Third of Traverse staff face redundancy as theatre announces it will be closed until 2021

A third of staff at Edinburgh’s Traverse are facing redundancy as the theatre announced it will likely remain closed until 2021 at the earliest.

It is not ‘financially viable’ for the venue to re-open while social distancing measures are still in place and fewer tickets must be sold, the chair of the board and CEO said in a joint statement.

They added that in order for the company to survive they must restructure and reduce costs.

This includes entering redundancy consultation with a number of employees, with the likelihood that almost a third of staff will be made redundant.

These mostly consist of staff in customer-facing and technical roles.

Those staff remaining will be tasked with creating opportunities for the theatre’s return to business.

Officials said the theatre has lost two-thirds of its earned income since march due to loss of ticket sales, hire fees and fundraising.

They are in the process of applying for funding from the Scottish Government as part of the Performing Arts Relief Fund.

However even with this funding the theatre would not be able to sell enough tickets to cover the costs of socially-distant performances.

Chair of the Traverse Theatre Board Sir John Elvidge and CEO Linda Crooks said in their statement: “As we are unable to open our performance spaces to audiences whilst social distancing continues, and with many of our vital income streams being unavailable, it isn’t financially viable for the Traverse to present performances in the format with which we have all been familiar.

"We simply wouldn’t have enough seats safely available to cover our costs, or be able to offer affordable tickets. We don’t know how long this is likely to be the case, but at present, we anticipate being closed to audiences until the end of 2020 at the earliest; it seems almost unfathomable, but it is our reality.

“This extreme impact of COVID-19 on our operations means that to ensure the Traverse exists long into the future, continuing to develop artists and delight audiences for many years to come, we must restructure the organisation, remodel our work and reduce costs to ensure our survival.

“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.

"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.”

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