Guest Anonymous Posted March 17, 2006 Report Share Posted March 17, 2006 As I have said earlier I do not believe that hinding behind anonymous debating forums allows for credibility so I will make it clear I will only anwer those questions that come from identified and credible sources. If you believe in your arguement why not make yourself known? Also to resort to cheap personal attacks or comments is playground stuff and can only reek of desperation and weaken what could be otherwise valid points and arguements, so those who resolve to that do yourselves no favours and I will not lower myself to respond to them. However I am more that happy to clear up a few points prior to making such a statement. It will of course be up to the festival organisers how and when (or if) they use the new venue. However both have direct representation on our project steering group (largely elected at a public meeting I may add) and are supporters of the proposal. However, as I hopefully have already made clear they / we (I will come back to this later) see no fundametal change as to the current state of affairs i.e. the club in Islesburgh, specifc concerts in smaller venues in Lerwick, country hall concerts etc with any new facility being available as an extra programme opportunity. We are not out to distroy the status quo as some seem to believe. This is not my project. It came about through public demand over a long period of time and especially through an extensive consultation process and subsequent report as far back as 1998 into music development in Shetland. Given this it had to be 'taken forward' by someone, the SIC, who helped facilitate the additional public meetings etc that arose from this demand, tasked the Arts Trust to be the lead organisation in this respect. A publicly elected steering group was then formed at the first of the public meetings and was augmented with others who could help take the project forward, or indeed challenge issues arising. It has been far from one sided at times. So the 'we' I referred to at the Garrison meeting is EVERYONE in this respect. The Arts Trust, the Council, the formal project team, the consultants, the public steering group and, as always, anyone involved with the project including the general public who have something worthwhile to contribute - for or against. Remember WE have only been made aware of the current objections this week or they may have been more fully considered and debated over an extended period of time. By default of having the job as Music Development Officer if nothing else I have found myself at the forefront and to some extent in the limelight in this respect. I can assure you I would often like it to be otherwise. However I retain a strong sense of duty to the musicians (and other music related people - yes audiences too) of all ages of this community, who everyone agrees are of very high quality, and therefor I am more than happy to continue to represent their views where appropriate. One thing I can totally refute is that I am in any way intending to feather my own nest in employment terms through this. I can state here and now I have no intention of applying for any post in the new facility - heavens I will bloody near be retiring age by the time it is delivered. If you don't believe me just watch this space. I hope I will however be able to sit back and watch it succeed and hopefully just be another regular punter there. And of course it will not be "jobs for the boys". Who are the boys anyway? It will be a legal requirement to advertise jobs of all kinds within this facility when the time is right. And there will be a formal and fully auditable process applied. I assum you have heard of the Freedom of Information Act? Equally of course any appointments made, by whoever , will aim to get the most apporpriate individuals to meet the job descriptions and the demands of the posts themselves. Lets hope as many of them can either be local, or returning locals, as possible when the time comes. To suggest anythng else is pure mischief-making and not worth of further comment. Thanks to all of you who have made positive contributions both positive and negative. It is not too late to alter anything in this process, especially the design of the building and what goes on there, which of course could have huge implications on the final cost. So anyone who does have anything they feel is worth of contribution please make yourselves know and if you feel strongly there is still plenty of time to discuss issuesin a more formal context. Hence to ask if are we taking account of public fears (I assume that is whats meant in your question) the answer is of course we do. This is a democratic and serious process and we must look seriously at all sides and all views. Its just a pity that these fears have apparently taken so long to surface. Its equally a pity that, from my own point of view, many of these fears are not supported by hard evidence and facts - a point I note a number of you agree with. If such evidence can be provided I'm sure it will be given much more creedence that you feel is happening at present. Finally one correspondant will be delighted to know that the reason I have taken a wee while to answer is the fact I HAVE been working. He or she will note that my submission of this morning was done before 9am (start of work time) and that this has been done in my dinner hour - self pity comments not required Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marvin Posted March 17, 2006 Report Share Posted March 17, 2006 Ok so I will admit that £80,000 or even £200,000 are not that big compared to the overall council budget of £114 million but when looked at alongside the budget deficit then adding £80,000+ to the year on year spending might not sound so good. Losing money is never good but as you say, in the scheme of things the amount of money we are speaking about is negligible in the overall scheme of things. This coupled that with the fact that the deficit is likely to be funded from the returns on investment (local investment and the stock market). The Reserve fund generates surplus. Its this surplus that currently funds non core projects. The surpluses at the moment are healthy. Its the core council function budget that is overspent. That said if the plans are passed by the full council, no one manages to get something like a judicial review of council projects competing with private companies and planning permission is granted (bound to be objections) then we will be having this venue so now is very much the time to consider who will have input into the design of the place. Well said. This is exactly what I'm after. I want the question asked whether or not the local authority should be putting money in to the project if it is going to mean a local private operative will be badly affected. This is the point I tried to raise at the SLTA meeting but none of them seemed to understand the implications of what I was saying. I had a meeting with Davie this morning about something else, but we