The Southbank Centre in London has announced that it is having to make up to 400 redundancies. The cuts will be effective across the centre’s Thameside venues, including the Hayward Gallery, the Royal Festival Hall and the Queen Elizabeth Hall.
Previously bosses warned the catastrophic decline in income during the COVID-19 pandemic might force the arts complex to close as early as April 2021. In May, a best-case scenario of a £5 million loss was predicted at the end of 2020/21 financial year. However, in arriving at this position, the organisation will have used up all its reserves and be in deficit, will need £4m support from the Government furlough scheme and will have used the remainder of its annual grant from Arts Council England to effectively mothball the buildings. It also warned that any future viability for the galleries and concert halls would require a cut in the wage bills.
On 6 July the UK government launched a £1.57 billion support package for the arts in the UK, mixing grants and loans, with £100 million supporting national cultural institutions in England. How this will be distributed, and what bailout the Southbank Centre might qualify for, is yet to be unveiled.
No such possible lifeline is available to employees within the commercial arms of the Tate and the National Gallery, both of which have announced likely redundancies. Two hundred roles are expected to be cut at Tate Enterprises Ltd, the for-profit subsidiary which operates retail, catering and publishing services across the four Tate galleries in London, Liverpool and St Ives. The Tate chapter for the PCS Union says it will consider industrial action agains the cuts. A 30-day consultation of the future of 24 roles at the National Gallery is in process.
The Southbank redundancies come, a spokesperson said, as ‘part of a comprehensive management action plan designed to stem the financial losses being incurred as a result of COVID-19, and to help safeguard the future of the UK’s largest arts centre.’
The centre has given no indication of when it might be able to reopen however.
