Battersea Arts Centre makes redundancies in face of rising costs

Six staff at Battersea Arts Centre (BAC) have been made redundant as part of a restructure driven by the cost-of-living crisis, the organisation has confirmed.

Artistic Director Tarek Iskander cited “significant inflationary pressures” as one of the reasons for the redundancies, which affect staff in the producing, catering and finance teams.

The organisation, which has around 50 permanent staff, currently receives £706,665 as part of the National Portfolio for 2023-26, a slight increase on the £693,897 it received from Arts Council England between 2018 and 2022.

“Like many other arts institutions, significant inflationary pressures, changes in the funding landscape and the cost-of-living crisis have meant that we’ve had to make a range of tough decisions to bring the organisation as a whole into a more sustainable position,” Iskander said in a statement.

“Sadly, these changes have meant that we’ve had to lose some valued members of the team.”

He said that some staff members had been successfully redeployed in alternative roles within BAC, but that the restructure had resulted in six staff being made redundant.

“This has been a very difficult process for everyone involved, but it was necessary to ensure the long-term health of the organisation and its impact,” he said.

Staff consultations started in March this year, he said, and all impacted staff have been offered financial packages. 

Support measures in place for BAC’s wider team include “coaching and counselling sessions and open round table discussions with the organisation’s leadership to maintain an open and honest dialogue during this challenging time”, he added.

Iskander said that the centre had retained enough capacity to continue delivering community and youth projects including The Agency, The Beatbox Academy, the Dance Academy our Community Hub programme, our Community Garden and the Young Producers programme.