Scottish Opera On The Brink

Scottish Opera is planning to lay off 80 staff members in a desperate effort to avoid fiscal collapse, according to a union representing Scottish actors. The crisis managemant plan the union claims to have seen would cut across the entire organization, with dozens of musicians, crew members, and administrators losing their jobs, and “the entire 34-strong chorus [would be made] redundant.” Scottish Opera has already taken a £4 million advance on next year’s £7.5 million grant from the Scottish Arts Council, and general consensus has been that the company is severely underfunded. The company isn’t commenting on the layoff report.