Mareel - Cinema & Music Venue

[nic]

Been in the peerie shop today and seen a load of postcards "I support Mareel". On the back it asks to send it to the town hall. I will be asking my local councillor who is paying for this. Will I get some funding from the local purse (SIC/recreational trust/Amenity trust/Arts trust/Charitable trust) to fund a similar scheme in favour of diverting the money to a new school??

[peeriebryan]

Copied from the ‘New AHS’ thread....

 

Well i think the capital fund should scrap the £5.1M for the Mareel and divert it into a new AHS. Education is the future of shetland. Scotland and the UK will be playing catch up in 5 years time to India and China on educated young people.

 

A good point nic, education is indeed critical for Shetland’s future, and Mareel will be an educational facility for the creative industries which account for around 8-9% of UK GDP, a sector that is growing significantly faster the economy as a whole

 

But the UK creative sector is under threat from emerging economies, specifically China and India as you mentioned

 

http://login.vnuemedia.com/hr/google/login_subscribe.jsp?id=Jev0gvSdB%2BEmqKG0frTobej%2BMEgY5C0c8eOsmaiOyXRdPR2I5JWQG0%2Bjkxl1XI%2BfTfHyYPL8hV8A%0A75GZCD6YBfSkUjoTVa4g8EavRQa8gJ81ByK%2BFqVRgg%3D%3D

Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell talked up Britain's creative industries Monday, arguing that the fast-growing sector will help Britain compete against the burgeoning global economies of India, China and others

 

 

http://www.nesta.org.uk/news/media_centre/news_releases/release.aspx?id=5526

In particular, UK creative industries are under threat from increasing global competition. The global market in creative industries is worth an estimated $1.3 trillion and new international centres for creative businesses are developing rapidly across the world, particularly in China and India.

 

Jonathan Kestenbaum, Chief Executive of NESTA comments, “UK Creative Industries contribute a phenomenal amount of wealth to the UK economy and our creative businesses are the envy of most of the world. But we are in danger of becoming complacent and losing out to new creative centres that are pursuing aggressive strategies to develop their markets.

 

The global climate for the Creative Industries is undergoing rapid change. The latest sign of the growing threat to UK creative jobs can be seen in recent announcements from Indian companies that are beginning to target technical, editing and production functions in the audio-visual segment of the industry from low-cost offshore locations.”

[Mutley]

Copied from the ‘New AHS’ thread....

 

A good point nic, education is indeed critical for Shetland’s future, and Mareel will be an educational facility for the creative industries which account for around 8-9% of UK GDP, a sector that is growing significantly faster the economy as a whole

 

That's fair enough, but hasn't half of the educational element to the project now been removed in favour of offices for Shetland Arts? I may be wrong on this so apologies if it is the case but word on the street is the proposal is radically different to what was envisaged early on in the project.

 

By the way, has Mr Gibbons taken the plunge and actually moved to Shetland yet, 18 months down the line since starting in post? If not, why not!

[nic]

Copied from the ‘New AHS’ thread....

 

Well i think the capital fund should scrap the £5.1M for the Mareel and divert it into a new AHS. Education is the future of shetland. Scotland and the UK will be playing catch up in 5 years time to India and China on educated young people.

 

A good point nic, education is indeed critical for Shetland’s future, and Mareel will be an educational facility for the creative industries which account for around 8-9% of UK GDP, a sector that is growing significantly faster the economy as a whole

 

But the UK creative sector is under threat from emerging economies, specifically China and India as you mentioned.

 

So will the other 91% of GDP head of to China and India. Then the only ones that can afford to go to the new cinema will be its employees

[peeriebryan]

That's fair enough, but hasn't half of the educational element to the project now been removed in favour of offices for Shetland Arts?

Shetland Arts won't be using the second floor for offices, as has been stated here a few times over the past days

 

To clarify, after the first plans were drafted it was proposed that the second floor should be developed during the initial build. The use of this additional space for offices was debated at a meeting at the Garrison in late 2007 and it was decided against

 

It is now planned that the area will be used for additional educational facilities. It was never suggested that any educational elements were to be removed, as the second floor was additional to initial plans

 

So will the other 91% of GDP head of to China and India.

Erm, no. I don't think it's likely that 91% of the UKs GDP will head off to China and India due to Mareel being built!

[dorfus chucklepants]

Muppet wrote:

Thats the kind of arguement that really rattles my cage. It's like the "but that's not Capital, that's revenue so thats not relevant" arguement.

 

Sorry, Muppet, for perturbing your cage but I think you have misconstrued what I was saying ( or more likely I didn't put it very well) as an attack on Mareel.

 

I was responding to a previous poster who had suggested that the SRT had originally been intended to break even, as is being suggested now for Mareel, but that now it is heavily subsidised. I simply pointed out that wasn't the case.

 

As far as the 'luxuries' go, again the point was being made that somehow the SIC was sacrificing essential services such as Education and Social Care by choosing to spend money on Mareel. I simply made the point that ongoing funding was coming not from the SIC but the CT and hence a luxuries vs necessity argument isn't relevant.

