A reorganisation of staff is under way at JW3 as the Finchley Road cultural centre puts the finishing touches to a five-year strategic plan ahead of its tenth anniversary this September.

“There will be some new roles and some roles at risk of ending,” CEO Raymond Simonson told the JC. But it was “quite likely” that overall staff numbers would end up similar to current levels.

Simonson described the strategic plan as “exciting and ambitious “as we look to the future post-pandemic”. It was focused on “how we can best deliver against our mission and maximise our impact for the benefit of the community within a sustainable financial framework”. But he stressed: “We are not cutting any areas of our programme or charitable services.

“We still have the cinema, we still have Hebrew lessons and krav maga.”

Social action was likely to assume a higher profile and the centre would be looking for new projects, with the Gateways education programme due to become independent. “We’ve successfully incubated a brilliant project,” he said.

JW3 was also looking at “new ways of approaching programming” of the kind that “gets people talking” — examples being the visit of Little Amal, the 12-foot puppet of a Syrian child, or the current exhibition of animator Zoom Rockman.

It was additionally exploring the possiblities of partnerships and taking programmes “outside the building”.

Although visitor numbers were growing “month by month”, the return to pre-Covid attendance levels was “taking longer than originally anticipated”, Simonson acknowledged.

Like other organisations, JW3 has had to contend with rising costs — its energy bill has rocketed by more than £100,000 this year.

While it maintained a substantial online programme during the pandemic, it relied heavily on donations, which accounted for two-thirds of its £3.6 million income in 2021 compared to a half pre-Covid.

Its goal of restoring the previous balance could take a couple of years, Simonson said. “We have ambitious plans to significantly grow our income.”