Council stalls on St Mary-in-the-Castle's future

The council refused to be drawn into predicting what would happen to the stricken former arts centre before their experts deliver their findings to cabinet on January 5.

But a despondent atmosphere prevailed during a progress meeting at the venue last Thursday which was most notable for those who did not appear.

The meeting attracted an audience of less than 70, whilst facilitator and keynote speaker Ian Ross '“ who is currently working with experts on sustainable models for the venue '“ pulled out due to work commitments the previous day.

Speaking in his absence, deputy council leader Jay Kramer refused to offer assurances over plans for the venue, which was handed over to the council by the Friends of St Mary-in-the-Castle as it closed as an arts centre last year.

She said: "I'm not in a position right now to say what's going to happen in future. Our experts are looking at the future of St Mary-in-the-Castle in conjunction with Ian Ross.

"In terms of bookings, there have been 121 public events here and they have ranged from live music and conferences, to workshops. We haven't had as many bookings as we'd like as we have targets of bookings we need to break even financially.

"I want to assure all of you that we want St Mary-in-the-Castle to continue and a lot of effort has gone into trying to achieve that."

The council's experts are examining whether the venue is "sustainable" if used solely as a community arts centre, or whether it would be necessary for it to operate as a conference and educational facility for half of the year.

Jay Kramer said: "The people we have in now are looking at models to see if they are workable as business plans for St Mary-in-the-Castle. We will have to make hard decisions on January 5, and I can't foresee what they're going to be just yet.

"It would be wrong of me to give a commitment. I've fully supported keeping the venue open until the end of March. But it would be irresponsible of me to pledge money without knowing what we were spending it on."

But audience member Nina Blanch said: "It does seem to me to be a very handy way to dig the grave of St Mary-in-the-Castle before it's even been given a chance. It seems like an in-built cop-out by those in charge of its future.

"Those of us involved with St Mary-in-the-Castle have always believed it could be a thriving arts centre, which is quite different to a sustainable one. We're not begging here '“ this is something that could actually thrive and succeed."

And members of the St Mary-in-the-Castle friends, a volunteer organisation who supply ushers and staff for the venue, called for more advertising to keep the venue afloat. Lorna Judge, volunteer co-ordinator for St Mary-in-the-Castle and member of the St Mary-in-the-Castle friends, said: "People still ask me where St Mary-in-the-Castle is. It's being renovated with public money. There's no other place in the world that looks like this in terms of architecture or acoustics but there's not a single poster saying what's on."

Roger Sweetman, chairman of the Friends of St Mary-in-the-Castle for eight years, said: "If this venue was breaking even, you'd have every arts centre in the country asking how they did it. With a little subsidy you'd have a great community arts centre."

p The St Mary-in-the-Castle Friends has been formed to ensure the continued promotion of the venue as a community arts centre. For more information, call 442601.