The Traverse Theatre is forced to consider some redundancies among its staff as it cannot yet open its doors due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The management says it has lost two thirds of its earned income since 21 March explaining that it relies on ticket sales, hire fees, hospitality sales and fundraising to stay afloat.
Despite applying for a slice of the Scottish Government’s Performing Arts Relief Fund, they believe the current closure will last to the end of the year at least. This means the theatre is in difficulties and the management must consider restructuring of the organisation.
In a statement on the Traverse website Sir John Elvidge, chair of the Traverse Theatre Board and Linda Crooks CEO said: “We have therefore had to make the painfully difficult decision to enter into redundancy consultation with a number of our team in customer-facing and technical roles, with the likelihood that almost a third of our staff will be made redundant. We have worked tirelessly to explore all possible avenues and prevent this awful situation, but we currently have no other choice in order to protect the future of the Traverse and the vibrant organisation on which our community relies.
“This will leave the Traverse with a small core grouping, who are tasked with creating opportunities for our organisation to come back stronger and to oversee delivery across our work in engagement, talent development and creativity.
“Every member of our team is creative, compassionate and incredibly hard-working, and to lose any of them is both professionally and personally devastating. They have displayed endless patience, passion and understanding throughout this unparalleled time, and we could not be more grateful to them.”
During the lockdown the Traverse like all other creative outlets has turned to the internet. They have been collaborating with National Theatre of Scotland, BBC Scotland, BBC Arts’ Culture in Quarantine project and theatres across the country on Scenes for Survival – a new season of digital short artworks from Scottish creative talents.
The Present, written by Stef Smith starring Moyo Akandé and directed by Katherine Nesbitt, produced in association with the Traverse, is available to watch here:
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