Exclusive: Things just got worse for Northern musicians
balletFirst, Opera North pulled back before Christmas from a proposed merger with struggling Northern Ballet which could have pulled both companies down.
Now, Northern Ballet has made an offer to its musicians that they say is ‘frankly insulting’.
Work is being offered to just ten players for a 5-week tour in the Spring. The pay is approximately 25% lower than the last such tour eight years ago.
Northern Ballet has banned all employees from talking to media, on threat of dismissal and legal action.
The Musicians Union is discussing sanctions against NB.
The true villains? Arts Council England.
Things have just got a lot worse. Works even better with the correct grammar. Opera North is a fine company and does not deserve this kind of treatment.
Or even ‘things have worsened…’ Anyway, whatever the grammar, it is Northern Ballet that the article is talking about, not Opera North.
Where was there incorrect grammar?
The Government/ACE have just chucked yet another £5 million at the exceedingly woke Bradford UK City of Culture programme, making £15M in total. It is a disgraceful and scandalous waste of funds when our superb, proven and popular Opera North and Northern Ballet companies are having to reduce touring and/or make musicians redundant.
What’s so ‘woke’ about the Bradford programme? It looks really well balanced to me.
Not sure why Bradford has to be denigrated and denied it’s chance to shine. The real culprit is the cumulative effect of 14 years of austerity and the death by a thousand cuts that the arts have had to suffer. There’s no easy answer unless the economy pulls around. There sadly no seems to be an inevitably being played out here.
we could dispose of half of the ACE administrators and actually fund the arts? With their fixed salaries, job security, healthcare, pension, even company cars – why oh why ???