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Dateline: 8th June, 2004

The Theatre Royal, Glasgow, home of Scottish Opera

88 Job Losses at Scottish Opera

88 jobs out of a total of 208 are to go at Scottish Opera in a bid to rescue the company from financial disaster. In addition the company will stop full-scale productions for nine months from June 2005, with only education work, small-scale touring and small concerts continuing.

Although no announcement has been made as to where the redundancies will occur, the recovery plan envisages keeping on a core administrative staff and the 53-member orchestra, which means that most will probably come from the 35-strong full-time chorus.

The plan, devised by the Scottish Executive, the Scottish Arts Council and the company itself, will see the Executive providing £7m to meet the costs of the restructuring and the company paying back, over four years, the £4.5m it has already received. Scottish Ballet will be split from the opera company and the company's current home, the Glasgow Theatre Royal, will be leased to another third party. When full operation resumes in March 2006, approximately a third of the grant will be spent on education work.

A joint statement from the Executive, the Scottish Arts Council and the company said

“We have been working closely over the last six months to achieve what is best for opera provision in Scotland. The Scottish Opera Board has come up with a clear vision of its future role in bringing opera to the greatest possible number of venues and people throughout Scotland.

“The Scottish Opera Board submitted options on how this could be achieved to the Scottish Arts Council and Scottish Executive. The Executive has now agreed to support Scottish Opera’s preferred option for the future of the company, a commitment welcomed by the Scottish Arts Council.

“Given the core level of funding available, the Board has concluded that to secure its long term future it needs to reduce core costs. Regretfully this means reducing a number of posts in the company and, for a short period, main scale opera productions.

“The plan adopted by Scottish Opera, subject to full consultation with union representatives, will lead to a reduction of approximately 88 posts over an agreed period. The Scottish Executive has agreed the necessary investment of up to £7 million to achieve these plans, including provision to mitigate the temporary losses which may be suffered by the Edinburgh Festival Theatre during the transition period.

“The Scottish Opera Board is satisfied that this investment secures a basis for developing the Company in the long term.

“The Board will wish to work closely with the Culture Commission to establish what role Scottish Opera should play in pursuing the cultural policy objectives set by the Scottish Executive.”

Reaction has been furious, with Equity saying it will fight the redundancies and other political parties (the Executive has a majority of Labour members) angrily denouncing what Tory culture spokeseman Biran Monteith calls an "absurdity".

"Even by the weird logic that passes for a culture policy, this is beyond belief," he said today.

All planned productions up to June 2005 will go ahead.

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©Peter Lathan 2004