Arts Council England (ACE) has announced it will cut its workforce by 21% as part of a wider restructure to halve its administration costs by 2015.
The restructure, which was part of its 2011-15 funding settlement, will also see ACE replace its current regional boundaries with five areas covering London, the South East, the South West, the Midlands and the North. The South West boundary will now incorporate Hampshire and the unitary authorities of Southampton, Portsmouth
and the Isle of Wight.
Other changes include reducing the number of executive directors from eight to four and cutting property costs by 50%. Major offices will be located in London, Birmingham, Manchester and Bristol, although some smaller local offices will remain.
ACE said that under the new structure, which will come into operation from 1 July 2013, “leadership of art form and cultural policy expertise [will be] distributed geographically across the organisation”.
It added that everyone in the new structure will have a local and a national focus.
Alan Davey, chief executive of ACE, said: “These savings have been challenging to achieve, given our already pared down structure. We are protecting the relationship management and the artistic and cultural expertise we know our colleagues in the sector value, but we must be pragmatic. We’ll do less and we’ll do it differently – but we’ll do it well.”
The full details of the restructure show that 117.5 posts will be cut under the restucture, including 25 in the North (from 91 posts to 66).
In the South East, 22 posts will be cut (from 58 to 36), with a further 16 lost in the Midlands (from 58 to 42). Three new posts will be created in London (from 60 to 63) and one will be created in the South West (from 29 to 30).
Elsewhere in the organisation, corporate services and investment, planning and governance will lose 18.5 and 18 posts respectively; 10 roles will go from arts and culture (which include the functions ACE took over from the Museums, Libraries and Archives council); and nine will be cut from executive and executive support.
Advocacy and communications is to lose three roles, while a new post will be created in the investment centre.
Mark Taylor, director of the Museums Association, said: “ACE has been forced into real reductions in numbers and has put together as structure that seems logical. There are two things that we need to look out for.
"Firstly, that despite such swinging cuts, they don't appear to be stopping doing anything. We must be sure they are not stretched too far. Secondly, ACE is permeated all the way through with an understanding of the 'original' ACE functions such as theatre, music and visual arts.
"Museums are less embedded and we must be sure that the relative nascent museum understanding is not imperilled as all these post are lost.”
Transition to the new structure will begin on 5 November, with the boundary changes completed by 1 July.
The restructure, which was part of its 2011-15 funding settlement, will also see ACE replace its current regional boundaries with five areas covering London, the South East, the South West, the Midlands and the North. The South West boundary will now incorporate Hampshire and the unitary authorities of Southampton, Portsmouth
and the Isle of Wight.
Other changes include reducing the number of executive directors from eight to four and cutting property costs by 50%. Major offices will be located in London, Birmingham, Manchester and Bristol, although some smaller local offices will remain.
ACE said that under the new structure, which will come into operation from 1 July 2013, “leadership of art form and cultural policy expertise [will be] distributed geographically across the organisation”.
It added that everyone in the new structure will have a local and a national focus.
Alan Davey, chief executive of ACE, said: “These savings have been challenging to achieve, given our already pared down structure. We are protecting the relationship management and the artistic and cultural expertise we know our colleagues in the sector value, but we must be pragmatic. We’ll do less and we’ll do it differently – but we’ll do it well.”
The full details of the restructure show that 117.5 posts will be cut under the restucture, including 25 in the North (from 91 posts to 66).
In the South East, 22 posts will be cut (from 58 to 36), with a further 16 lost in the Midlands (from 58 to 42). Three new posts will be created in London (from 60 to 63) and one will be created in the South West (from 29 to 30).
Elsewhere in the organisation, corporate services and investment, planning and governance will lose 18.5 and 18 posts respectively; 10 roles will go from arts and culture (which include the functions ACE took over from the Museums, Libraries and Archives council); and nine will be cut from executive and executive support.
Advocacy and communications is to lose three roles, while a new post will be created in the investment centre.
Mark Taylor, director of the Museums Association, said: “ACE has been forced into real reductions in numbers and has put together as structure that seems logical. There are two things that we need to look out for.
"Firstly, that despite such swinging cuts, they don't appear to be stopping doing anything. We must be sure they are not stretched too far. Secondly, ACE is permeated all the way through with an understanding of the 'original' ACE functions such as theatre, music and visual arts.
"Museums are less embedded and we must be sure that the relative nascent museum understanding is not imperilled as all these post are lost.”
Transition to the new structure will begin on 5 November, with the boundary changes completed by 1 July.
