The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles is relieved that a balanced budget for the upcoming fiscal year is now firmly in sight, but the positive news hasn’t come without a good deal of pain: Up to 25 percent of the staff has been cut since January, including two of seven curators, and four planned exhibitions have been canceled.

With its 2009 budget reduced from $20 million to $15.5 million, the museum is saying it’s put behind it the consistent deficits that have occurred since 2000. In that spirit, MOCA is planning a 30th anniversary celebration in November that will showcase its acclaimed collection. Eli Broad, who bailed out the museum in December, will serve as co-chair of the opening gala for the November exhibition. He will also be at the Venice Biennale and Art Basel fairs in Europe this summer, where he will tell the art set that MOCA has turned a corner after its financial troubles — and ask wealthy collectors to buy tables for the gala benefit.

Back at museum, the heavy cost-cutting is surely being felt. The staff was reduced from 159 positions to 119; senior staffers will take pay cuts of at least 5 percent; others will see their hours or salaries cut; and all employees are getting their benefits slashed.

Read more at the Los Angeles Times.