CALGARY, Alberta (CelebrityAccess) — Canada’s National Music Center announced that due to the ongoing business disruption imposed by the coronavirus pandemic, they have been forced to permanently lay off some staff.
Located in Calgary’s East Village, the 160,000 square foot non-profit museum and performance venue includes the iconic Studio Bell, designed by architect Brad Cloepfil.
In a statement released on Tuesday, National Music Centre President & CEO Andrew Mosker said the organization had to permanently release 14 full-time and 16 part-time staff.
Employees affected by the staff downsizing were among the 77 percent of staffers who were temporarily laid off earlier this year, Mosker said in the statement released on Tuesday.
“As many of you are already well aware, the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic continue to create uncertainty for so many that work and volunteer in the creative economy sector, which includes the sectors closest to NMC: the arts, museums, and the music industry. Over the past several months, few have not been impacted by the pandemic. We’ve lost anything that resembles business as usual. This is especially true in the live experience sector, which was the first to be impacted and will likely be one of the last to recover,” Mosker continued.
“With many restrictions regarding public gatherings still in place and the ever-present threat of a second wave, there is still so much uncertainty and a very long road to recovery ahead for all of us in the sector. With the abrupt loss of earned revenues and the increasingly difficult challenges surrounding fundraising for the entire charitable sector, NMC is figuring out how to do more with much less, at roughly 25 percent of our pre-COVID-19 capacity. As a charitable non-profit, non-governmental organization, we have had to adapt to our new fiscal and operational realities and accept that we will not be able to return to our pre-COVID-19 capacity for the foreseeable future. In fact, many of us in the sector are estimating that it may take two to three years or longer to return to previous levels of operation. Some of the decisions that have been made to ensure the sustainability of NMC through this transition period have been unexpected and devastating. Words truly cannot express how difficult these decisions have been to make,” Mosker added.
