The Royal Ballet Cuts 64 Roles. The Currency Cuts Everyone Else.
The Royal Ballet just announced it’s cutting 64 roles to stay “financially sustainable.” Front of house staff are being replaced by volunteers, and weekly pay is shifting to monthly. This isn’t an isolated case. Theaters, opera houses, and arts organizations across the UK (and beyond) are making similar cuts. The uncomfortable truth is that these institutions aren’t primarily failing because of bad management. They’re being slowly crushed by monetary debasement. Costs keep rising while donations, grants, and ticket revenue, all denominated in fiat, lose purchasing power every year. Artists and arts workers are always among the first to feel this pressure, because the arts can’t easily pass rising costs onto audiences the way other industries can.
