Employees at the Royal Academy of Arts (RA) held a protest at the London institution last weekend over a planned restructure which could lead to job cuts.
On 15 March, around 50 members of the Independent Workers Union of Great Britain (IWGB) took part in a demonstration at the RA. In a press statement, the union claimed its action was in response to the RA’s “second round of mass redundancies in five years, putting almost 100 jobs at risk”.
An RA spokesperson, however, denied that the number is this high, instead stating that up to 60 roles—which could represent 18% of the academy’s workforce—could be made redundant. “All levels of the organisation will be affected with different impacts on different departments. No decisions have been taken and this is subject to consultation,” the spokesperson continued.
“Of the 60 roles that could be made redundant, almost half are currently vacant, therefore by not recruiting these roles, the number of redundancies may be mitigated.” The RA is currently engaged in a collective consultation process with its employees, the spokesperson adds.
But in a vote organised by members of the IWGB, 78% of the 118 participating staff expressed “no confidence in the ability of the president, interim chief executive and treasurer to steer the RA through its restructure”. Over 97% of respondents said they do not believe there has been appropriate accountability for the fact that the RA is undergoing the second round of redundancies in under five years.
In a statement, the IWGB says: “Arts institutions like the RA will be unable to do the vital work they do with fewer staff, leading to a reduction in access to art for the public. We call on the RA management to immediately halt all mandatory redundancies.”
Natasha Mitchell, interim secretary and chief executive of the Royal Academy of Arts, says in a statement: “Together with many in the arts sector, we are facing a serious financial challenge. 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.
“We understand the profound impact these proposed changes will have and we are committed to supporting affected employees through this transition.”
Unlike most major museums in London, the RA does not receive direct government funding and instead relies on ticket sales, donations, sponsorship, commercial activities and its membership scheme for its income. A new chief executive is due to be appointed after Axel Rüger stepped down last year to become director of The Frick Collection in New York.
