Another major arts venue in the UK is facing an uncertain future with the news that London's Southbank Centre has announced 400 jobs are at risk across its six venues.

The largest arts centre in the UK has hosted a number of high profile brass band concerts over the years, but has been closed to the public since March.

April 2021

It recently stated that it could be "at least"April 2021 before their venues at the Royal Festival Hall, Purcell Room and Queen Elizabeth Hall re-open.

The Southbank is home to four orchestras, with the news seen as a further blow to the hopes that the arts sector in the UK could quickly return to some sort of phased normality following the government's recent £1.57 billion package of help.

Many observers have questioned that it may now take much longer, with any redundancies coming with additional cost implications (the government furlough scheme ends in October), as well as additional time when rehiring or retraining new staff if and when venues can re-open.

The Southbank Centre must implement measures to reduce its cost base and develop new ways of operating and delivering its artistic programme when it is finally able to reopenCE, Elaine Bedell

Catastrophic loss

The article which was first published by The Guardian newspaper quoted Chief Executive Elaine Bedell as saying: "The impact of the virus means that we have now lost a catastrophic 60 percent of our income, which comes from ticket sales, corporate events, the restaurants, bars and shops across our site.

The Southbank Centre must implement measures to reduce its cost base and develop new ways of operating and delivering its artistic programme when it is finally able to reopen."