Mareel - Cinema & Music Venue

[poorleno]

is it possible to breakdown the £25million benefit?

It sounds pretty vauge on the surface...

[brokenlink]

£25m benefit (which I assume means gross impact as I've not seen the report) does not equal £1,000 spend per Shetlander on 'art'!! However this is not the thread to go into how these figures are calculated.

 

My understanding of the creative industries sector encompasses a wide range of organisations and not just your traditional art producers. Architects for example will be included, and with the boom in construction activity at present they are sure to be contributing to the total of £25m. Knitwear producers exporting to Japan, Web designers doing their work, graphic designers producing leaflets, banners, etc.

 

Anyway that is going a bit off topic sorry

[peeriebryan]

I haven't seen the methodology either, but I believe the it does indeed include architecture and textiles

 

The report will be presented on the 17th April at the 'Shetland Creative Industries' meeting in the Town Hall

 

...but as you say brokenlink ^, we should try to stay on topic....

[Mutley]

My understanding of the creative industries sector encompasses a wide range of organisations and not just your traditional art producers. Architects for example will be included, and with the boom in construction activity at present they are sure to be contributing to the total of £25m. Knitwear producers exporting to Japan, Web designers doing their work, graphic designers producing leaflets, banners, etc.

 

Anyway that is going a bit off topic sorry

 

I'm not so sure you are going off the topic. It is important if the 'Creative Industries' flag is being flown that there is clear understanding what it is and for the 'arts' elements of the creative industries which Shetland Arts would potentially influence/develop/support via Mareel to be clearly identified within this rather large heading.

 

This obviously then needs to be weighed up along with the softer community benefits against a fairly hefty capital and revenue cost to the public purse.

 

Table A2 at http://www.culture.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/4DE5B8FB-A95F-49B6-9900-3BE475622851/0/CreativeIndustriesEconomicEstimates2007.pdf gives a good tick list for this for those who want to get detailed as to what the Creative Industries are all about.

 

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport defines the Creative Industries as "....those industries that are based on individual creativity, skill and talent. They are also those that have the potential to create wealth and jobs through developing intellectual property.

 

 

The creative industries include:

 

Advertising

 

Film and video

 

Architecture

 

Music

 

Art and antiques markets

 

Performing arts

 

Computer and video games

 

Publishing

 

Crafts

 

Software

 

Design

 

Television and radio

 

Designer fashion

 

http://www.culture.gov.uk/what_we_do/Creative_industries/

 

That's quite a wide area and ather unsuprisingly the national 'estimates' show that the main elements of this are (rather unsuprisingly): Software, Computer Games and Electronic Publishing, Advertising, Publishing, Architecture and Radio/TV.

 

It will be interesting to see this report and to find out what, for example, the Architecture industry is worth in Shetland if the above definition has been taken seriously.

[Guest Anonymous]

Ahhh Yes!!! The wind farm again.

I wondered how long it would be before you used that as an excuse for Mareel.

 

I wonder if the Mods could just combine this topic with the wind farm one under a new heading of "Stupidity - Shetland Style"

Well then Auld Een, what would you suggest for Shetlands future?

 

A'm no furyat aboot dee. Bit I hae mair ta do dan waste bytes upö tellin someen da obvious.

Bit, ta keep dee tinkin....

Tidal power an local halls.

Whin I hae da time a'll tell de why.

 

Noo will dö an auld sausage laek me a favour an laern a grain o wit.

Da wind farm an Mareel ir a waste o space an money. Fact!!!!

Shetlan haes enyoch auld ruins an moniments. Da isle dusne need ony mair. An moniments ta Shetlan stupidity is aa dat yun projects ir ever laekly ta be.

[peeriebryan]

Here's a copy of Joanne Jamieson's letter from this weeks Shetland Times in which she addresses the financial aspects of Mareel

It is interesting to read all the correspondence on Mareel in the Shetland Times, on Shetland News and on various social networking sites. Within the group of people that don’t support Mareel, the view seems to be that it is a great project but the financial side doesn’t add up. That is simply not the case. And I should know – I am a Trustee of Shetland Arts, and for years before that, I was on the music venue steering group and then the Cinema and music venue steering group.

