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Lemon tree closes


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Eh? The Lemon Tree was heavily subsidised by their Council. In fact, I was an employee of Aberdeen City Council when I worked there.

I'm devastated to hear this news..............and I'm afraid to say, unless the Mareel is allowed to be run as an actual business, it too will suffer the same fate.

 

The Lemon Tree was also heavily reliant on Scottish Arts Council funding and with that comes restrictions on what you're supposed to do in your arts venue (sadly, these restricted activities are usually of the type that LOSES money........typical). Anyway, my understanding is that the Scottish Arts Council withdrew their funding last year and problems have been spiralling ever since. Staffing problems have also resulted in poor promotion of events = poor attendance = further up turd creek

 

:-( Sad day.

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Aye its sad but oh well....

 

Harsh on the 50 staff who have lost their jobs 3 weeks before Xmas, but business is business....

 

The LT was heavily funded, but it just wasn't commercially viable and basically never has been. They were offered a deal involving a loan from the council, after a healthy chunk of funding was stopped, however, unsurprisingly, no-one was willing to take that risk!!

 

It was voluntary liquidation, so its gone. Bye bye.

 

onwards and upwards.....

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A great shame, It'll be a big miss ..

 

It does beg the question .. if a "mid range" arts venue can't sustain itself in Aberdeen ..

 

What chance does the Mareel have .. :shock:

 

You forget - Mareel is subsidised by the council, so it doesn't NEED to sustain itself...

 

I rest my case ... :?

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Unfortunately it had been going down hill for a long time. No longer a big student hang out. It seemed to a place for the die hards, even the food had become dire. The board had been mismanaging the place for years, don't blame them for not accepting the council package though, seen simmiar ones from ACC before, I've resigned before being held to one.

Will definately miss the studio theatre. Not really a similar suitable space anywhere else.

Just Wondering what they'll do to st Kitts now.

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Here's a message from a myspace bulletin from The Lemon Tree

 

www.savethelemontree.org

info@savethelemontree.org

 

The Scottish Arts Council last year cut its annual funding which totalled £800,000 for the period of 2002-2006. We argue that the £150,000 debt the organisation now owes can be seen as a direct knock-on effect of this. It's a popular misconception that the Lemon Tree was a commercially run music venue - it was a charitable arts organisation encompassing a music, theatre, kids theatre, development, comedy and dance programme. It was the very structure of it being a charitable organisation that it would always be dependent on external support. On 4th December, the Council retracted all of its funding and instead offered a loan which would leave voluntary Board members liable for £25,000 each. It was the Board's decision that the Lemon Tree could not continue under these circumstances. Today, Local government have been lobbying the council to support the arts and have criticised them for withdrawing their funding to the Lemon Tree. In response to this £150,000 debt, the Board were last month seriously rethinking the organisation of the Lemon Tree.

 

Please show your support! Write to the newspapers and tell them what the venue meant to you.. bands, theatre/dance groups, comedians especially! Any large donations (made through the website) will receive mass publicity and acknowledgement. And if you're in a band, please help us by offering to play at our fundraiser gig. info@savethelemontree.org

 

www.savethelemontree.org

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