Arts crash: South Bank cuts 391 jobs out of 577

London’s South Bank Centre has entered ‘redundancy consultations’ with staff, from which there is only one way out.

A lot of people will pay with their livelihoods for the Centre’s unexplained debt load and its board’s prolonged incompetence.

A spokesperson said: ‘It is with great sadness that the Southbank Centre announced that up to 400 roles have been put at risk of redundancy 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.’

We share that sadness.

However, it is reported that when the Centre reopens in 2021 it will operate with an entirely new operating structure, based, according to senior management, on a ‘start-up’. Staff have been told that the centre’s programme of contemporary art exhibitions, classical and contemporary music and literature events will be allocated just 10% of capacity across its venues with 90% reserved for rental.

That represents a degree of short-term positive rethinking.