Staff at Dundee Contemporary Arts (DCA) have been told to expect “difficult decisions” at the organisation due to a structural review of staffing at the gallery, cinema and print studio.
In a meeting on Tuesday, new DCA director Beth Bate – who was appointed last November and joined the organisation in January – addressed staff who had previously been notified in late January that a review was taking place.
A spokesperson for DCA declined to comment about the specifics of any individual departments and posts, stating that the organisation was “now in a consultation process”.
A statement issued by DCA, a Creative Scotland regularly funded organisation that also receives support from Dundee City Council, said: “Like many cultural organisations, we have to balance a rising wage bill and the strongly held belief in paying staff fairly for their work with the challenges of an increasingly competitive funding environment.
“After discussion with the board earlier this year the decision was made to review the staffing structure at DCA to take these issues into account and ensure our team structure continues to allow us to deliver the best possible artistic programme and customer service.
“Following careful consideration, a proposed set of changes has been announced which includes some difficult decisions but which we hope will leave us with two more posts in the organisation than we had before.”
The statement added that the coming weeks would see “a process of consultation with staff to make sure these are the right decisions for the organisation, and therefore no redundancies have been confirmed”.
DCA was established as a charity in 1996 and the building in central Dundee designed by architect Richard Murphy opened to the public in 1999. The current director joined the organisation following the departure of Clive Gillman, who left to join Creative Scotland as director of creative industries.
The venue is one of Scotland’s key galleries for contemporary art, showing work by Scottish and international artists. An exhibition by Glasgow-based artist Duncan Marquiss, recipient of the 2015-16 Margaret Tait Award 2015-16, opens on 14 May.
Image:
Dundee Contemporary Arts (DCA), Dundee. Photo: John Lord, licensed under Creative Commons