 

The facts of the matter are that SIC councillors agreed to put Mareel on their Capital Programme about four years ago, and allocated it a fixed sum of money. The total council spend works out at £711,000 to date (over the past 4 years), £2 million to be spent this financial year and £2.4 million in the next. That’s it.

 

However, the build will cost more than the council has budgeted, so Shetland Arts are raising the rest from external sources. The Scottish Arts Council Lottery Fund has awarded us £2.12 million, which is a huge achievement, other funding applications are progressing well and Shetland Arts is on track to raise the rest of the money, around £4.3 million in total. Over half a million has been spent already on this project, and the construction is due to start in July/ August. The building will be timber framed and clad in metal box profile sheeting – it can’t be built any cheaper. Ask a builder.

 

However, if the council pulls its half of the money, the project can’t go ahead, and probably won’t be built for a generation. We would lose the £2.12 million from the Lottery and all the other external funding.

 

But what would the council do with the money if they didn’t spend it on Mareel this year and next? Well, there are no care homes even at feasibility study stage yet so the Mareel versus care homes argument is a myth. The SIC spend around £20 million each year on capital projects. That spend is funded from interest on the Reserve Fund and is sustainable at that level.

 

Once Mareel is built, Shetland Arts will run it. There will be no cost to the SIC at all. Shetland Arts is the local organisation charged with Arts Development in Shetland, and receives core funding from the Scottish Arts Council and from the Shetland Charitable Trust. The business case for Mareel has been written and reviewed several times by industry experts, accountants and local and national economic development organisations. The consensus of opinion is that it will cost money to operate it for the first three years and after that, it will make a surplus. By year five, the surplus will be more than the total deficit from year 1 to 3. That means that Mareel will make money, and that money will be ploughed back into arts development. So, which bit of Mareel is it that doesn’t add up?

[Guest Anonymous]

Its a hell of a price for a timber frame an a grain o profile sheeting , i was thinkinkin tae put up a garden shed but for size ratio it is going to cost over £100,000.00 !!

[Carlos]

The construction contract will be open for tenders remember, good chance for some profit for people who think they can do it cheaper

[peeriebryan]

Its a hell of a price for a timber frame an a grain o profile sheeting , i was thinkinkin tae put up a garden shed but for size ratio it is going to cost over £100,000.00 !!

It'll be some shed if du's putting in a peerie cinema, music venue, recording studio, cafe bar and all the other gubbins!

 

When's da shed warmin?

[Guest Anonymous]

I will in fact be able to do all these things as i will have a kettle , fridge , tape recorder and a laptop , ok i wont have in house toilet facilities or running water but we can aye nip intae da hoose for this , ( indoor fridge will also house an additional stock of both yellow & red tins ) ( cider available on sunday mornings only ) but unfortunately fire regulations and not being able to get the door shut will restrict passenger numbers to 12 .

This number will dwindle probably down to 6 or even 4 as my gadderie of old sharn accumulates!

By the way I am well in favour of the marreel project and look forward to the day it is open for all to enjoy .

[Guest Anonymous]

Shed warming / premiere will be in early july and will take place both in and around the outside of this architectural marvel.

[nic]

“Once Mareel is built, Shetland Arts will run it. There will be no cost to the SIC at allâ€.

“The consensus of opinion is that it will cost money to operate it for the first three years and after that, it will make a surplus. By year five, the surplus will be more than the total deficit from year 1 to 3. That means that Mareel will make money, and that money will be ploughed back into arts development. So, which bit of Mareel is it that doesn’t add up?â€

 

 

The additional £4.4M from the golden goose!!

• Much wants more yet oft loses all.

• Greed destroys the source of good.

• Think before you act.

 

The SIC’s “Shetland structure plan†states:-

 

“Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of

future generations to meet their own needsâ€.

