National Gallery will sack 30 staff to save $1.5m

Rising costs, the pandemic crisis and a government-mandated "efficiency dividend" have forced the National Gallery of Australia to sack about 30 staff in a bid to deliver annual savings of $1.5 million.

Nick Mitzevich.

The job cuts, announced on Tuesday, amount to up to 12 per cent of workers. NGA director Nick Mitzevich said they were initially calling for volunteers but no undertaking was given about what would happen if insufficient workers came forward by the three-week deadline.

"If there are people in the organisation who want to leave and they put their hand up, it makes it easier for everyone else," said Mr Mitzevich, adding that it was "unknown" where the cuts would land most heavily.

Mr Mitzevich, who joined the NGA nearly two years ago from the Art Gallery of South Australia, made it clear the federal government's demand for an annual reduction in operating costs was "unhelpful" and a contributing factor, but also pointed to flatlining interest income and rising utility costs as other factors.

"We are an energy-hungry organisation," he said. "Energy makes up about 19 per cent of our budget. We operate 24 hours a day with humidity and temperature controls in Canberra's climate."

In addition, the NGA has been hit hard by the pandemic as 80 per cent of visitors traditionally come from interstate.

The union representing the NGA workers, the CPSU, called on the government to scrap the efficiency dividend for the gallery and restore its funding.

National Gallery of Australia staff uncloak artworks in May.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

"Over the last decade, cultural institutions have been starved of funding by this federal government," said CPSU deputy national secretary Beth Vincent-Pietsch. 'There is no fat for the gallery to cut; these staff cuts are only cutting into the bone."

Since taking up his position, Mr Mitzevich has made a number of new senior appointments, particularly relating to digital strategies and Indigenous education and engagement. These roles have been funded by private benefactors.

The job cuts come just two months after Mr Mitzevich announced the NGA would spend $6.4 million acquiring a new work by controversial US artist Jordan Wolfson. Entitled Cube, the sculpture "crawls, poses, thrashes around and dances to music" in response to the movements of viewers.

Mr Mitzevich was at pains to stress that the gallery's budget for operating costs was strictly ring-fenced from that for acquisitions.

"It's important to make the distinction that we receive two funding streams," he said. "One is for operations and this is for the development of the national collection. One bucket of money cannot be tipped into the other. It's important not to be drawn into comparisons."