Mareel - Cinema & Music Venue

[Guest Pronto]

Professional sound dampening in A country hall would cost tens of thousands. And i think the bigger capacity and central location is more what theyre after.

[islandhopper]

Professional sound dampening in A country hall would cost tens of thousands. And i think the bigger capacity and central location is more what theyre after.

What I had in my mind was not 'Professional sound dampening' for all existing community halls. I was just talking about better conditions in the country side (outer isles) in addition to professionel standards in a central place ... not only for incomming acts but more for locals. And that could be achieved with very small investments before a talented youth of Mid Yell gets afraid of being confronted with high professional standards in Lerrick ...

Different philosophy ... but probably the same aims ...

[Hollian]

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=w0BTq5kWuuI

 

apologies if someone has posted this already

[Sudden Stop]

^^^

 

I watched most of it, got really bored after two minutes and turned it off after four. Can someone explain to me what the purpose of the film was? I couldn't see the point.

 

Interesting that during the start when they are showing all the beautiful part of shetland that they purposfully included the wind turbines... They are nice aren't they?!

[TeeAyBee]

I watched most of it, got really bored after two minutes and turned it off after four. Can someone explain to me what the purpose of the film was? I couldn't see the point.

 

As the film maker I can perhaps answer that. The purpose of this film was to raise the profile of Shetland with the various funding sources. Most funding presentations comprise the usual 'death by powerpoint' and so I was approached to make something different.

 

The flow of the video was supposed to show people coming from all over various parts of the islands coming in to the new site where we built the facilities in a stylised fashion in exactly the spaces where they will be. The extended credits shows how many people were happy to come down to the site at the crack of dawn on a sunday morning and be willing to be bossed about and herded around. There were some absolute stars who couldn't do enough to help and local companies who assisted at no charge.

 

Interesting that during the start when they are showing all the beautiful part of shetland that they purposfully included the wind turbines... They are nice aren't they?!

 

The reasoning behind that was to demonstrate that Shetland is most certainly not rural backwater and that modern technology is here. The idea was to show Shetland isn't some hick land and that we're up to date and are modern members of the UK.

 

Thanks for your feedback. I would be interested in knowing why you thought it was boring - I am always willing to listen to criticism so I can improve my work. We can take that offline if you wish, but I'd be happy to discuss it in open forum if that's what is preferred.

[Sudden Stop]

^^^

 

Thanks for the explaination. The film by itself didn't mean anything to me but knowing that it wasn't really for the purpose of selling Mareel to me and would most likely be shown to people outside the island, I get the point.

 

The reason it didn't entertain me was probably that I've seen it all before. In an audience of shetlanders you would probably find quite a few people that weren't impressed but I know people outwith shetland that would love watching things like that. There's certainly no reason to take it offline and if it weren't already online I would be in favour of uploading it - it'll be a good touristy advert for the isle in general.

[KING OF AUSTRALIA]

they should transform the bowls hall and squash courts into a cinema/music venue,it would take in more revenue than the state its currently in with the half dozen users.i remember when they were building it,the exitement of getting a ten pin bowling hall,then a lawn bowls green appeared!

but with the money the shetland government waste each year on meaningless crap(SMYRIL),why not build a venue?

[righter]

does it affect anyones views on the proposed cmv following the news of the closure of the Lemon Tree in Aberdeen.

personally,I`m against. I can`t see it breaking even...and yes i have read this whole thread...none of the pro`s changed my mind.

[peeriebryan]

edit

[peeriebryan]

Here's a copy of a letter sent from Shetland Arts on Thursday 21st February to all candidates in the Lerwick South by-election

 

Dear 'Addressee'

 

Mareel – Shetland Cinema and Music Venue

 

As you are currently standing for election, we thought you may like some facts about the Mareel project.

 

The cinema element of Mareel was first proposed in 1996, and the idea of a purpose-built music performance space was being discussed even earlier. In 2001 it was agreed that the two concepts should come together in order to make savings in capital and revenue costs.

 

The plans for the building have been subject to wide consultation and to careful and continuous development, and the plans currently propose:

 

• An acoustically excellent music auditorium that can seat 320, OR hold about 600 standing (the seats are fully retractable). The acoustic has been designed to accommodate various types of musical event and different genres of music.

