peeriebryan

^ Some good points raised above, and all noted We're planning to show live feeds from events and festivals taking place out with Shetland, and broadcast events taking place in Mareel. The technical infrastructure to capture/show such events will be built into Mareel and there are many options to communicate with the outside world. The new fibre optic link should be on stream by December to which Mareel will be connected and there are facilities for outside broadcast units from TV stations to 'plumb in' to Mareel's infrastructure What Shetland Arts does with public money is well documented and the information is freely available. You're asking me to discuss my colleagues private lives and businesses, which I'm not prepared to do. If you want to talk to my colleagues, as ever, feel free to get in touch - 01595 743 843

I missed your post earlier, but no, the post(s) are still to be filled Skaterboy, pick up the phone and call me if you want to sort this out - 01595 743 843 - lets not waste each others time with this pointless backing and foreing

^ I'm afraid you've lost me there..... Your last post appears to be rambling, misinformed, generalised axe grinding nonsense What's your point?

I think it is neither appropriate nor constructive for me to discuss my individual colleagues on a forum with an anonymous user, particularly one who has been invited to contact us on numerous occasions As ever, feel free to get in touch - http://www.shetlandarts.org/contact/

seems to be a resounding no, unless you count subsidised ventures a success. As I said, many Shetland Arts staff have run their own businesses, or have been self employed/freelance

Bear in mind that the business plan wasn’t just put together by Shetland Arts – there was, as still is, wide consultation and regular reviews. The business models of many other comparable facilities are taken into account, specialist industry consultants are utilised wherever appropriate and the business plan has been closely scrutinised by a range of organisations, particularly the funders, who don't commit to projects without being confident in the figures Local knowledge has been key throughout the planning and development of Mareel and there is ongoing consultation with a range of local stakeholders, and scheduled meetings take place on a regular basis. These meetings are open to the public and you’re more than welcome to come along. Meetings are advertised in the Shetland Times and on the Shetland Arts website As far as Shetland Arts’ staff go, we run the Garrison and Bonhoga and organise numerous events and festivals throughout the year. Many of the staff also have experience of running festivals, events and venues outwith Shetland, as well as running their own businesses. There’s more detailed info on the website Staff - http://www.shetlandarts.org/about/staff/ Events - http://www.shetlandarts.org/events/ Venues - http://www.shetlandarts.org/venues/ As well as the staff, the Board of Trustees come from a wide range of backgrounds in both the public and private sectors If you want to discuss Mareel’s business plan, feel free to get in touch - http://www.shetlandarts.org/contact

Well said, and congratulations are indeed due. A good chap who deserves recognition for his contributions to the Shetland community, whatever your opinion on his political career. As Spinner72 says, councillors have a life beyond the Town Hall

So you'd "cut the archives" because you don't agree with one person's interpretation of some of the documents? You state that "info" "gets buried" - perhaps you could elaborate? Have visited the archives in order to carry out your own research, only to be thwarted because the member of staff in question has hidden the required documents from you? And what would your "cut" comprise? Close the search room? Skip the documents and records?

Hmm... The Dialect Co-ordinator post is funded by a partnership between LEADER, SIC Schools Service, Shetland Amenity Trust, Shetland ForWirds and Shetland Arts. I'm not sure how you've concluded that the position is at a "much higher cost" than knitting, which cost the SIC around £130,000 a year Bruce Eunson, a broad spoken Shetlander, is the dialect co ordinator - http://www.shetlanddialect.org.uk/dialect-co-ordinator

As has been the case from the outset, and has been discussed many times in this thread, Mareel was designed with the size of Shetland audiences and the capacity of other venues in mind. The Clickimin is too big for most bands (and comedians) in terms of audience numbers, with a capacity up to around 1400. And hiring the hall and kitting it out with staging, PA, lights etc makes it too expensive for most gigs. Larger country halls have a capacity of about 200 - too small for many visiting acts. Hence, Mareel has a standing capacity of around 750 and a seated capacity of around 250, depending on the layout of the stage and seating and the nature of the event. Mareel will also have an in-house PA and lighting system, reducing the cost of putting on gigs considerably. For acts that will draw crowds of 750+, such as Bill Bailey, the Clickimin will still be used. I’m not sure what you’re picking at here, but Bill Bailey wasn’t booked by Shetland Arts and the tickets were sold via the Shetland Box Office at Islesburgh. As an employee of Shetland Arts, I can assure you that we received no preferential treatment. Tickets for all Shetland Arts events are sold via the Box Office and are publicised in the local media and on the Internet - www.shetlandarts.org - www.facebook.com/shetlandarts - www.twitter.com/shetlandarts If you have legitimate concerns about how events are publicised or tickets sold, I'd like to hear them. Yes, all the spaces in Mareel will be available for hire. Get in touch if you want more info - http://www.shetlandarts.org/contact/

Please be aware of a user named CarlosSupport who has sent a Private Message entitled "Take measures immediately!!!!!" to several Shetlink members Please to no measures! The user is a spam monkey and has been squelched Thanks to everyone who got in touch to point out his/her mendacious antics

^ Sorry to hear you didn't get a ticket, but it was also publicised on the Shetland Times website, Bill Bailey's website and Radio Shetland on the day the tickets were put on sale The promoter wanted to make the tickets available straight away through the Box Office so there wasn't time to publicise in advance

www.facebook.com/shetlandarts www.twitter.com/shetlandarts

Over half the tickets have gone, so you'd better be quick! Tickets are £15 from the Shetland Box Office, Islesburgh Community Centre. If you can't get to Islesburgh, you can pay be debit/credit card over the phone - 01595 745 555

Glad to hear everything worked out OK Snow And I agree; hats off to the ambulance crews!

