Mareel - Cinema & Music Venue

[Guest Anonymous]

hardly funny when we're the ones paying for it

[JustMe]

On my last trip south I watched "The Girl Who Played With Fire" at the Belmont in Aberdeen. Early Friday afternoon showing and there were about 20 people there. Not sure what this proves except that the Belmont probably finds it worthwhile to show films to small afternoon audiences and that despite there being at least 4 multi screen cinemas in Aberdeen a foreign language film can still get some sort of audience at that time of day so maybe there is hope for Mareel.

[JustMe]

Here http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11185066 is a better link for coverage of the Canine Cinema. As for the expense I am sure it was worthwhile for the publicity Shetland and the Film Festival gained from it.

[Malachy]

hardly funny when we're the ones paying for it

 

There seems to be a bit of confusion here about how events like Screenplay are funded. I'm not an employee or involved in Shetland Arts in any way, so I don't have the details, but I imagine most (or at least a good chunk) of the money is external funding, from the likes of Creative Scotland, and from sponsors, like BP.

 

The core funding for Shetland Arts comes from the charitable trust rather than the council, so although community money is used, it's not coming from your council tax or anything, so it's stretching the truth a bit to say that 'we're the ones paying for it'.

[Guest Anonymous]

belmont has a catchment area with 200,000 folk in it mareel will have a catchment area with about 15,000, we can forget about a the folk living on the isles as buses ferry's etc no damned use for going to the pictures in LK, so if you think putting on a film for 1.5 folk is money well spent then please set it up so your wages are paid straight into SA bank account

[Spinner72]

^^ Again, why mention Shetland Arts?

 

Mareel is a venue, for anyone to hire and organise events at. Any I've always thought one of the best things about Mareel was its location. We can hop on the bus in Yell (or Unst, Fetlar, Walls, Sumburgh whatever, straight to the bus station, nip across the road, catch a couple of films or whatever may be on, then get the bus back at night. Great day out IMO

 

The misunderstanding that conema's need to be full all the time was covered a few posts back, take a look..

[Guest Anonymous]

please give details of what buses and ferries you are going to catch to watch this films from unst yell and fetlar, or even walls

[Guest SJP17]

hardly funny when we're the ones paying for it

 

 

If its any consolation to you bobdahog all the dogs that were there had a woofing good time

[JustMe]

belmont has a catchment area with 200,000 folk in it mareel will have a catchment area with about 15,000, we can forget about a the folk living on the isles as buses ferry's etc no damned use for going to the pictures in LK, so if you think putting on a film for 1.5 folk is money well spent then please set it up so your wages are paid straight into SA bank account

Yes indeed the catchment area is considerably bigger but then again there are a lot of screens in Aberdeen compared with just a couple in Mareel. The films shown at the Garrison and other places seem to attract a big enough audience so why should Mareel not work?.

 

As for the spending of public funds to support the arts especially in areas that might not be able to enjoy the same sort of events as those in cites can access every week then I certainly think that it is a reasonable use of such funds and I hope an expect to see that once Mareel is open there will be some events that are put on using various arts subsidies and I do not think that this conflicts with the idea that the place should break even on operating costs.

 

Let me explain. While films and local events would be expected to happen without subsidy as would most pop, folk and country performances I want to see available subsidies used to bring things like opera, ballet and perhaps a small symphony orchestra to Shetland. Anyone object?.

[Guest SJP17]

No objections as long as the dogs can attend these events , woof woof !

[Guest Anonymous]

howling n ooobing more like, but hey , whatever puts rears in seats, no for me like

[peeriebryan]

why should we fund the arts, maybe a tax on pop stars should be considered to fund all tghe arty farty stuff after all does bono really nead £100 million in the bank or any of the rest of them for that matter if the arts are so damned important let the artists that make such obscene amounts of money fund them.

