Mareel - Cinema & Music Venue

[Infiltrator]

I didn't realise this was a game. i thought you were all getting excited because this is real money we're dealing with here.

Home to where?

Mareel is a Shetland idea being worked on by inhabitants of Shetland.

Who are the people wearing blinkers, out of interest? Who is it who will get fed up? With what? Apart from me having to engage with your non arguments.

Oh, and the arts are not a "lark"- they are a growing sector of the economy worth twenty five million pounds annually to the Shetland economy.

 

I think you'll find it's the objectors who are aware that it's real money we're dealing with here. Real money that should be getting used for providing the type of facilities and services a council should be providing. You mentioned public toilets, yes I would see that as a higher priority than Mareel.

 

The very fact that the charitable trust is in existence has created an air of expectation amongst groups in Shetland that they are entitled to the funding as an easy option to raising cash.

 

I'd liken this to a spoilt child demanding that their parents buy them the latest expensive toy and the parents caving in and buying it.

 

You believe the project to be self funding? if it's such a sound business then why isn't it funded from the private sector?

 

£25 million annually from the arts to the local economy, more consultants figures that are difficult to prove.

 

The council have been told they're living outside their means, another publically funded building creating a potential drain on their finances isn't a wise move.

 

My main gripe in all this is the councils inability to take the state of their finances seriously - they need to make some serious decisions that will make them somewhat unpopular. Instead they're happy steaming along pretending everything is fine - just look at the mess of Aberdeen council.

[JustMe]

Where do I file these state aid complaints as I want to make some?. The National Health Service competes unfairly with the private medicine and indeed state funded schools and care homes are unfair competition to the private sector!.

 

Truth is that the private sector has had years to dream up somewhere to equal Mareel and has failed to do so. Yes Mareel is going to have a cafe bar and yes it is expected to make a healthy profit but it is a facility being provided for the users of the other facilities in the building rather than a stand alone bar and as such is surely reasonable to include within the overall concept.

[Baron Farkoff]

Surely the spoilt child analogy applies to the toilet issue: there is already a functioning facility, they just want a newer better one.

There is no music venue.

So, a wonderful lavatory with "welcome to Shetland" on it. And nowhere for visiting or local acts to play. Seems like a gret idea, and a top way of saving money.Very modern.

[Baron Farkoff]

"Shetland, a great place to relieve yourself!"

[ChristopherWilliamThomson]

Infiltrator, that white elephant wasn't anywhere near fat enough...

 

I really hope that Mareel does not get built. I can listen to and read 'For Mareel' propaganda from now until 23/12/12, but it still is going to seem like a completely bloated, decandent, and stupid proposal!

 

DOWN WITH MAREEL!

[Evil Inky]

And nowhere for visiting or local acts to play.

Really ? There's nowhere for visiting or local acts to play ?

[Baron Farkoff]

To an industry standard and permanent?

Perhaps you could suggest one.

[Infiltrator]

Surely the spoilt child analogy applies to the toilet issue: there is already a functioning facility, they just want a newer better one.

 

Has there been goup of folk campaigning for a new toilet or are the council just doing their job and replacing an ageing public facility?

The state of public toilet at the pier is an embarassment and unfortunately for Shetland, it's probably an experience most tourists and visitors will remember.

 

There is no music venue.

 

We seem to have managed so far with the 200+ public halls we already have.

 

In a declining population that's nearly a hall for each 100 inhabitants in Shetland - all of which recieve council funding. The figure of just over 200 came from the council and that was about 10yrs ago.

 

And before you pick on the 'declining population' comment and how Mareel and the arts will bring hundreds, no thousands, of new folk to Shetland, the Shetland population needs to decline to a self sustaining level post the boom years of lucrative fishing, oil and council employment (should the council ever bring their employement levels in line with the rest of the country that is).

 

'Decadent' - I like that word in this context:)

[Roachmill]

I, for one, cannot wait for the new bogs to be built. They'll be the most interesting place to go in the toon of a weekend... at least until the Mareel is open for business. Seriously, the town is in a dire state on the entertainments side. For some reason I have Ghost Town playing inside my head.

 

Town halls are all well and good... for wedding receptions and under-age drinking / fighting. The Clickhimin is fine for, eh, badminton and the Garrison is just great for piles The make do attitude is cool and all, but here's a chance to build somewhere that's actually fit for it's intended purpose. Bring. It. On.

[Baron Farkoff]

Yes it's likely that visitors will remember their toilet "experience", as that is probably all they will have done here.

Yesterday,I saw a load of tourists wandering about Lerwick clutching guide books and looking for stuff to do. Later on that day, they were still wandering around looking bored and tired. The country halls may be adequate for people who live near them, but for casual visitors who have no idea how to get there and would find it hard to get back to Lerwick of an evening they are useless.

This whole anonymous publican mither thing is disgraceful: it is sending out the message that we want more drink and less culture.

My pals on the mainland who work in this business find each riveting installment of this saga to be hillarious. They can't believe the blinkered philistine pig-ignorance of the main objectors, and that these pathetic non-arguments are still being listened to. It does all add up to make our great island look rather silly in the broader view, and it is for this reason that I wish they would just shut up and swallow their pride and accept the councils' decision rather than pursue these underhand and pointless tactics.

[Evil Inky]

To an industry standard and permanent?

Perhaps you could suggest one.

 

There's a great difference between:

a) There's nowhere for local and visiting acts to play, and

There's nowhere of "industry standard" for local and visiting acts to play.

[Baron Farkoff]

You missed out "permanent", as in "it's there all the time,ready to go with no fuss-arsing about having to ring people up to borrow bits of equipment". That's the point- name one building in the whole of these isles devoted to the provision of music.

I can't either.

[Infiltrator]

You missed out "permanent", as in "it's there all the time,ready to go with no fuss-arsing about having to ring people up to borrow bits of equipment". That's the point- name one building in the whole of these isles devoted to the provision of music.

I can't either.

 

Name one in Aberdeen devoted to the provision of music..

[Baron Farkoff]

Why? I don't live in Aberdeen.

Anyway, I can: The Kef, few doors down from the Lemon Tree.

A good venue.

[Evil Inky]

Why? I don't live in Aberdeen.

You're claiming that the rest of the country are laughing at us because we don't have a permanent industry-standard music venue. It would be illuminating to learn how common such facilities are elsewhere.