Mareel - Cinema & Music Venue

[TeeAyBee]

However it is painted up, we cannot afford it...................................Simple as that.

 

Oh no! We're down to our last three quarters of a billion!

[TeeAyBee]

Cheers for the info. thats a good point. byran, are you listening to this person. small is good too (garrison, NAFC, museum???).

 

That's not quite what I said, and certainly not what I've said in previous posts. While I've talked about a small venue, the key issue is the quality. A small venue with poor sound and not so good projection would not have survived and certainly wouldn't have fed the coming expansion. The NAFC, Museum and the Garrison are not good enough.

 

I've worked on shows in the Museum and the sound is pretty poor especially with the aircon adding percussive pipes to everything. The sight lines for the first few rows are liable to cause neck ache after a short period and the seating is far from comfortable. More than adequate for an hour long lecture/presentation, but it is not up to being a cinema.

 

I've been to shows at the NAFC; it has a nice lecture theatre but more than forty minutes and it starts to become extremely uncomfortable, and the sound is poor too. There's no side and rear channels and the projection won't support 2.35:1 in a size useful to a cinema audience. More than adequate for an hour long lecture/presentation, but it is not up to being a cinema.

 

The Garrison has its seating issues, naff sound and against the geneva convention seating. The Garrison is a theatre. It is not a cinema, nor is it a serious music venue, it isn't capable.

 

None of these venues can be seriously considered without massive and I mean massive investment to get them up to first release quality because as I've said before the key issue in cinema profitability is now quality.

[poorleno]

Can anyone settle the argument, can Shetland afford(in real cash terms rather than artistic) a purpose built venue or not?

 

Also, is Mareel the final vision for a music venue, or is it "the next best option" ?

 

How about resurrecting st clements hall!!

 

Was the old "somewhar else" ever considered as a possibility? too late now of course.

 

I think a Cabaret Voltaire (Edinburgh) in Shetland would be a good idea..decent size, etc etc.

[Alan]

Somewhar Else would have been far too small, it's capacity was under 200 and it didn't have a decent stage, dressing rooms etc.

 

St. Clements Hall would be great but I think the old folks home next door might veto that plan!

 

Cabaret Voltaire is a great space but has the worst acoustics of any venue i have ever been to!!

[poorleno]

What about the old hostel near the toft ferry?! No noise restrictions out there!

 

Yes, Ive played cab vol, the sound is abysmal.

[TeeAyBee]

Cabaret Voltaire is a great space but has the worst acoustics of any venue i have ever been to!!

 

Even compared to the Clickimin?

[tlady]

What about buying out the Shetland Times at Gremista.

 

The Jubilee 77 was an ideal "music venue"

[Marvin]

What Alan seemed to be getting at in the Shetland Times article (I don't want to put words in your mouth here Alan) was the expense of hiring the Clickimin. This is a problem I've also encountered (although I've found the Clickimin management to be very helpful in this respect. But they have their costs to cover too) so perhaps a way to subsidise the expense could be looked at? Regular promoters such as Alan, Davie Gardner and Marvin Smith are probably better placed to elaborate on this, and Carlos' point on ticket sales. If you’re out there gents, your input to the discussion would be valuable.

 

I'm really not wanting to be drawn in to this whole debate again....but....(I'm not speaking for Alan or Davie here) what annoys me a bit about the Clickimin is that the reason they give for the extremely high hire cost is that they need to cover all their costs from the hire fee whereas in most venues they take in to account the amout of revenue they are expecting from the bar. At the Clickimin, the bar is handled by a seperate company which belongs to the recreational trust.

 

In their defence, the Clickimin is a sports venue and the management are wholly tasked with the job of providing a sports venue...not a music venue....so why should they 'risk' making a loss to provide a music venue.

 

The only counter argument is that the Clickimin could actually reduce the amount of money it gets from the Council if it were tasked to look at new ways of reducing their losses and therefore it would be better value for the public....but that's probably another argument for another day.

 

However it is painted up, we cannot afford it...................................Simple as that.

 

Sad but true. I would love to see our young musical talent having the best facilities to perform at.