• A cinema auditorium seating 159 people, with top quality seating, sight lines, sound and screen size, fully digitized projection equipment, including the facility to show the latest 3D films.

• A second, smaller screen, seating between 35 and 45, that can show first release films but can also be used by film makers screening their own product. (This screen is being paid for specifically by the Scottish Arts Council).

• A recording studio, designed specifically for education and training needs.

• A multi-purpose rehearsal space that can accommodate dance (currently extremely difficult to find appropriate dance rehearsal space).

• A digital media production room for film-makers and digital media artists.

• A café bar that also serves as break-out spaces for education, training and meetings.

• A second floor development that will incorporate designated education space and possibly, small start-up units for creative industries.

 

 

The building has been designed to be fully accessible, with a range of facilities to enhance the experience for visual and hearing impairment as well as comprehensive wheelchair access.

 

The capital costs, including site purchase, professional fees and other statutory requirements currently stand at £9.3 million.

 

The Council’s contribution to this is £5.1 million. The outstanding amount is being raised from external sources. Approximately £600,000 has already been spent in developing the design to the stage where it can go out to tender.

 

The business plan last presented to the Council indicated a potential funding requirement of about £87,000 per year. We have since integrated that plan into our agency’s total business plan, and the current indications are that Mareel will break even, or turn a modest profit, by Year 4 of its operation. We would be happy to meet with you if you would like us to go through the Business Plan in detail.

 

We believe Mareel could be a force for good in the Shetland community – not simply entertainment (although that is important when you are thinking about population retention and young people), but education, further and higher education, community use, creative industries, new media and internet technologies and so much more. This is an ambitious project and although we have ideas about what we want it to do for Shetland, the potential to go further is always there. Targets that we set ourselves in judging whether or not the Mareel project will have been successful or not include

 

When the doors open:

 

• people of all ages and with widely differing tastes and interests coming in to enjoy what they see and hear.

• musicians from the youngest to the eldest coming in to rehearse and perform and learn and teach

• tourists and visitors seeing the venue and the mew museum as they sail in to Holmsgarth and saying “We have to go there”.

• those same visitors going home and telling their friends about Shetland and about the fantastic cultural facilities there

• an atmosphere of buzzing, dynamic activity

• somewhere which will attract young people as audiences and participants

• of increased arts and cultural activities and opportunities in our most remote communities

• a significant increase in digital media production activities

 

 

Five years after the doors open:

 

• audiences actively seeking out new experiences as well as enjoying their usual activities

• an active music recording and film making industry

• an increase in the ratio of performers and participants to audience

• more young people deciding to stay in Shetland rather than leave because of increased cultural, learning and employment opportunities

• the venue being firmly on the touring schedules of performers, groups and performing arts companies from all over the world

• students in colleges, schools and studies all over the world being able to link in with activities at the venue

• a culturally inquisitive community from Muckle Flugga to Fair Isle

• Shetland’s continually increasing reputation as a tourist destination

• an increase in the export of music and musicians world wide

• theatre and dance groups having room to breathe and to experiment and to make contact with audiences in ways currently unavailable to them

• a Shetland Film Festival, run annually, and including home made product.

 

Ten - twenty years after the doors open:

 

• a venue of which the whole community is proud

• a larger, more viable population, with fewer leaving and more moving in, attracted and encouraged by the cultural facilities and activities in Shetland

• vibrant and developing creative industries

• a venue managed and run by some of the young people who first walked through the door as students or as audiences

• Shetland being in the centre of cultural activities for Scandinavia, Europe, North America and beyond – of exploiting our place at the cultural crossroads of the North Sea and the North Atlantic.

 

If there is anything else you would like to know about this project, or about the rest of Shetland Arts’ work, please do not hesitate to contact me (01595 743 843, or Gwilym Gibbons on the same number.

 

Yours sincerely

 

Kathy Hubbard

Arts Development Manager

[sailor]

Can we not ensure more funds towards music development? The music venue few seem hell bent on a venue. I think we should be more intent on people development. We have plenty of sufficient venues for music. Let's develope somewhere for cinema, e.g. NAFC, garrison, clickimin or mobile seperately. I don't think the arts trust have given the proposed project enough thought. Can we not stand back and look at what Shetland has acheived musically, what shetland can acheive and how? A dedicated venue would be great but a dedicated community would be better. Once you pigeon hole music development to one main centre, you exclude the majority of interested.

