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Post by maggiem on Aug 30, 2023 13:51:36 GMT
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Post by Jan on Aug 30, 2023 14:18:28 GMT
If the local council can find £24m for a new theatre why couldn't they find £600k a year to replace the lost ACE funding for the next 40 years?
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1,970 posts
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Post by sf on Aug 30, 2023 20:13:13 GMT
If the local council can find £24m for a new theatre why couldn't they find £600k a year to replace the lost ACE funding for the next 40 years? Because the Coliseum building on Fairbottom Street was no longer fit for purpose, and needed to be replaced. It's needed to be replaced for years, and this is not the first plan for a new home for the Coliseum. And I assume the cost of the new building is being budgeted as part of the much wider regeneration programme that is in progress across Oldham town centre, which will be paid for by releasing various sites (including the current Civic Centre buildings) for redevelopment, whereas the £600k/year would have had to come out of the council's regular operating budget, where they aren't going to be able to find that kind of money. |
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Post by Jan on Aug 31, 2023 12:39:06 GMT
If the local council can find £24m for a new theatre why couldn't they find £600k a year to replace the lost ACE funding for the next 40 years? Because the Coliseum building on Fairbottom Street was no longer fit for purpose, and needed to be replaced. It's needed to be replaced for years, and this is not the first plan for a new home for the Coliseum. And I assume the cost of the new building is being budgeted as part of the much wider regeneration programme that is in progress across Oldham town centre, which will be paid for by releasing various sites (including the current Civic Centre buildings) for redevelopment, whereas the £600k/year would have had to come out of the council's regular operating budget, where they aren't going to be able to find that kind of money. Of course they are still going to have to find £600k/year if they ever want the new theatre to actually operate successfully. It seems to be the case that theatres can fairly easily find funding for capital projects (new foyers for example) but not for their operating budget. |
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Post by Jon on Aug 31, 2023 12:48:11 GMT
It could be the case that ACE and Oldham Council don't want the current trustees to run the new venue.
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Post by sf on Aug 31, 2023 18:26:42 GMT
Oldham Council has ACE money to support cultural activity in Oldham - yes, roughly £600k/year, and yes, that's basically the Coliseum's ACE funding package - and yes, I think a major part of the issue was concerns with the Coliseum's governance. A new board was appointed in March, and they will be overseeing the transition to the new venue.
Certainly, as a (fairly recently) former resident of Oldham who grew up there and has been going to the Coliseum (when I lived in the area) since the late 70s, I think it's fair to say that the quality of what they've been doing over the last few years has not always been at the level it was at in the 80s and early 90s. They've programmed a few real stinkers, but so have most producing theatres. I don't have any numbers, but I suspect audience numbers have dropped, possibly fairly significantly. That's not just about the theatre and their programming, it's about the location, because the Fairbottom Street site is in the middle of a rat-run of bars and pubs that has developed a reputation for being rowdy at best and violent at worst, and it's a part of town a lot of people in the Coliseum's core demographics prefer to avoid after dark (and while the new venue is about a three-minute walk away from Fairbottom Street, those issues do not apply there). I think alarm bells started ringing quite loudly when the Coliseum's previous, fairly advanced plans for a new venue (not on the same site as the current plans, but in the same part of town) fell through a few years ago, because that project was very close to beginning construction when it folded. I'm sure there are things going on under the radar that haven't been made public - but yes, it is clear that ACE and OMBC did not want *the previous* board of trustees to continue running the theatre.
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Post by david on Jul 8, 2024 20:24:10 GMT
Some good news about the OC - BBC reporting that the venue is getting some money (£10m) for a refurb rather than getting a new venue in the town. Hopefully reopening for Christmas 2025. I am really happy about this. A lovely venue and had some really nice trips there over recent years.
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1,970 posts
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Post by sf on Jul 9, 2024 21:15:03 GMT
A new theatre - though not the new theatre that was proposed - would be better, but £10 million should go a long way towards sorting out the biggest issues with the building (let's hope they install less excruciatingly uncomfortable seats in the circle). While it's right in the centre of town, the location is still potentially a problem, though I assume the town centre regeneration project will at least attempt to clear up Yorkshire Street a bit.
Still, this is good news. The next step, though, is who is going to run it. The panto aside - they've long been known for doing some of the best pantos in the north-west - for the last few years before it closed the theatre wasn't exactly on an artistic high. But it's a massive asset for Oldham, and they've always done wonderful outreach work, and they're an important point of entry to the arts in a town that has a lot of problems. As someone who grew up there, and who learned to love theatre mostly at the Coliseum, I'm cautiously optimistic.
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