Jobs go at Crafts Council as revenue shrinks

The Crafts Council has made a series of redundancies as part of a restructure to deal with lower levels of income.

Its latest annual report, published last month, reveals that it took the decision to temporarily close its gallery and offer voluntary redundancy to staff in the wake of confirmation from Arts Council England (ACE) that its funding would be dropping.

As part of the National Portfolio, the Crafts Council received £2,549,924 in 2022, but for the 2023-26 period it will get £2,222,889 a year – down 12.8% or £327,035 annually.

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The report also reveals that the Crafts Council is yet to sublet 800 sq metres of office space above its main gallery on Pentonville Road in London. It holds a lease on the space that runs until 2040 – a potential problem that was flagged its annual report for 2021/22.

Overall income for the organisation in 2022/23 was down to £3.79m compared with £3.83m in 2021/22. Meanwhile expenditure rose from £3.92m in 2021/22 to £3.98m in 2022/23, which included £203,000 on redundancy payments, resulting in an overall deficit of £187,000.

The accounts show that the organisation has around £600,000 in unrestricted reserves.

'Extremely challenging situation'

"[The ACE funding] reduction, along with the wider ramifications of the pandemic and its effect on the distribution of funding, the subsequent cost-of-living crisis, and a significant decline in earned income due to our unlet property has meant an extremely challenging financial situation," the report states.

"This led to the difficult decision in December [2022] to temporarily close Crafts Council Gallery and offer voluntary redundancy to staff to reduce our cost base.

"We thank our departing colleagues for their years of commitment and passion for the work that Crafts Council does, and our remaining colleagues for their energy and optimism in facing the future.

"These challenges are not ours alone, as the cultural sector faces one of its most testing moments in recent history. As a sector much has been made of our need for resilience, but resilience is not drawn from an infinite well.

"Resilience requires time, selfcare, and moments of reflection – all of which have, at times, this year been in very short supply for many of us.

"Rethinking the way in which we work – to ensure that we can create these moments to learn and improve what we do, is very much a live conversation with our team."

New sources of revenue

Last week the Crafts Council announced that interim Executive Director Natalie Melton has been appointed to the role in a permanent capacity.

The organisation is also seeking to recruit a new Chair of the Board of Trustees to replace Interim co-Chairs Helen Hyde and Andy Marshall.

A recruitment pack published by the Crafts Council states that it is keen to attract someone who "understands the challenges that the cultural sector currently faces and recognises the acute need to generate new sources of revenue".

"Driving new income sources to support our vital work across the country is central to realising our ambitions," the recruitment pack states.

"This will be through a combination of earned income and fundraising," it adds.