2.2 In other words, we must ensure that new development allows the generations of people who

come after us at least the same level of opportunities and choices that we enjoy today.

Resources must therefore be used in a way that maintains them for future generations and does

not impose future costs that would prohibit further long term development.

 

So when the money runs out of the reserve fund which “essential service†do you propose to axe first?? Sorry I forgot the Mareel would be able to support something else with all its profits.

[WiiMan]

Mareel not a priority (Letter to Shetland News)

 

 

4 April 2008

 

I have today signed Councillor Duncan's motion to review the proposed SIC investment in Mareel. The simple reason is that at present we cannot afford over £4m of public money to help build it, nor could we afford the annual subsidy if it went ahead as planned. This is very clear when we look at the council's capital and revenue spending projections for the next few years. My priorities on capital projects are the new Anderson High School (the costs of which I wish to reduce), the new school and care centre for Yell, the very urgent replacement of the Whalsay ferry terminal and a new primary school for Lerwick. These are essential. Mareel is not. On the revenue spending side I will back education and social care before arts centres or leisure and

recreation. I made this clear during my election campaign.

 

I know many people have worked long and hard on the Mareel project and they'll be very disappointed if the council decides not to put any more money into it. I don't dispute that it would be a fine thing to have, despite its monumentally ugly design. I wish them luck in their search for other, private, sources of funds to make up the shortfall.

 

The good news is that the (equally ugly, in my opinion) new Anderson High School design already includes several of Mareel's ingredients: the school hall will seat about the same number of people as the proposed Mareel auditorium and the architect tells me audiences of several hundred more will be able to see the double-sided stage from the very large main concourse, or atrium; the hall can easily show films (as can the fisheries college, the Garrison and the auditorium at the new museum); there will also be two recording studios and plenty of rehearsal space, along with vast areas suitable for displaying works of art.

 

My suggestion is that once the new community school is completed the council should donate the 1862 Anderson Educational Institute building to Shetland Arts, to provide offices, recording studios, rehearsal space and, most importantly, teaching areas for Shetland College's music courses. Yes, it's a listed building; no, it's not purpose-built; but the council's budget problems, already acute, have been made worse by the stock market crash and for the time being we'll just have to make the best of what we've got.

 

After some 45 years' involvement in Shetland's artistic and literary scene, Ihope I won't be condemned as a philistine because of this decision. Like other councillors who've signed Mr Duncan's motion, I hope rather to be regarded as a realist who recognises that a community of 22,000 people livingon some small Atlantic islands cannot expect to have the same cultural facilities as city folk. What we do have here is already pretty impressive for a place of this size. Compare the facilities in Wick, Thurso, Stornoway, Ullapool or Fort William and you may see what I mean.

 

Yours sincerely,

Jonathan Wills

Independent Councillor for Lerwick South

jonathan.wills@shetland.gov.uk

 

 

In a bid to restore some balance into the debate, I have added the text of Jonathan Wills letter onto Shetlink.

 

And the councillors worthy of our vote next time around are as follows....

 

 

Shetland Times - 'It (The Motion) has been signed by councillors Allison Duncan, Gary Robinson, Cecil Smith, Betty Fullerton, Robert Henderson, Allan Wishart and Jonathan

Wills. Iris Hawkins has also undertaken to sign, said Mr Duncan, and he said he intends to speak to all the other councillors.'

 

There is still time. If you're a councillor willing to join the above, please speak to Da Flea before the 2nd of May!

 

The hall of shame will be posted here on the 3rd of May.

[Guest Anonymous]

^^^^^

It's ferkin guid ta see a list o responsible cooncillors bein published at last. Dir a damned rare breed. Loard bliss dem, an lang mey dir lums reek.

[ArabiaTerra]

A few questions for those of you opposed to the Mareel:

 

Is your opposition purely based on the capital cost of the project or are there other facets of the proposal you dislike?

 

Additionally:

 

Are you similarly opposed to the (what seems to me) ludicrous £48m cost of the new AHS?

 

And finally:

 

Do you also oppose the VE windfarm?