Mareel - Cinema & Music Venue

[Ghostrider]

Alas, it is not just your money. That is an age old excuse, it is my money. Still, initially, those who use the production facilities will benefit, and in the long term, everyone. The educational side is a big part in this, not just what you can see from the outside. Though, what I did see was quite allot of folk there. Who would not be there if it was not built and offered what it does.

 

No Peat, it is far more my money and Shetlanders money than your money. Around half the cost has come out of Shetland only coffers, another portion of the cost has come out of Scottish only coffers, last I was aware, and that was 10 seconds ago from your "location" on your post, you reside in Englandshire. The amount of your money that's at stake is a far smaller amount than mine. In plain language, I hold a far larger shareholding than you, so I am allowed to make more noise about it.

 

I'm not arguing that it isn't a beneficial facility in numerous ways, but it cannot be one at any cost, it must be at an affordable and competitive cost. Learn from history, the Tower of Babel, the Titanic etc....the originators believed those were going to be the things which put them at the top of their Totem of choice, but they turned on them and destroyed them instead.

[shetlandpeat]

We already know your arguments, your constant complaining, I am saddened you think the Council Tax you pay is wasted, but, if you want to break it down, as you do, exactly how much of a percentage of the Council Tax you pay has gone towards it, considering the bigger picture of all the other social benefits Shetland has enjoyed over the years. Oh, the oil money, blah blah blah and all the other monies.

I would think, the best way to remedy that would be to physically support the project. There must be something in your community that could benefit from Mareel, and visa versa.

On your comment on my input, I have contributed over the past. So, I do have a stake in the Mareels success. It does not matter where you live, to support something. To not support it could see it fail, then that would provide more of the coch and bull written here sometimes, alas, I know that could be subjective.

 

I suppose the sports centres provided an immediate success story, nope, youngsters were invited, got involved and after a while the Shetland athletes have become a force to reckon with. This too will be the same with the media production facilities. Shetland already boasts some fine media companies, great now that investment has been made to forward this, in this age, alas, a little catching up is required, as all the money problems have been caused over the last 30 odd years, is it wise to have such shareholders. Perhaps now, things will get better.

I like providing lots for you to comment and get your teeth into, love you're quoting and comments.

[Ghostrider]

....your constant complaining,....

 

If nobody complains, nothing changes. The world is far from perfect, and the more publically funded people are left to their own devices, the worse it seems to get.

 

There must be something in your community that could benefit from Mareel, and visa versa.

 

There may well be, but I can't think of anything offhand. In fact, if the grumblings behind the scenes follow through to reality, this community has lost something because of Mareel, in that the Blues Festival won't be doing dates anyplace else than Mareel, which puts us on a negative starting block already.

 

On your comment on my input, I have contributed over the past. So, I do have a stake in the Mareels success. It does not matter where you live, to support something. To not support it could see it fail, then that would provide more of the coch and bull written here sometimes, alas, I know that could be subjective.

 

Without knowing the nature of your "contribution", no opinion can be formed.

 

As for supporting, that is my point, I would like to, but so far the facility has offered nothing of interest.

 

I like providing lots for you to comment and get your teeth into, love you're quoting and comments.

 

Your sarcasm is duly noted. The rest....I reserve the right to reply as and when and if I get it translated in to something understandable.

[Staney Dale]

Can you two not just Get a Room?

[Ghostrider]

^ Nah, he's no my type. Besides, I'm too cheap to pay for one.

[shetlandpeat]

You could always take up one of the media courses, they are very interesting.

[Ghostrider]

^ I'm sure they are, and I probably could, if I had the time available, which I don't. However, I'd feel a bit of a fraud and to be wasting resources, and possibly blocking a space someone with a more genuine interest could have had, as I doubt I'd ever make much use of what I'd learn.

 

I would prefer to be entertained in Mareel, especially as, to the best of my recollect, it was the promise of a purpose built venue and the "more and better quality acts" one would attract that got the idea for it all off the ground in the first place. It does seem to me a tad ironic now that the very reason for the place starting to get some support, is the one I'd say is being least well cater for now that the facility does exist.

