FACT is a charity, funded by Arts Council England, Liverpool City Council and a number of other funders, sponsors and donors. Like many organisations of our kind, we are affected by today’s challenging financial climate, and have had to respond to public funding cuts over the past few years in order to remain sustainable and to keep our exhibitions, workshops and engagement activities free to attend. We are committed to ensuring that these necessary changes are also able to deliver positive outcomes for everyone that makes up the FACT team.
As well as retaining full-time paid staff, our Front of House team will now include volunteers, allowing us to open the doors for many more enthusiastic and passionate people of all ages, experiences and backgrounds. We have created a training and professional development plan for our new volunteer team, and are delighted that 11 of the 13 staff who made up our previous Front of House team are continuing to work in paid roles with us.
We have introduced two new full-time paid mediator roles with responsibilities for public engagement and technical support; allowing us to better maintain our technically complex exhibitions and provide more ways for our visitors to experience the artworks. Galleries will now open 11am-6pm Tuesday-Sunday, and Mondays will be used for essential exhibition maintenance and to provide opportunities for volunteers to attend training and work alongside all departments in the organisation.
Executive Director Iona Horsburgh said: “Volunteers will not only play an important part in our innovative and internationally significant exhibitions but will be invited to develop their skills through workshops and training. We have always been committed to developing staff at all levels and 42% of our current full-time and part-time staff began their career at FACT as either a volunteer or as part of the Front of House team. The FACT Centre houses two commercial organisations The Garden and Picturehouse Cinemas, both of which employ their own paid staff who are unaffected by this change."
