grift

BBC Scotland - Scottish islands wind power subsidy confirmed

I was under the impression that the Charitable Trust fund Shetland Arts but were/are specific in not providing funding for Mareel's operation. I can't recall where I picked up on that. Does anyone know if that's the case?

I agree that this is an important point and a question worth asking in both a local and national context. It seems odd that Shetland is one of the most well-off local authorities in the UK with one of the richest musical heritages yet we don't provide revenue funding for our local 'arts centre'. We do however provide £millions of annual revenue support to a range of museums and leisure centres. I can't think of any other local authority which doesn't provide revenue funding for at least one arts centre. I'll join Symbister in asking Shetlink users for their opinions on that point.

Weel done to all involved! It inspired me to get the old pushbike out of the shed. Now where's the WD40....

Fusion you're accusing Shetland Arts of deception when reporting how successful shows have been. Perhaps you can back it up with some evidence beyond 'you often see press releases' so we can discuss specifics? I haven't seen press releases misrepresenting shows I've been at. Have you? Some general points not drected at anyone in particular. I for one at least am very happy that Mareel caters for a wide range of tastes beyond (but definitely still including) blockbuster films and populist music. In my experience of attending films and music events claims that Mareel only benefits a select 'arty farty minority' are absolute nonsense. Before bandying around claims of mismanagement and calling for resignations let's not forget that there are ongoing legal actions between client and contractor. The building hasn't been open a year and according to reporst this week cinema attendances are twice as high as predicted. To my mind that bodes well particularly considering the doom mongers who predicted abject revenue failure from the get-go. I hope the deal with the council sorts out the capital build side of things and that the revenue is self supporting. I guess we'll just have to wait and see. Well said Symbister.

I'm sure the other capital investors would have had something to say about that.

From my understanding, the 1,100,000 includes the 600,000 'bridging facility', not 'aditional to'

Note that this is normal for all cinemas, not just Mareel. It's always a trade off between how early you get the latest films, and flexibility with how and when they are shown. Compared to similar cinema's south, the variety avaliable here is excellent. So it seems, they would be better getting all films 1 week late than being landed with a film for 2 weeks, blocking the main screen. As long as they are up front with the policy and tell folk, we would be ok with that. That would give them more choice, and a better service to us. Then a gold/silver card might be worth getting. Taken from their website - http://www.mareel.org/watch/cinema-information/other-questions/ Why do you only show some films on their UK release date but not others? At Mareel, we aim to offer a variety of films for all tastes. Most of the time we will show films a few weeks after their official UK release dates because this is when distributors are willing to be flexible about how many times a film shows each day. This allows us to put on five or six films a week. With big blockbusters the distributors insist that we show the films virtually exclusively on Screen 1 for one, and sometimes two, full weeks in order to get them on the release date, as is the case with all the other cinemas in the UK. Sometimes we will do this, and sometimes we won't, depending on audience demand. The programming process is a collaboration between ourselves and City Screen, owners of the Picturehouse chain of cinemas, who do their very best to get us what we ask for, but ultimately, if we want a film on its release date, we have to accept the terms set by the distribution companies. The info is freely available. It's on the website, they regularly answer questions about it on Facebook and I've heard the staff explaining it to customers. I can't see hoe they could make it more freely available! Can't please all the people all of the time etc

pb92, I think you missed this rather important point: To continue the analogy, if I bought a TV from Tesco, it broke down and the manufacturer advised me to take it to the Coop but they wouldn't/couldn't look at it, I'd be a bit miffed. Good on the rep of George Robertson's for coming on and clarifying the situation. I've always had great service from them over the years and their pricing is extremely competitive.

Toby, you might stand a better chance of engaging folk in conversation if you were to provide some specifics, and some evidence. Shetland is a fishing community and there's a lot of folk who are very knowledgable about fish stocks and marine conservation who use these forums - certainly more knowledgable, and with more first hand experience, than High Fernly Whatshisface. Persoanally, I originally supported the principle of the Fish Fight but I have since withdrawn my support due to the skewed statistics and sensationalist scaremongering.

I had a problem paying with my card on the Box Office website once but a phonecall soon had that sorted (don't know what the problem was, but it's never happened again). I also saved time by paying with my card over the phone at the time. Very straightforward and I was pleased with the level of customer service. I disagree. They noted a problem, resolved it and posted a message on the website saying so. "Maestro Payments Now Accepted We are happy to say that issues with accepting Maestro cards as a form of payment has now been resolved. Thank you for your patience whilst we got this fixed. Shetland Box Office 12.02.13" Did you give them a call or otherwise get in touch? Even if they do monitor this topic they'd have no way of getting in touch with you unless you posted your contact info on Shetlink Sheesh Ghostrider, a pretty damning set of suppositions. Who said that the Box Office was trying to 'pass the buck'??? The post on their website says there was a problem and it was fixed. I'm not having a go at anybody, but I do find the level of complaints on here and Facebook about Mareel, rather than contacting Mareel directly (or posting on Mareel's facebook page), to be very tiresome and saddening (that's why I so regularly take the bait and respond here!). I've had a couple of minor complaints, which I have made to staff at the time, and I'm pleased to say the complaints were dealt with quickly and courteously (in fact, on both occasions staff thanked me for pointing the issues out).

Absolutely it is. Remember when they used the told us that Shetland couldn't have a cinema because Health and safety had deemed the location to the fuel depot too dangerous? That was an excuse to put pressure on the depot to move. When it didn't work, they went ahead and built their own glass palace between the two! Just using that as an example. Not trying to get off topic. Not stricktly true. Scottish Oils made alterations to the storage tanks at the depot to comply with H&S recommendations, principally for the construction of Mareel, which allowed further developments at North Ness (and a wider radius in LK) within H&S recommendations.

I actually laughed out loud when I read that!

As far as I understand, you still need to hire in all the equipment and technicians for the legion and clickimin. I believe the sound system for the clickimin has to be hired from south too. To be honest, £1200 doesn't sound unreasonable if that does indeed include all the equipment and staff. The promoter would still have all the aditional expenses such as band fees and travel, but that would be the case no matter which venue was used.

I don't see how an empty room is costing anything I'm not sure I follow your logic. Surely most events are "one trick ponies". I certainly wouldn't go and see the same band week in week out. Off the top of my head, what about the Abba tribute and Pink Floyd tribute? I would be willing to investigate doing so, and would have already done so. However the dearth of readily available relevant information both before and after completion has been decidedly off-putting on that score. "Contact Us" IMHO is a poor way to try and tempt people to consider hiring it. What info would you be looking for before you make contact? From my understanding, each event is different in terms of onstage requirements, staffing, ticketing etc so I expect hirers would need to discuss all that kind of thing in detail with the management anyway. The constants for any performance in the auditorium, a ballpark average/minimum "bare room" hire charge, max available stage area, whether decibel limits are H & S Regs Workplace limits or a lower limit set by SA, whether using the "in house" fixed sound system is mandatory, whether bar arrangements are negotiable and whether bar profits as result are on a negotiable split etc etc. It's curious that you won't contact Mareel to ask about this, but you'll post your questions anonymously on a forum? Doesn't seem logical to me. Posers is only open two nights a week. Mareel is open 7 nights a week. As I recall the North Star wasn't open every weekend night. Pretty much all of your posts on this subject are wholly negative and based on hearsay, conjecture and 'jungle drums'. You haven't been to the place and you won't contact them with questions or feedback. It is an excellent venue - referring to it as 'reasonably decent' perhaps illustrates your unwillingness to see anything positive about Mareel.