WIREDGOV

Arts Council England recently announced details of its new structure, which comes into operation on 1 July 2013.

The changes come as a result of the Government's requirement - made as part of our settlement for 2011-15 - that we reduce our administrative costs, as applied to our grant in aid for the arts by the end of March 2015.

Proposals for these changes were refined during a period of formal consultation with staff and unions, as well as through engagement with the arts and cultural sector.

Making savings on this scale has required a major restructure and a substantial reduction in staff numbers, and will call for new ways of working. In shaping this new structure we have been guided  by the principle of remaining one national organisation with local presence, able to continue to deliver our 10-year strategy Achieving great art for everyone and Culture, knowledge and understanding: great museums and libraries for everyone.

Full details of the new structure can be viewed here.

The key changes include:

• an overall reduction in staff numbers across the organisation of 21 per cent from 559.5 full time posts to 442 (117.5 posts)
• four Executive Directors, reducing from eight, accountable for delivering the Arts Council's overall strategy, with the Chief Executive
• leadership of artform and cultural policy expertise distributed geographically across the organisation - everyone will have a local and national focus
• property costs will come down by 50 per cent through reductions in the size of offices
• major offices will be located in London, Birmingham, Manchester and Bristol, plus some smaller local offices to keep the Arts Council close to the arts and cultural sector, and to local government
• five areas covering London, the South East, the South West, the Midlands and the North replace the Arts Council's current regions and areas

Alan Davey, Chief Executive, Arts Council England, said: 'These savings have been challenging to achieve, given our already pared down structure.

'There is an absolute need for the Arts Council to remain an intelligent investor, leading growth and ambition in an arts and cultural sector which contributes so much to the wealth, quality of life and reputation of our nation.

'We are protecting the relationship management and the artistic and cultural expertise we know our colleagues in the sector value but we must be pragmatic. We'll do less and we'll do it differently - but we'll do it well.'