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Warwick Arts Centre entrance | |
SEC's aim is to help to realise the borough's potential as a leisure and cultural destination. To achieve the cultural regeneration of Ealing, SEC believes we need:
A Concert/Conference Hall - an adaptable multi-purpose performance space that can be used for music, dance and literary events, featuring Ealing's own talent as well as professional performances by national and international artists.
A professionally-run programme to attract residents from in and outside the borough
Studios for: dance, recording and practising music, painting and crafts, IT related skills, photography and film, etc.
Flexible rooms for teaching courses (written and spoken literature, TEFL, life skills, etc.) that could also be let as meeting rooms.
Cinema, including a screen for art-house films.
Indoor sports centre and outdoor sports area
Spaces for hire and a wide-ranging programme of day and evening courses to involve all sections of society, but especially young people and the disadvantaged.
To achieve these aims, there needs to be full use of existing facilities in Ealing as well as new build. There are rooms in the Town Hall that could be adapted for music and other activities. However, multi-purpose performance facilities will probably need to be purpose built, so that they can attract a wide range of events and be able to fund themselves.
We believe there is a need for a cultural quarter, as identified in the Tibbalds report, but the key must be an active role for the Council to harness local interests such as Ealing College, Ealing Studios and TVU, as well as commercial businesses such as the Empire cinema, in attracting new funds for a full range of Council-led arts development, including but not limited to restructuring the Town Hall.
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Ealing Arts Centre presents business plan
Ealing Arts Centre Ltd presented the business plan for its project to transform the Town Hall into an Arts and Leisure Centre to Ealing Council's Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 30 September. The Executive summary of the plan is below.
The Committee decided not to recommend the plan to Ealing's Cabinet, but to refer it to a sub-committee to examine some questions further. The full papers for the OSC meeting can be found on the Council web site.
Ealing Arts Centre's (EAC) central goal is to set up a vibrant arts centre at Ealing Town
Hall, whilst the building maintains its principal civic function. Reports commissioned by
Ealing Council and other independent organisations have documented the dearth of
cultural and art facilities in central Ealing. The proposed Town Hall arts centre shall
provide a comprehensive range of affordable, adequate and accessible artistic facilities
and services for the benefit of those who live, work and visit the borough.
EAC is already registered as a company limited by guarantee and is in the process of
becoming a charity. Its founding trustees are long term Ealing residents with extensive
professional, business, artistic and community development competence and
experience. They have successfully mobilised initial resources to develop the project
plan and create meaningful partnerships with potential clients and project collaborators.
The arts centre is to be developed in three major phases. This business plan
concentrates on the feasibility and viability of Phase One, comprising setting up of: Arts,
Craft & Dance Studio; Café Gallery; and Music Studio & Multi-Purpose Hall. Phase One
requires EAC accessing about 750 square metres of space at the Town Hall - that being
less than ten percent of the space in the building. The Council will continue to use the
building for civic purposes and also to rent out rooms and halls for general, community
and corporate functions. Phase One needs capital investment of £656,200 to transform
the spaces into high quality facilities - which are then hired on a flexible basis to a wide
and diverse range of individuals, groups and organisations.
EAC has undertaken an exhaustive programme of consultation with stakeholders and
potential clients and partners. This was supplemented with structured market research
and business analyses. In order to demonstrate the level of demand for facilities and
services, a 'pre-booking schedule' was set up to 'pre-book clients' for usage of the dance
and arts studios. Just through accessing the cultural network (without any marketing
exercise), 60% of the capacity of the dance studio (and 30% of the arts studio) has
already been pre-booked for a period of six months. This proof of demand is reinforced
by formal letters of support from major partners such as Thames Valley University and
Tech Music School. These major local partners are interested in making block bookings
for the spaces and facilities of the arts centre.
The budgets indicate that EAC shall be profitable in the second year of operations. After
meeting all of its direct and indirect costs, (including making a proportionate contribution
of £80,000 to the running costs of the Town Hall) EAC shall make a relatively small loss
of £11,000 in the first year. The original loss shall become surpluses of £50,000 and £110,000 in years two and three respectively.
September 2010
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