The Smithsonian Institution is offering its first employee buyouts in six years in a bid to cut spending and meet the goals of a five-year reorganization proposed last week by Secretary G. Wayne Clough, The Washington Post reports.

The voluntary plan was announced Monday in an e-mail to the institution’s 6,000 workers, two-thirds of whom are federal employees. Eligible staff members have until November 6 to apply for the buyout, which carries a payout of up to $25,000.

In other arts news, Amy S. Jensen has been hired to lead Milwaukee’s Skylight Opera Theatre, capping a turbulent summer for the locally beloved company, the Journal Sentinel reports. Ms. Jensen, chief financial officer for the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and the Skylight’s former finance director, replaces Eric Dillner, who resigned in August amid protests over his budget cuts and layoffs of longtime Skylight hands.

Also, the Los Angeles Times reports on the death of Henry T. Hopkins, former director of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and a key figure in the development of the Los Angeles art scene. Mr. Hopkins died Sunday at the age of 81.

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