Tower Arts Centre – bad news

Bad news on the Tower last Friday as you can see from the following news report:

[MEDIA=10]

Despite Ken Thornber being forced to wriggle on the issue of rapidly increasing head office costs in Recreation and Heritage (because the Tower is being cut to fund head office costs – not adult social care); despite his officers being forced to admit that the ‘evening programme fund’ proposal is completely half-baked; despite his refusal to even address Alex Hoare’s outstanding speech on how John Tellett and the Tower Arts Centre have nurtured arts in Winchester – and the critical role of artistic direction in a successful arts centre; and despite his failure to address almost any of the points raised by Jan Moring, Ken Thornber decided to go ahead with the paper proposed to him and transfer the Tower to Kings’ School, slash local arts funding, and set up a tiny ‘figleaf fund’ – supposedly to support the evening arts programme in Winchester.

It’s frustrating. It’s infuriating. And it’s tragic to know that so much of the work of John Tellett and his team will come to an end this April.

The ‘Save Tower Arts’ campaign tried everything. I and my Liberal Democrat colleagues tried everything. The Lib Dem controlled Town Forum signed up to put money into the project. We were regularly talking to our local Conservative opposite numbers, asking them to do whatever it took to save the Tower. And we were more than happy for them to take the credit for it, just as long as the Tower was saved as an arts centre.

But it was not to be.

The infuriating thing is that the failure to save the Tower is not due to financial crisis. It’s due to lack of political will and lack of political vision.

The last few months have been a farce. The Conservatives have organised a consultation – and then refused to listen to it. They’ve asked for a report into different options – and then ignored it. They’ve said that they need more details of their preferred option – and then decided to proceed anyway when they don’t got them.

This goes beyond party politics. Ultimately it’s a question of competence and commitment to the arts.

We’re not giving up just yet. There’s a very small chance that we can stop the current proposal. We certainly need to try and improve it. However we can’t deny that last Friday’s decision is a very heavy blow.

Here’s the speech I made at Ken Thornber’s decision day:

Thank you for giving us extra time to speak today

There are only a few minutes left, so I will if I may focus on one issue

The proposed plan for an evening programme

The issue is this: it doesn’t add up – financially or organisationally

The proposal is to take the dramatically reduced funds allocated to the Tower – and spread them across the whole of Winchester

It sets no meaningful objectives

No clarity of accountability, management and leadership
No plan for staffing

It doesn’t answer basic questions as to how an evening programme at the Tower – or anywhere else will function:

  • Who will promote the events?
  • Who will sell tickets?
  • Who will booking artists?
  • Who, in each venue, and especially the Tower, will be responsible for the audience and ensuring that everything runs smoothly on the night?

It’s based on a myth

Most of the programming at The Tower cannot simply be moved to the Theatre Royal, Discovery Centre, Railway Inn or any other venue in Winchester.

Taking the Discovery Centre, let’s remember the following statement from the consultant’s report:

it cannot be a replacement for the Tower performance space

There’s another statement I’d like to recall from the original consultants report:

The Tower is run efficiently and there are no significant opportunities to reduce costs whilst continuing to offer the current mix of participation and performance programming

This proposal is based on the unsubstantiated assumption that a meaningful evening programme for Winchester can delivered:

  • With less money
  • With dramatically reduced staffing
  • Spread across more venues

This plan cuts the funding for the arts in Winchester by up to £70k

It cuts the staffing below the levels needed to run the programme

In its current form, this isn’t an alternative programme – it’s a political figleaf.

Now I understand the financial pressures.

But I’d like to make one thing very clear.

You are not being asked to cut the Tower to find adult social care.

You are being asked to cut frontline spending on the arts, to fund a dramatic increase in spending on head office staff.

It is a classic warning sign when central budgets are expanding at the expense of front line activity.

Sadly this is the case in recreation and heritage.

We hear a lot about the need to find savings to pay for adult social care.

So it’s disappointing to see the budget for Recreation & Heritage’s policy development initiatives increase by £115k over the last two years and the budget for the Recreation & Heritage’s Director & Business Development by £133k at the same time as we are discussing cutting the Tower by £70k.

Given a choice, I would like to see us cutting the amount we pay people to sit in the Castle and write arts policy, rather than slashing the Tower Arts budget and get rid of people who are actually on the front line delivering the arts to local people.

Ultimately this is a request for vision and ambition for the arts in Winchester and Hampshire

Winchester is set to grow faster than the rest of Hampshire

The arts accounts for 15% of the South East’s economy – and are the fastest growing sector of the economy

Winchester has a university specialising in dance and drama – and one of the best art schools in the UK

We do not yet have – and we need – an artistic infrastructure to match

We may be the 2nd best place to live in the UK, but we came 95th for lifestyle, arts and culture.

This gap. This failure was backed up your own survey.

The best way to improve this proposal would be to recognise the vital creative role that the Tower plays and continue funding at current levels for three years – and giving enough time to find the alternative sources of funding that enable the Tower to continue to thrive as an arts centre – as you have with other arts centres including the one in your own division. [Ken Thornber shook his head]. Sorry. In the division next to yours.

The second best option would be to continue funding for one year.

If, regrettably, you are not to be persuaded about the merits of delaying transfer to the school, I think you deserve, the Tower deserves and the people of Hampshire deserve a more robust recommendation for the evening programme – specifically including:

First: a higher financial contribution to the Tower to get the overall spending and staffing to current levels – at least for a year – the schools funding may allow for less than £70k spending – but the goal should be to reach this year’s levels

Secondly: Focus of the funds available on the Tower exclusively – not least because this is what has been agreed with at least one of your funding partners.

Finally: A clear staffing, organisation and governance plan that brings together the Tower’s activities – both evening and daytime – which includes community involvement and clear identification of a role with responsibility for artistic direction of the Tower’s programme

In the last few months

Thousands of people have signed petitions

Hundreds of people packed the Winchester Guildhall, answered surveys and written to you and your colleagues in person

You’ve heard from artists. And you’ve heard from members of the public.

Almost all of them want you to save the Tower as an Arts Centre – as a centre where art education, art creation and art performance come together in a coordinated artistic programme.

The Tower is a unique artistic and creative institution within a city and a county – for whom the arts are growing ever more important.

And in the next few minutes, we could be about to lose it.

We need to be clear. The proposal on the table marks the end of the Tower as an arts centre

You showed yourself willing to listen to reasoned argument back in July – that’s why we are sitting here today – and that is to your credit.

Please do so again.

And please… save the Tower.

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