Changes in Federal Funding Forces Sesame Workshop to ‘Downsize Significantly’ amid Layoffs

The Sesame Workshop will “downsize significantly” due to ongoing layoffs, said President and CEO Sherrie Rollins Westin on Wednesday.

Westin announced the layoffs in a letter to staff shared on Wednesday while expressing her “gratitude” for all of their past contributions.

“Unfortunately, Sesame Workshop is not immune to the current economic challenges inherent to the drastically changing media landscape,” she said. “Combined with the end of our current distribution deal and the policy changes affecting our federal funding, we’re confronted with a perfect storm. These factors, among others, have left us with a significant budget gap that we must solve for as we head into the next fiscal year.”

“Given that our largest single expense is people and benefits, we must downsize significantly and make what we hope will be temporary changes to our benefits and bonus program,” she added. “These changes are necessary to ensure that the Workshop is poised to continue to deliver on its mission for years to come, but that does not make the human impact of these reductions any less painful.”

She concluded with a promise to ensure that Sesame Workshop will be around “for children and families for decades to come.”

In a statement to The Hollywood Reporter (THR) a spokesperson for Sesame Workshop said the program’s 56th season will go forward as scheduled – the first one post-HBO that will feature an entirely new format.

“Amid the changing media and funding landscape, we have made the difficult decision to reduce the size of our organization,” the spokesperson said. “These changes are necessary to ensure that the Workshop is poised to continue to deliver on its mission for years to come, but that does not make the human impact of these reductions any less painful. As production of our 56th Season begins next month, we remain as committed as ever to bringing Sesame Street to children and families for decades to come.”

“Last December, Warner Bros. Discovery, which owns Max, announced that, after 10 years, it was not renewing its deal to fund new episodes of the iconic children’s series. At the time, the corporation said its priorities had shifted and that Sesame Street was ‘not as core to our strategy,” noted NPR.

“Max is currently airing the 55th season of Sesame Street. Sesame Workshop has not announced a new distributor,” it added

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