 

I agree that it is all our money whether CT or SIC, but the SIC's sources of income are constrained by what it gets in charges, receives from the Scottish Government and can raise from Council tax and so it has to make hard choices to live within its means whilst providing essential services.

The CT is constrained in its budget by the performance of its assets but it isn't stuck with having to provide services in the same way the SIC is.

 

If you think the millions spent on SRT are irrelevant because it's not SIC spending then I think that statement could do with a little rethink

 

Again my comment was in response to one about the SIC. We've all heard about the need to make revenue savings to avoid unduly depleting the Reserve Fund and now there is the effect of a £48m school on the capital programme. That's the biggest risk to Mareel going ahead.

[sheepshagger]

By the way, has Mr Gibbons taken the plunge and actually moved to Shetland yet, 18 months down the line since starting in post? If not, why not!

 

Is this true, have we become so blooming stupid that not only are our trusts run by soothmoothers but by soothmoothers that don't even live here?

christ on a bike what the hell is going on?

 

I for one think the man should not recieve another penny till he actually lives here, but we all know how it is he will get a massive payment to help him relocate when he does.

 

Why the hell has Peerie Brian or at least some other local no got the job very talented more than capable of putting his point accross and at least he has the good of Shetland as a priority.

 

It is a farce of the highest order

[peeriebryan]

Is this true

No

[Styles]

Just watched a film at the garrison, the film was good but the garrison was a terrible venue, so i say bring on mareel!

 

By the way what utter crap the Flea wis speaking on radio Shetland tonight.

[sheepshagger]

But PB that 8-9% of GDP stays firmly in the pockets of a few pop stars and record company execs it does not spread through the nation lubricating the economy most of the popstars take the money straight out of the country and don't pay any tax so it is basically draining 8-9% of our economy every year.

look at it this way and the arts cost us more than drug abuse and one of the biggest arguments against drugs is the cost to society.

maybe we should be jailing all those nasty music dealers that prey on our youth

[JustMe]

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=74981406

 

It would be interesting to compare the facilities at the Moorings in Aberdeen with those proposed for the venue part of Mareel. This is written by someone with an "I know what I like" attitude to music but the list looks impressive.

 

As for the yes/no debate I still say that there can be no real progress on the project while the oil tanks issue is unresolved. Once that hurdle is overcome I think there is still room for debate right up to the time a building contract is signed. Reason I feel this way is that I am starting to worry that we will end up with a venue that is such a compromise that it fails to be good as an arts venue, a cinema or a music education centre.

[khitajrah]

I for one am very much looking forward to Mareel opening. I'm starting to think, reading through this thread, that some folk just need to whinge about something or other.

[TeeAyBee]

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=74981406

 

It would be interesting to compare the facilities at the Moorings in Aberdeen with those proposed for the venue part of Mareel. This is written by someone with an "I know what I like" attitude to music but the list looks impressive.

 

As for the yes/no debate I still say that there can be no real progress on the project while the oil tanks issue is unresolved. Once that hurdle is overcome I think there is still room for debate right up to the time a building contract is signed. Reason I feel this way is that I am starting to worry that we will end up with a venue that is such a compromise that it fails to be good as an arts venue, a cinema or a music education centre.

 

Sorry to quote so much of another poster's posting, but these are very important points that need to be considered. Obviously I am for Mareel and I believe it is the right thing to do, however, I too have the concern about compromising to a point where it could indeed become a white elephant. I have made my opinions known and have engaged with the stake holders group where I have voiced this concern and also made my own personal stand about the second floor. I am happy in the current design that education is not being compromised which is of course a key part of the Lottery money. I would be worried though if the allocations of space changed radically again (I am not aware of any plans to do so) and as such I intend to remain involved and to 'fight my corner' so to speak. I would encourage you to engage with the process too.

 

The oil tanks are still an issue, or rather one of them, or more correctly one valve on one fuel tank is the issue. I think that the opportunity for the nay-sayers to use the tanks as an excuse to block the developments in North Ness is almost gone.

[shetlander]

As far as the 'luxuries' go, again the point was being made that somehow the SIC was sacrificing essential services such as Education and Social Care by choosing to spend money on Mareel. I simply made the point that ongoing funding was coming not from the SIC but the CT and hence a luxuries vs necessity argument isn't relevant.

 

In terms of expenditure from the SICs revenue budget (Shetland Arts estimates prevailing) you're probably right. However, despite the commendable efforts of Shetland Arts to secure £4.2 million in external funding, the remaining capital cost of £5.1 million - or whatever - is going to have to be funded by the Council. Thats money that won't be able to be spent on the growing list of non-luxury projects on the SICs capital programme.

[Carlos]

The 2008/09 SIC capital programme

 

http://www.shetland.gov.uk/capitalprogramme/ShetlandIslandsCouncil-CapitalProgramme2.asp

 

 

There's £2M in that year for Mareel, and just over £2M of slippage highlighted - projects that have not been allocated all the money they asked for (typically they would get 2/3 at the moment), but who have first call on anything going spare.

 

They are all useful stuff no doubt, but it does show that axing Mareel funding does not "save" £2M this year, all it means is that the £2M is spent on different things.

 

I haven't found a full 5 year programme or whatever, but it's likely hiding there somewhere.