The Stage

Now half museum staff face the sack

Published Thursday 3 August 2006 at 10:40 by Alistair Smith

Nearly one out of two Theatre Museum staff, including the whole of the operations department, are facing redundancy as part of a proposed restructuring of the institution by the Victoria and Albert Museum and Royal Opera House.

Seventeen out of 40 employees have been informed their positions are under threat as part of the redevelopment. The posts in question include all operations staff - the people who actually run the building, including the studio theatre - but no curators or archivists. The move raises questions as to how much of the museum space will be retained and whether the building will be run by the Theatre Museum or staff brought in from the ROH and V&A.

In a statement, the V&A insisted that the redundancies had not been confirmed. A spokesperson said: “The full terms of the partnership between the V&A and the ROH have not yet been agreed but when the partnership goes ahead there is likely to be a period of closure for work to be carried out and a review of operations. This may have an impact on staffing and it is likely that there will be some redundancies but at the moment, we cannot give any details.”

Campaigners expressed fear that the move could effectively mark the end of the Theatre Museum, accusing the V&A of a “quick-fix approach” in its dealings with the organisation.

John Levitt, chair of the Save London’s Theatres Campaign and a leading figure in the fight to save the Theatre Museum, commented: “Unfortunately, we no longer have confidence in the V&A to secure the long-term future of the Theatre Museum. This major cull of operations staff is in line with the V&A’s quick fix approach. It not only means a loss of experience and expertise but expresses the disregard and contempt shown by the V&A for this unique national collection.

“This is in stark contrast to approximately £40 million being spent on the V&A’s Renaissance and Medieval collections, Islamic and ceramics galleries.”

The news comes after the V&A confirmed that the building is likely to go dark for the majority of 2007 as it undergoes a change around ahead of a relaunch next autumn.