Chair resigns to keep politics out of the arts
SHETLAND Arts Development Agency (SADA) chairman Danus Skene has resigned from his position with the organisation to concentrate on the general election campaign he is contesting for the SNP.
His move follows an intervention by northern isles Liberal Democrat MP Alistair Carmichael who has called on Shetland Arts to go public on its plans to restructure the arts development agency.
Skene made it clear that he did not want the organisation to become a political football during the election campaign.
However Carmichael insisted this was non-party political issue and that he was merely doing his job as a constituency MP.
The issue arose last month when several arts development officers approached Carmichael with their concerns about plans to restructure staffing at the organisation being put forward by new general manager Graeme Howell.
Carmichael said they believed the plans would undermine Shetland Arts’ ability to fulfill its role developing the arts in the isles.
“They saw a major strategic shift of direction that would mean the successful arts development work could no longer be done,” he said.
“They also expressed concern this was being rushed through with a two week time limit on the consultation period.”
Carmichael said he spoke about the issue with Skene, who was still chairing the organisation, before deciding to go public.
“I am not qualified to judge these proposals, but where public money in a public body is concerned then any debate about change needs to be a public one,” he explained.
The same day as Carmichael spoke out about his concerns on BBC Radio Shetland last Tuesday, Skene announced his candidacy for the SNP.
Then on Friday, after a Shetland Arts board meeting the previous evening, Skene announced he would stand down as Shetland Arts chairman.
The SNP candidate said he wanted to put all his energy into the election campaign over the next few weeks.
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He added: “To remain as chairman of Shetland Arts could attract inappropriate attention to the organisation under the circumstances of an election.”
Carmichael said he agreed that Skene was wise to stand down from the chair, while remaining on the board.
“It seems to be quite a sensible move for him and for the arts development agency,” he said.
“My involvement in this is as a constituency MP. This is not a party political issue so it seems to make sense for any possible perception of that to be removed.”
Meanwhile Howell has denied that there is any change to the overall strategy of the organisation, which has already been agreed with its main funders Creative Scotland and Shetland Charitable Trust.
“This has always been and was intended to be a genuine consultation with the staff team about how best to deliver our strategic objectives,” he said.
“We need to make sure we are running the organisation in a viable and sustainable way.
“Arts development is what we are funded to deliver and what people’s job titles are is really not that important.
“As this is about delivering the currently agreed work programme, it would not be appropriate for us to have a consultation about staff structure in the public domain.”
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