discussed this debate at length. He has asked me to come along to the steering group meetings as a sceptic. To the credit of the Arts Trust they are willing to debate the issue and make sure that difficult questions are answered. I have faith in their system and I'm very much looking forward to being involved in the process and hopefully getting the right outcome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peeriebryan Posted March 17, 2006 Report Share Posted March 17, 2006 As I have said earlier I do not believe that hinding behind anonymous debating forums allows for credibility so I will make it clear I will only anwer those questions that come from identified and credible sources. If you believe in your arguement why not make yourself known? Also to resort to cheap personal attacks or comments is playground stuff and can only reek of desperation and weaken what could be otherwise valid points and arguements, so those who resolve to that do yourselves no favours and I will not lower myself to respond to them. Good on you Davie. I agree 100% Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted March 17, 2006 Report Share Posted March 17, 2006 look - shetland doesnt have a cinema, orkney does. whats the bleeding problem? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JAStewart Posted March 17, 2006 Report Share Posted March 17, 2006 Could you supply any statistics regarding their cinema? IE: Cost, usage levels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JAStewart Posted March 17, 2006 Report Share Posted March 17, 2006 Here are some things about it: Built 1999Looks:http://www.chem.gla.ac.uk/~gbarr/cinemas/scotland/kirkwall/pickaquoyexterior.jpg Has: The Pickaquoy Centre is Orkney's premier leisure facility for sport, arts and entertainment. Facilities include cinema, health suite, fitness studio, cafe and bar, soft play area, 8 court sized arena, athletics track, adventure play area and caravan park. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted March 17, 2006 Report Share Posted March 17, 2006 One interesting fact about the Orkney 'cinema' is the fact that it of course is, to the best of my belief, not open a weekends, which surely makes a difference. See I can keep things brief Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McFly Posted March 17, 2006 Report Share Posted March 17, 2006 Come on Davie, sign up. You've already posted more words than the entire moderation team combined, you might as well be a registered user. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trout Posted March 17, 2006 Report Share Posted March 17, 2006 Come on Davie, sign up. You've already posted more words than the entire moderation team combined, you might as well be a registered user. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peeriebryan Posted March 17, 2006 Report Share Posted March 17, 2006 According to THIS ARTICLE on Shetland_news.co.uk, the council voted yesterday to give the go ahead for the venue....... There's also some interesting debate on the letters page Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted March 17, 2006 Report Share Posted March 17, 2006 It went thorugh the Services Committee yesterday, which just gives it authority to proceed from the apporpriate council body so to speak, but still needs approval from full council of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peeriebryan Posted March 17, 2006 Report Share Posted March 17, 2006 Cheers for the clarification Davie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PoolHaddock Posted March 17, 2006 Report Share Posted March 17, 2006 To begin with I think I should make it clear that I'm not against the idea of the cinema/music venue. However, I do object to people saying that this venue will be a huge benifit to Shetland as a whole. It will be a benefit to Lerwick and the surrounding area, without question, but thats it. Do you really expect people to make the trip from any of the isles, to the venue on a regular basis? Fair enough, you might get the odd islander coming and going, but really we could live without it. Infact, it would make very little difference to us whether it is there or not, and most Yell people who I have spoken to agree. If it turns out to be of huge importance to all the isles (as is often said) I'll eat my hat ! Secondly, I think this idea that the venue will draw trade from the pubs is wrong. If there is an event on, most people will probably go to the pubs before and/or after the said event, thus increasing thier trade. This happens all over Shetland as it is, and I can't understand how the venue will magically put an end to this!? Just thought you might like a little feedback from your average islander as there dosn't seem to have been much of this yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reesie Posted March 17, 2006 Report Share Posted March 17, 2006 I understand people from the isles may not be attending the centre as frequently as Shetlanders on the mainland but perhaps when there' s talk of the centre/venue benefiting the whole of Shetland it's meant in a larger context, i.e improving opportunities,facilities and education for musicians or those in the music industry and possibly providing Sheltand with a promising cultural future? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PoolHaddock Posted March 17, 2006 Report Share Posted March 17, 2006 Yes, the venue may do this. However, you use the word Shetland again. I feel that the things you listed are great points, maybe just a little unrealistic. It will, undoubtably, help a few islanders, but not in as large a way as people think. Having lived in Yell all my days, and just finnished higher education, I've heard all aboot this "oppourtunities......education" buissiness. The reality is this. Your average person/bairn (from the isles) is a lot less likely to be involved in the "education for musicians" thing than say, the toonies. How many things of this nature are held in (or through) islesburgh, and how many islanders actually attend or benifit from it? Not many! As for the "improving opourtunities" thing. What is meant by this? It's a phrase I've heard a lot through my time in education, but what does it actually mean? What changes will we (the islanders) actually see? In no way am I having a dig at your post reesie, I'm just trying to unfold this isles thing! I will be amazed if the new venue actually changes anything for us islanders, but I really do hope to be proven wrong....honestly! The only way we will find out, is when it opens it's doors for real. There was something else I was gonna say, but it takes me that long tae type that I have forgotten! It'll maybe come back tae me in a peerie while. You are right though. It will help Shetland's cultural image, which, to non-Shetlanders, includes all the Islands. Again, I just thought the debate might be blyed o' some Magni's opinions, as you didna seem tae have any. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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