 

I can see where you are coming from but I would argue that Shetland can't afford not to build a music venue (of some description at least). The economic impact of providing a venue for the good of Shetland as a whole must be sizable (Bryan, what happened to SA's report on the economic impact?). It is a critical component in the range of facilities which a community needs to function....I will accept that the size of the price tag is an issue which is at least worthy of debate...but the function, is (in my opinion) vital.

 

It provides those people who wish to have a career in the creative industries a performance venue and even more critically an education facility to learn. The creative industries is one of the UK's largest exports and is the biggest growth sector in the UK economy.

 

The other aspect which is equally as critical is the provision of a very high quality leisure facility which will provide (to a sizable section of our community) a service which otherwise would not be available. From my point of view anything that keeps the 'young' in Shetland is very important to future economic health of Shetland.

[ArabiaTerra]

The other aspect which is equally as critical is the provision of a very high quality leisure facility....

... which is not exclusively devoted to sports. The "Sport Billies" in Shetland have had tens of millions of pounds spent on luxury facilities for every conceivable sport over the last 30 years. Luxury facilites which require massive annual subsidies to run them, while the rest of us have had... well, I can't actually think of anything.. Oh yeah, they did out the Garrison 10 or 15 years ago... and that's about all.

 

Bring on the Mareel, cinema included, it's about time the oil money was spent on something other than sports.

[Ichorus]

I agree that something is needed.

I hear all to often, "where can we play?" from bands down south and in shetland. The loss of the North star (in my opinion) was a big one to local and in coming bands.

Whether the Garrison gets done up, with better seating (that could be removed for concerts), etc or Mareel gets built it still remain undeniable that shetland needs a live music venue.

I'm not too sure of the cinema part, maybe the building will be best at use for another bar / music venue / recording studio / music eduction centre.

 

Removing the Cinema from the plans would reduce costs, less staff, less electric (screens, food, drinks,) and later opening times.

 

Hope something happens..and soon.

[PeerieLouise]

whaurever dey do manage tae build it... i want tae see da auld bargain centre adverts fae da 70/80s lol...mind o dem?

x

[TYR/RAGNAROK]

Mibe eftir dis muckle fancy new AHS is dun an dirs a few coppirs left owir hit cood be pittin intae a cinema(nae need fur a cinema if da garrisun isna pinned every weekend, nae matter how muckl you complain o how bad hit is som fok dunna hae hit whar day byd!!) music venue,lecture rooms! whit da hel? i agree dat a venue fur helpin alang shaetlans musical talent but i joost windir if dis isna joost annidir lerook his tae hae dis cis hits da best place tae be kind o ting, how is dis gaen tae benefit fok otsyd da toon? lets say in unst, will unst eens b flockin aa da wy doon ta watch a glorified muckle tv? will bands fae sooth b rushin up here in dir droves(is da mareel gaen tae run hits ain cheap ferry service fur a dis bands?) an whit aboot aa dis theatrics an dat, why no tour aroond various halls an places up an doon troo shaetlan, why joost stay in lerook?. hers an ide lets big hit in..hmm Voe fur example and dat wy hits mare accesabl ta e da nort eens as weel as da sooth eens...eh!,towt is muckle

[TeeAyBee]

Mibe eftir dis muckle fancy new AHS is dun an dirs a few coppirs left owir hit cood be pittin intae a cinema(nae need fur a cinema if da garrisun isna pinned every weekend,

 

There's a flaw in your argument here. One reason the Garrison isn't chock-a-block with people because the films are already two months old and most will have seen them already. In fact some are released on DVD before they even get here. Embracing new digital projection will mean that Mareel could show the new films that everyone wants to see if the queues at the cinemas in Aberdeen and Edinburgh are anything to go by. Then the audiences will be very different up here.

 

Secondly you seem to be implying that because people don't use a poor facility they shouldn't be given a good one - they don't use it because it is poor, not because they don't want a cinema.

[peeriebryan]

Showdown at the OK Mareel from the Shetland News website

[Mutton]

Just seen that on Shetland News, what an ugly building!