Wednesday 7th February, 2024
Arts in Sunny Colch is on the agenda when the Colchester City Council Scrutiny Panel next meets at the Town Hall on 13th February.
We’re talking Firstsite, the Mercury and Colchester Arts Centre. And to be more precise, the level of funding the Council provides, and the value provided for residents in return.
Art or arse?
You can’t put a price on art.
Unless you live in Suffolk…
All three art organisations are key to Colchester. They enable the town / city to punch above its weight. They help Colchester to carve out an identity in the East of England as the economy shifts away from production.
Didn’t Marx have something useful to say about that?
You’d be a FOOL to think that City Council funding props up these three key landmark venues. And believe us, there are plenty of FOOLS out there who think the Council throws money at the arts for arts sake.
All three organisations are also commercial operations. They also have to compete for funding from elsewhere, such as the ACE National Portfolio and ECC.
Art was never meant to be a beauty contest, Comrades.
The report adds:
“In October 2021 the Council announced a new funding settlement for the three Strategic Arts Partners from financial year 2023/24, providing the organisations with certainty and continuity.”
Let’s talk numbers:
The Mercury attracts audiences of 100,000+ each year – no mean feat. Outreach at the venue was available for 36,000 people. The estimated spend in the city centre as a consequence of the Mercury is £3m per year.
That’s quite a contribution.
The Arts Centre had its highest audience numbers in 2022/23. A £700k project to update the building was completed in 2021.
Firstsite offers so much more than art. An example is the 21,000 meals provided to young people and their families in need during the school holiday periods. It also has half decent toilets.
Scrutiny takes place with a City Councillor sitting on the Board for each organisation:
Mercury Theatre: Cllr Lyn Barton
Colchester Arts Centre: Cllr Mick Spindler
Firstsite: Cllr Steph Nissan
The City Council has every right to be a critical friend, given the annual funding provided. For 2023/24, this clocks in at:
£168,175 to The Mercury Theatre
£48,175 to Colchester Arts Centre
£97,000 to Firstsite
The Scrutiny Panel next week is asked to:
“Review the performance and programming of each organisation and consider how effectively this supports the Council’s strategic priorities and provides value for money for the funding provided.”
Art is always subjective, natch. But Colchester would be a duller place to live without these three venues.
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