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=nederdale+lerwick+shetland&sll=53.800651,-4.064941&sspn=22.646847,46.977539&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Nederdale,+Lerwick,+Shetland,+Shetland+Islands+ZE1,+United+Kingdom&ll=60.144613,-1.166053&spn=0.009272,0.022938&z=16&iwloc=A&layer=c&cbll=60.144664,-1.165932&panoid=pN2qWBOP2uMHoWl8ywKGkQ&cbp=12,332.05,,0,20.91

I think the Shetland News' use of "overspend" in their headline is questionable as the project is on budget The council report is on the SIC website - http://www.shetland.gov.uk/coins/agenda.asp?meetingid=2858 - number 9 on the agenda - "Mareel, Cinema and Music Venue Sounding Board Feedback Report #9"

sounds like your pleased. Sounds like you are confused.com Dinna go being so silly paulb. Even a quid is too much for him. Icepick, if you're not pleased then why did you use the grinning emoticon? If folk are confused as to the tone of your posts, perhaps you shouldn't end every one of them with the grinning face. Emoticons are there to enhance the meaning of a post, not confuse it

Good points Twerto, and your support for Mareel is noted! As you say Twerto, there needs to be a mix of music provision for young people, and there is a huge variety of youth music opportunities in Shetland; after school music groups, youth club bands, workshops by visiting groups, youth gigs, the exceptional range of volunteer run music festivals, evening classes, summer schools, community music sessions.... and the many young people who receive lessons from friends and family members It is by no means only the "council or education department" that supports music provision in Shetland and the line between volunteers and professionals is often blurred. For example, music teachers run the after school music groups in their own time and most of the 'professionals' involved in music in Shetland also contribute on a voluntary basis and put in hours far in excess of what they are paid for The activities I mentioned above, which all benefit the community in numerous ways, are underpinned by local musician's instrumental skills that are in many cases the result of free professional tuition in schools It boils down to the question of whether the community should collectively support one to one instrument tuition for our young people or leave it to parents to decide if they can afford it or not. In my opinion, it is something the community should support

She also said that other local authorities charge for instrumental tuition. Whilst some do, Orkney and the Western Isles, the two local authorities most comparable to Shetland, do not charge

There's no easy answer to that; in an ideal world young people would get tuition in whatever they want, but we obviously don't live in an ideal world. I do know that many people have campaigned long and hard to introduce and maintain free instrumental tuition in schools, it is of huge benefit to the community (young people's personal and professional development in particular) and strongly supports the curricular work that goes on in the classroom. But it's the age old argument of sport vs. music which I don't think is very helpful and is potentially divisive, so it is with trepidation that I respond to your point. I think most people would agree that sports are well catered for in Shetland (leisure centres, swimming pools, football pitches etc.) but what comparable provision is there for music currently? Country halls? Do young sports people pay for the training they get as part of, say, playing for an under 18s football team? It's like comparing apples and oranges. I'm not aware of anyone thinking that charging for instrument tuition will "kill music in Shetland", but the majority seem to be in agreement that it certainly won't be beneficial. You refer to "someone who is dedicated to what they love", "If someone truly cant afford that and is truly dedicated" and "those who really want to do something" - you seem to have missed the point that it will be the parents, not the students, who will have to decide on whether to pay or not. Just because a child loves music doesn't mean their parent will automatically pay for lessons, even if they can comfortably afford them. I know many young musicians who don’t come from musical households and whose parents might not consider paying the charges. Many children have developed their love of music through the free instrumental tuition; young people may not have the chance to discover and develop their latent passion for music if their parents are put off by paying in the first instance. Equally, some parents may be encouraging children with little or no interest in music to take advantage of the free tuition, but there's no evidence that these parents will withdraw their children when charges are introduced, as many people seem to assume. There's also no evidence that charging will somehow make students more "committed". It may make some parents more likely to encourage students to practice, which is great, but that doesn't equate to a student's commitment. However, parents forcing children to practice scales in their bedroom for an hour every night to make sure they get value from the tuition charges is more likely to put young folk off music. All the opinions expressed and points raised in this thread highlight that some thought should have gone into implications of introducing charges before the decision was made.

About half of Mareel's funding has come from sources out-with Shetland

A group of young musicians have started the "Keep Instrumental Tuition Free in Shetland" campaign in opposition to the charges Facebook group - www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=307887327899 Online petition - http://www.gopetition.co.uk/online/34188.html Downloadable petition form - http://www.mediafire.com/?zmlgmnmnzqi

^ that may well be the case as there are indeed waiting lists for many instruments I think you raise an important point with "those not able or willing to pay", which could mean that future provision will be dictated by the free market, rather than the availability of tutors. It would certainly be a shift in the current philosophy of instrumental tuition

^ good points. I think it highlights that fact that there should have been more research, or a least thought, put into it before the decision was made