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Cuts: ACE Confirms 131 Job Go in Major Restructure

Arts Council England today announced the final details of its organisation-wide restructure aimed at meeting the government's requirement that it saves 15 percent on its grant in aid administration costs by 2010. The new measures, which will reduce the organisation's administration budget by £6.5million a year, will be fully in place by April next year.

Today's announcement comes after a four-month consultation period in which the proposals, first laid out back in February (See News, 25 Feb 2009), have been refined and discussed with staff and unions. ACE confirmed today that as part of the restructure, it will shed 21 percent of its staff - 131 jobs - across the organisation.

Other cost-cutting measures include reducing the size of its head office, which will co-locate with the London regional office, streamlining the number of regional offices from 14 down to nine, and reducing the executive board by the same number. The grants for the arts process will also be centralised and operate out of the support services centre in Manchester.

Announcing the proposals, ACE chief executive Alan Davey said: "This is a challenging process but one that I am determined will result in an Arts Council that has an ambitious vision for the arts in this country and the confidence, expertise and relationships to achieve that vision."

"This is no mere tinkering. It is about transforming the way we work and requires a significant change in our culture. I have confidence in our people's ability to step up to that challenge - to operate as one organisation, with responsibility and openess, to achieve our mission of great art for everyone."

ACE has endured a difficult few months, which has seen its funding for the 2010/11 financial year cut by £4 million (See News, 22 Apr 2009).

The new changes, which were set in motion by the 2008 McMaster, McIntosh and Hodge reviews, include measures instigated by the ACE to cut its National Lottery administration costs as well as those of its grant in aid admistration.

We will continue to update the Cuts Watch page as we gather more responses from theatres, industry leaders and arts organisations. Publicists can email contributions for publication to editorial@whatsonstage.com. Please also add your views to User Comments at the bottom of stories.

- by Theo Bosanquet

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