The Royal Academy indicated it could cut up to 60 jobs to face what its Interim Secretary and Chief Executive Natasha Mitchell has called ‘a serious financial challenge’. The RA Council, the institution’s main governing body, has approved the plan to reduce the workforce but ‘no decisions have been taken’, said a spokesperson for the RA.
The RA does not receive any government funding and makes its income through ticket sales, donations, sponsorship commercial activities and its membership scheme. Its visitor attendance has more than halved since before the pandemic, with a record 1.6 million visitors in 2018 compared with last year’s figure of 622,000. The RA’s 2023-24 annual report also predicted a reduction in ‘other onsite sources of income for at least the next three years, together with a smaller annual donation from the Friends of the Royal Academy’. The report states that ‘before taking significant measures, the 2024-25 budget forecasts a [total] net loss of £7.1m’.
‘We have a robust plan to improve the RA’s financial position and the proposal to reduce our workforce has been put forward after careful consideration’, Mitchell told The Art Newspaper. A spokesperson said that ‘to mitigate the workforce reduction’ half of the cuts would come from unfulfilled vacancies, leaving up to 30 employees at risk of losing their job.
A representative for the IWGB (Independent Workers Union of Great Britain), which represents some RA employees, has denounced the RA’s ‘reckless mismanagement’. They have asked management to discuss viable alternatives with the staff, adding that ‘if they refuse, workers are prepared to take swift action to defend jobs and livelihoods’.
