Ayr Gaiety Theatre Update ~ April 2011
To read the statement by the former chairman of the Gaiety Partnership group (Iain Brown), please follow this LINK
To read the response from the new partnership chairman, please follow this LINK
Further difficulties have arisen with the project to re-open Ayr Gaiety Theatre as the gap between the Local Authority and the Ayr Gaiety Partnership becomes ever wider. It appears that hopes of re-opening the theatre later this year a have been dashed after councillors ordered even more cash to be spent on reports.
The Ayr Gaiety Partnership, which has been tasked with re-developing the theatre, was given the news on Tuesday; South Ayrshire Council has agreed to spend £29,400 on new design reports – which the partnership has already provided free of charge. And the council is putting theatre improvement works back out to tender, which will lead to further delays of up to a year.
The partnership’s design plans for a new cafe/bar, box office and arts centre were unveiled last year. It has submitted plans and is now seeking planning permission for changes to the listed building and the recent additions. The partnership also has a contractor ready to start work. But the desire to seek 'best value' for the work is thought to have ended any realistic chance of the Gaiety being open in 2011.
Fears are now growing that key members of the partnership, which has raised thousands to save the theatre, will now walk away from the project. The group has faced mounting criticism this week in the wake of misleading speculation, which suggested the partnership wanted to run the theatre as an arts centre.
There has been criticism from Iain Gordon, general manager at the Pavilion Theatre in Glasgow, claimed: “It is time to stop this now before it costs the council even more money and before the people of Ayrshire are left with nothing. The time is right to seek professional advice for this project and to stop wasting public money on the Ayr Gaiety Partnership Ltd who seem to have no proper plan on taking the Gaiety forward and seem to change their mind at every turn.”
But partnership director Iain Brown insists his team has only ever wanted one thing. He said: “The Ayr Gaiety Partnership has one aim and one aim only. We want to re-open the best wee theatre in Scotland. The first phase has to be the re-opening of the cafe/bar, arts centre, workshops and box office, for which the money is available. “The second phase must wait until the council provides the partnership with keys and a lease. At that point, the Big Lottery and Creative Scotland will consider us for a major grant.”
Design team, The McLennan Partnership, will now begin work on drawing up plans for the cafe/bar, arts centre and box office. And council chiefs insist that the decision taken at a full council meeting on Tuesday is a step in the right direction.
The council has spent more than £250,000 on consultants for the Gaiety in recent years. However, they insist that the latest decision is a legal requirement.
(Information based on an article in the Ayrshire Post, 1st April 2011)
Following the council decision, Iain Brown founder chairman of the Ayr Gaiety partnership resigned from his post. Over the past year 6 members of the board have tendered their resignations. Iain Brown has issued a statement that was published in the Ayrshire Post. The new partnership chairman, ian Welsh, is confident that the project will be completed and that the theatre might reopen this year.
Ayr Gaiety Theatre Update ~ March 2011
The Ayr Gaiety Partnership have applied to South Ayrshire council for planning permission to undertake work on the interior and exterior of the Gaiety Theatre. Some of the architect's drawings and the planning documents are available on line at the link below.
One of the partnership members will be present at the executive committee meeting of Ayr Arts Guild at the end of March.
Ian Welsh, Chair of the Ayr Gaiety Partnership will address this meeting regarding progress at the Gaiety Theatre.
Ayr Arts Guild Meeting
Loudoun Hall
Ayr
28th March 2011
7.30pm
All members welcome
For further information, please follow this LINK
18/03/2011
Ayr Gaiety Theatre Update ~ October 2010
At a meeting of South Ayrshire Council
on 7th October, 2010, a paper relating to the future management of the
Gaiety Theatre was considered and approved.
The following note, by
Susan Porteous, has been prepared for Ayr Arts Guild members. It
is reproduced with the Guild and the author's agreement.
Many of you will already know of the Council Meeting on 7 October at
which a paper on the Gaiety was presented. The public gallery was full
(standing room only) with supporters of the Gaiety and the item was
therefore brought forward from number 18 to number 3, directly after
the sederunt There were some good questions put by various councillors
and the report was accepted unanimously with the addition of early
opening of a box office as well as the cafe/bar at the theatre.
For those of you who were not at the council meeting or have not read
the report, which is available on line ( www.south-ayrshire.gov.uk/committees
and take it from there) or do not have internet access I will try to
summarise the 3 pages.
The Corporate Management Team wish the Gaiety to become a high quality
and desirable venue for a wide range of regular world class performances.
They see it as a community resource and a centre of excellence for education
and training. The venue will provide performance and display space for
local arts organisations and community groups. It will also link to the
University of the West of Scotland (UWS) to help reinforce Ayr's status
as a university town.
A Gaiety Strategic Steering Group is being set up to support the work
of the Ayr Gaiety Partnership (AGP) - it will include elected members
and officers of South Ayrshire Council, the AGP, UWS and representatives
from local arts organisations and community groups. It will have an advisory
and mentoring role, driving creativity but without any power of direction
or control over AGP. One of the possibilities which may be investigated
is the creation of a Community Benefit Society where the partnership
can seek to issue shares to the community. This should help promote ownership
and sense of public duty and pride in the local community.
The paper also recommends that the Council should enter into a contractual
relationship with the AGP to negotiate a long lease (20 years was suggested
at the meeting) or, if required for funding purposes, a transfer of the
Gaiety building. The long lease/transfer would enable the AGP to explore
other funding options. Proposed details of the lease will be brought
back to the Council for endorsement.
The business case put by the AGP is viewed by the council officers as
not currently robust enough in terms of commercial sustainability and
that further capacity and expertise is required. The lack of experienced
theatre management was a case in point.
Regarding immediate Council funding, a repayable loan of up to £300,000
was approved and the meeting also agreed to the bringing forward of the
£500,000 commitment from the capital programme in 2011/2012 to the current
year, to allow the refurbishment of the building to reach a stage where
the cafe/bar area can be reopened. As mentioned above the reopening of
a box office was also included. There was a passionate plea from Councillor
Little at the meeting for everyone interested in the theatre to do their
bit by patronizing the cafe and attending the theatre when reopened.
We heartily endorse this.
A copy of the document is available from the Local Authority web site. Additionally,
a commentary on the council's theatre management record has appeared
on the internet. A
link to this report is given below (but you should note the Ayrshire
Arts Network cannot accept any responsibility of the views expressed
in that document.)
For further information please follow this LINK
For a copy of the Council report, please follow this LINK
Top
MB 25/10/2010
Is
there a crock of gold for the Gaiety?
Photograph October 2010 ©MBailey
South Ayrshire Arts Partnership
There is still no obvious progress in the formation
of a South Ayrshire Arts Partnership, as part of the cultural strategy.
It is understood that the consultants
have made a report to the Council and that the responses to the
widely distributed questionnaire were overwhelmingly in favour of such
a partnership. However, there are moves to create a new swimming pool and arts and leisure facility in Girvan following the demolition of the baths and Theatre. It is not clear how this development fits into the Arts Strategy. Revenue funding is available for this development.
18/03/2011