Special Town Hall Meeting: Closing Elephant

A special townhall meeting was held on Friday 9th September to discuss the closure of the Elephant business. We madde this annoucement in the news article, Reviewing Our Business Focus - Closing Elephant earlier that week.  Facilitated by Corporate Communications Manager, Gareth Meredith,  CEO, Dennis van Schie and Chief Digital Development and Disruption Officer Toby Russell responded to the following questions:

1. Why close elephant now and not before or later?
2. Does this mean that we are reducing our ambition to stretch beyond the production of art materials and their distribution?
3. Will other teams be impacted in the future i.e. are further cuts likely or any additional organisational changes?
4. If Kiosk sales are increasing why not allow that to continue?
5. How will we look to transfer Elephant magazine so that it may continue?
6. Will we partner with others to bring art learning to a wider population?
7. What are the arrangements for the physical building – especially regarding merchandising units, the W&N archive, and use of the space for shoots etc?
8. Will the testing equipment / lab facilities that are housed in the space continue?
9. Can the space continue to be used for training purposes for the UK retailers and TFAC in general?
10. If we continue with the space how will its opening and control be managed?

The questions were gathered throughout last week through different forums. It demonstrates the intention to maintain a continuous two-way dialogue throughout this process and ensure that everyone is informed and aligned with the business strategy and purpose.