Artists and musicians pay taxes, just like anyone else. And many wealthy artists and musicians make considerable philanthropic donations to the arts

 

I'm not sure what you consider 'the arts' or 'arty farty stuff' to be, but the creative industries is one of the largest sectors of the UK economy and as such generate considerable tax revenue and economic benefits. It is also one of the largest growth areas of the economy. Here's a few statistics from recent DCMS figures:

- The Creative Industries, excluding Crafts and Design, accounted for 6.2% of Gross Value Added (GVA) in 2007

 

- The Creative Industries grew by an average of 5% per annum between 1997 and 2007. This compares to an average of 3% for the whole of the economy over this period.

 

- Exports of services by the Creative Industries totalled £16.6 billion in 2007. This equated to 4.5% of all goods and services exported.

 

- Total creative employment increased from 1.6m in 1997 to nearly 2m in 2008, an average growth rate of 2% per annum, compared to 1% for the whole of the economy over this period.

 

This is reflected in a Shetland context as summarised in report by EKOS in 2008 which indicates that Shetland has considerable growth potential in the Creative Industries

We estimate that the CI in Shetland account for 367-460 jobs, (probably around 400) with annual turnover of up to £25m (upper estimate), and £13-14m in GVA. As such, they currently account for 2-3% of the Shetland economy, and may be close in employment terms to industries such as fishing, fish processing and aquaculture

 

part or parts of it could be leased or something to provide a fit n proper affordable weekend nightclub style venue for them that can afford it.

Hopefully too there will be exhibitions and occaisions on during times when it coincides with trips to town , cos lets not forget its no everybody that can afford mulitiple trips to toon in a week, never mind shelling out plenty to get in

That is the case, on both points.

 

All of the spaces in Mareel can be hired

 

Film showings and events will be programmed to make it convenient for folk coming from outside Lerwick. For instance, you could catch a film while in town doing the weekend shopping. As Spinner72 says

We can hop on the bus in Yell (or Unst, Fetlar, Walls, Sumburgh whatever, straight to the bus station, nip across the road, catch a couple of films or whatever may be on, then get the bus back at night. Great day out IMO

 

just wondering if anyone from SA can tell us how much it cost us for each dug that watched the movie at their recent film festival. or is that privilaged information. how can we take anything they say or do seriously when they squander money on sharn like that.

As an employee of Shetland Arts I can tell you that it cost absolutely nothing. It was run on a voluntary basis with no costs involved. The publicity it generated was invaluable however, with interest in the story from around the world. It was one of the top ten most viewed clips on the BBC website last weekend

 

Please tell me this is a wind up ? showing dogs films , you can not be serious !

It was far from serious, it was a good laugh!

 

hardly funny when we're the ones paying for it

You didn't, as it didn't cost anything

 

And in reference to JustMe's last post ^, I agree with you wholeheartedly!

[Guest Anonymous]

This is reflected in a Shetland context as summarised in report by EKOS in 2008 which indicates that Shetland has considerable growth potential in the Creative IndustriesQuote:

We estimate that the CI in Shetland account for 367-460 jobs, (probably around 400) with annual turnover of up to £25m (upper estimate), and £13-14m in GVA. As such, they currently account for 2-3% of the Shetland economy, and may be close in employment terms to industries such as fishing, fish processing and aquaculture

 

I'm sorry Brian but those figures sound like complete and utter sprootle if you ask me

 

just where are these 400+/- jobs and how exactly do they create 25million.

 

a report comissioned by SA to prove their own value does not hold a lot of water, if the arts in shetland brings in 25 million why are you needing 6 million from us for your pet project.

just because someone writes something in a report does not make it so.

come on Brian prove me wrong show me where 100 of these jobs are and 6 million is made that is only a quarter of what is claimed in the report do this and I'll concede one thing and that is mareel will seriously put a dent in those folks earnings because there is a limited amount of money on the isles and only so much of that is going to be spent on the arts

[peeriebryan]

Have you read the report?

[Guest Anonymous]

as much as I needed to to realise it was self promoting sprootle from the arty farty brigade