[Ertieiddabanks]

The cost of hiring mareels auditorium is £1200 + vat, the legion is free, the clickimin is similar to mareel but double the capacity.

 

A well known local promoter has been fobbed off, lied to and otherwise generally dissuaded from hiring mareels auditorium. common speculation has it his choice of musical style has been a contributory factor.

 

The happy mondays would have filled mareel to capacity, the replacement band "the view" only sold 250 tickets. The mondays tickets were overpriced at £50 but from a personal viewpoint many of my friends were going to it and it was going to be an excellent night regardless of the quality of the music. "The view" was also overpriced at £35 per ticket, the difference was nobody I know had heard of them and cancelled their nights out.

 

The absurdly heavy-handed and violent security morons at the first few events has turned young people off in droves leading to mareel now being called "the graveyard".

 

The bar area creates a bottleneck during small gigs so it will be a major problem when( if) mareel puts on a sellout gig.

[iiboy]

Widna set fit in it if u paid me.

[grift]

That for the greater part the auditorium is sitting empty, costing, not earning,

I don't see how an empty room is costing anything

 

The thing here is I'm seeing that as tending to support my point of view, not counteract it. The Revellers was I one I was referring too, the others apart from Shetland Meets Appalachia and Cerys Matthews were "one trick ponies" ie. once only or once annually events, while its good they were and a lot of folk enjoyed them, the profits made from them have to be spread over at least twelve months before they generate funds again, it ain't much per week I wouldn't think.

I'm not sure I follow your logic. Surely most events are "one trick ponies". I certainly wouldn't go and see the same band week in week out.

 

there seems to be a dearth of "mass-market appeal" events

Off the top of my head, what about the Abba tribute and Pink Floyd tribute?

 

If folk want to see specific bands playing, why don't they organise the concerts themselves?

 

I would be willing to investigate doing so, and would have already done so. However the dearth of readily available relevant information both before and after completion has been decidedly off-putting on that score. "Contact Us" IMHO is a poor way to try and tempt people to consider hiring it.

 

What info would you be looking for before you make contact? From my understanding, each event is different in terms of onstage requirements, staffing, ticketing etc so I expect hirers would need to discuss all that kind of thing in detail with the management anyway.

 

The constants for any performance in the auditorium, a ballpark average/minimum "bare room" hire charge, max available stage area, whether decibel limits are H & S Regs Workplace limits or a lower limit set by SA, whether using the "in house" fixed sound system is mandatory, whether bar arrangements are negotiable and whether bar profits as result are on a negotiable split etc etc.

It's curious that you won't contact Mareel to ask about this, but you'll post your questions anonymously on a forum? Doesn't seem logical to me.

 

Does Posers only open on occasional weekends, did the North Star only open on occasional weekends, no, they try, and tried every weekend to get as many through their doors as possible, leaving aside the often dire offerings they put on to do it with, they succeed well enough to make money.

Posers is only open two nights a week. Mareel is open 7 nights a week. As I recall the North Star wasn't open every weekend night.

 

It should be by all accounts a reasonably decent venue

Pretty much all of your posts on this subject are wholly negative and based on hearsay, conjecture and 'jungle drums'. You haven't been to the place and you won't contact them with questions or feedback. It is an excellent venue - referring to it as 'reasonably decent' perhaps illustrates your unwillingness to see anything positive about Mareel.

[grift]

 

 

The cost of hiring mareels auditorium is £1200 + vat, the legion is free, the clickimin is similar to mareel but double the capacity

As far as I understand, you still need to hire in all the equipment and technicians for the legion and clickimin. I believe the sound system for the clickimin has to be hired from south too.

 

To be honest, £1200 doesn't sound unreasonable if that does indeed include all the equipment and staff. The promoter would still have all the aditional expenses such as band fees and travel, but that would be the case no matter which venue was used.

