North East culture chief Mark Robinson to leave the Arts Council

Jul 24 2009 by David Whetstone, The Journal

THE Arts Council’s top man in the North East, Mark Robinson, has told colleagues he is to leave the organisation as a major restructuring process takes place.

This would appear to lessen the possibility of the new area executive director for the North, in a slimmed down and restructured Arts Council, being from – or based in – the North East.

But Mr Robinson was keen to allay fears that the North East might lose an influential voice in national arts decision-making.

He was appointed executive director of Arts Council England, North East nearly five years ago and has worked for the organisation for nearly a decade.

He and counterparts in Yorkshire and the North West were given the opportunity to apply for the new, more senior role of area executive director for the North as the nine Arts Council England regions are regrouped into four larger areas.

Mr Robinson told staff and Arts Council clients that he had decided not to put himself forward for the job and to leave the organisation in due course.

He said: “It’s not been an easy decision to make, but it feels like the right thing for me to do to make a change at this point.

“I’m not sure yet what ‘in due course’ will be, so I expect to be around for a good while yet – the new structure will not come into play fully until April 2010 but some things may change before then, I guess.”

Mr Robinson’s decision leaves open the possibility that the most senior Arts Council official in a region encompassing the North West, Yorkshire and the North East will in future be based in Manchester or Dewsbury, West Yorkshire.

Staff at the Arts Council England, North East office in Central Square, Newcastle, have been told that their jobs are at risk as the organisation nationally strives to reduce administration costs by 15% by 2010/11.