[sheepshagger]

All I can say to that PB is it is the biggest load of garbage I've ever read.

Nuf sed

[sheepshagger]

God darn it (is du happy Njuggle) keep all the artists up here because there will be employment oppertunities how about keeping the engineers and the economists up here folk that can create wealth and folk that can control it not folk that create sausage all but the occasional smile, and a hugely subsidised smile at that.

Shetland missed out on a load of work during the MG era because all he gave a damn about was fiddling an both types taught to him by AB.

Our music is a fantastic asset and it is one that despite there being not much more than 20,000 of us it is Known the world over, There has never been a purpose built venue in all that time yet our musicians are at the top of there class, and recognised as such outside of Shetland. We have to invest in engineers and the sciences, banking and sustainable fisheries because that is where the future money is, not a few tourists that sit in the lounge nursing a drink that was probably bought for them by a local.

We have to protect our fishing grounds and keep them for future generations of Shetlanders not let every sausage with a seat in Europe rape us because we have to tow the line. Also we have to put what Shetlanders want for themselves first not what some booger that has moved here with there own ideas of who and what we are telling us what they know that we want if only we would pay attention.

[peeriebryan]

Can we not ensure more funds towards music development?

I completely support the idea of more funds for music development, but if Mareel isn’t built, it doesn’t mean the money can simply be diverted to other musical projects. Each project is funded on its own merit. And the vast majority of Mareel’s funding is from ‘capital’ sources, not the ongoing music development budget.

 

The music venue few seem hell bent on a venue.

Yes, many people have concerns, but in my experience the majority are in favour, but I supose it depends on who you talk to! Amongst the music community, I have spoken to very few people who are not in favour. And I’d say the music community are best placed to decide how music in Shetland should be developed.

 

I think we should be more intent on people development.

There is a huge amount of people development in relation to music already. Shetland has more money spent on music education in schools than almost any other community in the world. Grants are given to individuals and organisaions for musical projects on a weekly basis. There are workshops for singer/ songwriters, youth music projects, young promoters projects, courses for sound engineers, private instrument tuition……

 

We have plenty of sufficient venues for music.

I suppose this will always come down to what people believe makes a suitable venue. Perhaps it’s also worth looking at how many of these venues are currently putting on live music?

 

I don't think the arts trust have given the proposed project enough thought.

Believe me, this project has been given a hell of a lot of thought, by many people, from many organisations, over many years!

 

Can we not stand back and look at what Shetland has acheived musically, what shetland can acheive and how?

I don’t follow what you mean here. Would a purpose built venue and recording studio not help the Shetland music scene.

 

A dedicated venue would be great but a dedicated community would be better.

But they're not mutually exclusive. Quite the opposite

 

Once you pigeon hole music development to one main centre, you exclude the majority of interested.

Again, the venue is only one aspect of Shetland’s music development. And I don’t see how building a venue will “exclude the majority of interested”

 

But you raise some interesting points Sailor. I don’t expect that everybody will agree with Mareel, but I think its healthy to debate the project and the wider implications to music development in general, especially given the amount of misinformation that seems to be circulating at the moment

 

 

 

All I can say to that PB is it is the biggest load of garbage I've ever read.

As always, thank you for your valuable insight SS. I’ll give careful consideration to your comments and opinions

 

There has never been a purpose built venue in all that time yet our musicians are at the top of there class, and recognised as such outside of Shetland.

Perhaps that's why you're more likely to see a top class Shetland musician performing in a top class venue on the mainland than in Shetland.

 

And the old argument that "we've never had it before, so why do we need it now".... I don't even know where to start with that! That backward sentiment could apply to almost anything

 

that is where the future money is, not a few tourists that sit in the lounge nursing a drink that was probably bought for them by a local.

Do you believe that's Shetland music's sole value to the economy?! I despair!

[JustMe]

I just hope that the project is put on hold until the issue of the fuel tanks is resolved. No sense in spending a lot of millions of public money to create a venue that will stand empty until the HSE agrees that it is safe to use which may only happen once the tanks are moved.