board says the lay-offs are for financial reasons, but others with knowledge of the situation say that the reason is a restructuring for the incoming creative director.

Maurizio Pellegrin, a member of the school’s faculty, is an artist who will take the lead role at the museum as creative director. He has big ideas for the museum, from drawing in more young people to adding more focus on furniture, cinematography, and other categories. He has also said he has no interest in shows at the museum since “the galleries in New York already do fantastic business.”