[suuusssiiieee]

Mareel in hindsight should have been shelved, or at least just the cinema part been built on it's own. I know it was a complex design and that inside it there's much fancy equipment but i truly struggle to understand how it was just so expensive.

 

The idea is 10-15 years to late, built at the wrong time not just because times are hard for most, but also given the precarious state of the island's finances.

 

There comes a time when you have to realise there are only so many potential customers on our wee island, so if the novelty has worn off, and this quickly i think there's serious trouble ahead for the place.

 

I think Sandy Clueless's legacy will be a financial milestone around our necks for ever more. Oh and before i go i think the Arty Farty brigade in charge of Mareel need to get a grip and not be so picky over what choices of music us islanders may fancy going to see, after all that narrow mindset will only hasten the place's journey into oblivion.

[vagaland]

The new man at the helm of Shetland Arts has been a trustee for some time and I believe headed its finance committee, so he should know what he is talking about. He has already pointed out that Shetland Arts has doubled its turnover, despite cutbacks in its public funding. That means it is already becoming less dependent on public funding, though clearly there is still some way to go, but it will get there as long as it operates as a business, not just a charity.

 

Which brings me to Mareel. Despite the fact that the place has only been open a few months and has not yet completed a year of trading, it has had 75,000 people through the doors and has sold £50,000 worth of cinema tickets. Not a bad record for a new facility just finding its feet.

 

The Mareel-knockers who appear to have all the answers who seem to inhabit this space should volunteer as trustees, so they can contribute their wisdom and give guidance on everything that Shetland Arts is doing wrong at board level, where policies and strategic decisions are made, because you are wasting your breath spouting off about them here! Get in where the action is and let the rest of us see what you are really made of!

[unlinkedstudent]

Re last few comments.

 

I am someone who does use a leisure centre.

 

Constant moaning would mean all the time; Ghostie doesn't post all the time negatively.

 

I have said I will go to Mareel when there is something I fancy seeing and so far, there hasn't been.

 

As for contacting the Trustees, Da Management/whomever - not our fault most of SA's meetings aren't open to the public, not our fault they stopped the stakeholder meetings.

 

Re the information available for hire - I've looked on the web at other venues. They state the technical specifications of the sound system and the lighting system. They state whether or not bar/food included. They state capacity, have a floor diagram and also state the days/hours venue(s) available for hire.

 

If any part of Mareel isn't being used then there are still maintenance costs. The floor still needs to be cleaned. The lighting rig needs cleaning.

 

Only just got high chairs - so they never envisaged any babies/toddlers attending with their parents before now? How long has the place been open?

 

Hopefully, the ex-theatre manager of South Bank, London, may inject some commonsense when they start in their post with SA.

[Gorgonzola Butt-cheese]

After 6 months of trading I would have imagined the management of mareel and those in the council who are pro- mareel would be heartily blowing there trumpets over its profit making success ( or even it's ability to meet running costs if that was the case......

-

We haven't seen that yet, only secret meetings in the council chambers where they have agreed to pump further large amount of public funds into it.

 

I do hope it succeeds and I have been to see a film there as well so I have given it a small bit of financial support.

 

Is there any body who would pay to see music and film they are not interested in just to help it meet it's costs?

 

Perhaps Shetland Peat has set up a standing order to give regular monthly donations?

 

But I am yet to go to any music events , some of the tribute bands do sound like a good night out, but I was expecting a good mix of well known real bands. Not obscure cover bands.

 

Also shetland peat bleats on about " media production facilities" as if this is some great new business that will boost the economy of the isles. What are you thinking ? that we will have another half a dozen shetland news websites? perhaps SIBC will have a lot of competition ? a new radio station for every day of the week and every type of music.

All making a healthy profit and employing large numbers of school levers

 

You must be a new labour supporting swivel eyed loon?

 

 

A fan of Ed Balls ? The deranged economist

 

 

The council is struggling to maintain basic services so, and as much as I like a good night out, not a penny more of funds should be given to a cinema/ dodgy pub / music hall.