THE president of the Friends of St James has appealed to the States to spend more on the arts.
Rodney Benjamin (pictured), who has headed the organisation for two and a half years, emphasised the cultural value of centres such as St James and said it had been run as a ‘shoestring operation’.
Last week saw the 25th anniversary of the former church reopening as an arts centre and Mr Benjamin said it was time for the States to recognise its contribution with a fairer subsidy.
‘The States have not adequately supported St James financially,’ he said, ‘but you can’t pin it on any one individual or body. Now that St James has firmly established itself after 25 years, we’d really like the States to have a complete rethink about longer-term funding.’
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Article posted on 13th July, 2010 - 11.30am
33 Article Comments
Is this really the time to be asking for funding for something like this? St James is a luxury, enjoyed by a few, why should it get any States money at all?
Question – WHAT “contribution”?
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I visited St James recently and it is a high quality establishment that has clearly had a fair amount of investment. If that is what a “shoestring operation” looks like then Mr Benjamin needs to get out more – by all means ask for support but try a little less of the “poor me” sob story please.
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Hospital wards closing down, hiking bus fares by 67%, extra taxes etc etc.
“Oh yeah, I know what we should do”, says one of the muppets at Frossard House, “let’s give a load of money to St James, so that the tiny amount of people who want to go and watch what goes on there don’t have to pay the going rate.”
Lets just hope that not too many of the other muppets agree.
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You can either say St James is a hall that exists for the ‘tiny amount of people’ who can afford the going rate, so we should just put the thumbscrews on until the place eventually closes down. If that’s your approach, I’d say you might as well just close the place now, because there’s just no purpose in running it like that.
Or you can say that it’s for everyone and everyone should have access to facilities and events of the highest quality, in which case its subsidy has to be increased so that access can be widened as broadly as possible. For example there is no reason why, with the right support, every school child in the island could not both see and participate in at least one performance at this venue every year.
The subsidy is about lowering the barriers which mean St James is only for the few. Increasing the subsidy is the way to demolish them.
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ChrisJ
Great idea, increase the subsidy so that every kid can see and participate in at least one performance every year, regardless of whether they want to or not. Whilst we’re at it let’s do the same re the Performing Arts Centre, Castle Cornet, Beau Sejour, and every other venue that is able to stage such events.
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ChrisJ – I see your point however if you ask the majority of people, I’m pretty sure they would rather see investment in essential services like education and health than the odd performance at St James. As a parent, I’d rather my daughter went through a top class education system and had the benefit of a school dental system than watched a few concerts at St James.
Besides, quite frankly the place looks in pretty good nick to me – certainly in better condition than some hospital wards and schools. It’s hardly crying out for a cash injection. There are priorities and I’m afraid St James falls well down the list.
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Phil,
St James is a centre of excellence. Subsidy and compulsion in education are two mechanisms by which society can nurture excellence without elitism. Left to its own devices, excellence becomes available only to the rich and well-connected, or to nobody – what’s the point of that?
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ChrisJ – As you appear to be in favour of a grant for St James, are you able to tell me what “contribution” it makes to the island?
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Eh,
Er, if you mean St James itself, it is a performing venue which has a number of qualities which are not available anywhere else in the Channel Islands – that’s what it contributes.
That seems such an obvious answer, perhaps that’s not what you mean?
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ChrisJ
So is the Indoor Cricket Centre a centre of excellence, so is the Table Tennis Centre, so is the Boxing Club etc etc, how much do you think they get off the States?
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ChrisJ
I’d suggest you do like others have to, ask those actively involved to contribute. Some sports are extremely lucky in that there are individuals who contribute significant amounts to their particular sport/s of choice. With the amount of wealthy individuals interested in the arts (doctors, lawyers, bankers etc etc) I’m sure you’d be able to raise a tidy sum if you asked for donations. Unless of course they just prefer to be seen at these high society events, rather than being willing to put their money where their mouth is, so to speak.
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ChrisJ – it is a performance venue that is a commercial enterprise, tickets are sold, not given away, the space is hired out, I can’t use it to have a party for free. Therefore, why should it receive any States grant? If the venue wants to put on a performance that is free to islanders, THEN let them apply for funding, for that event.
I know of many places that have qualities that are not available anywhere else in the Channel Islands and don’t whine about needing cash. Why do the “arts” always have such a hard-done-by attitude and demand funding? As far as I am concerned, the arts fall a long way behind funding our real needs, such as health and education – if people want the arts, then let them pay for it, I would rather have a room to lie in, cared for by nurses, when I am very ill, than a room to go to listen to a musician in.
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This is exactly the sort of project which attracts Lottery funding in the UK, something which we are excluded from whilst we continue to prevent UK Lottery tickets from being sold here.
Seems to me that if Culture & Leisure cannot obtain States funding to support art, culture and sport, then the sooner we can access UK Lottery grants, the better. Don’t abolish the CI Lottery altogether, but instead hold just 3 megadraws a year on Liberation Day, August Bank Holiday Monday (to attract visitors’ money over the summer) and Christmas, with all profits going to charity.
Also raise the annual tax relief limit for contributions to registered local charities in order to attract more donations from wealthy local residents. Bodies like Friends of St James would then be able to benefit more from charitable donations.
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Eh, Phil,
In the arts world there are already plenty of dedicated volunteers, flush individuals and corporate sponsors who hemorrhage time, money or both for the arts.
The vast majority do it because they believe that the arts are a powerful force for the benefit of society as a whole.
Above all, they want everyone to be able to have what they have: Access to the arts. That doesn’t just mean being able to go and watch a panto, it means having the understanding and appreciation of the arts which they feel gives colour and direction to their lives. It is immensely saddening that many people are denied this opportunity, especially from poorer backgrounds.
Both of you seem to be arguing from a belief that this issue is just a matter of a ‘tiny amount of people’ wanting to have an elite club for themselves to watch whatever it is you think goes on in St James, and get the taxpayer to pay for it.
In reality nothing could be further from the truth.
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ChrisJ – You misunderstand me, would you honestly rather go to St James to see a performance than receive treatment should you get cancer?
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Eh,
I think that’s a false dilemma – there’s no reason why anyone should have to make an either-or choice.
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ChrisJ – If there isn’t enough cash to keep the hospital wards open, have sufficient police officers, have school buildings that aren’t falling down around the students’ ears, then it IS an either / or choice to make.
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“Either or” arguments can be a bit emotive. There was never a choice between the BIC funding and a health service and neither is there a choice between St James and cancer care.
It’s best to argue the general merits of funding of a specific area than make up random comparisons to suit an argument.
You might want to try? Why did we ever have a Performing Arts Centre in the first place; under utilised, expensive to run, expensive to administer and, in my view, a white elephant.
St James is far better utilised than 100% tax funded disaster that is the Performing Arts Centre.
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ChrisJ
My point is this; why should “the arts” be treated more favourably than say sport? And I’m sorry but sport is much, much more poular than “the arts”. Do you have thousands of youngsters taking part each and every weekend?
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Neil Inder,
Hear hear, including (most of) what you say about the Performing Arts Centre – not quite a total white elephant, but certainly a rather disappointing, wrongly sited, badly set up and immensely expensive solution to a problem we didn’t really have. Certainly it was a huge wasted opportunity. The money could have gone a lot further elsewhere.
Phil,
I’ve never said the arts should be treated ‘more favourably’ than sport. What I’ve said is that public funding should be strategically used to break down the barriers which bar people from the arts.
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I strongly favour sport but I can also appreciate the attributes of the arts.
However it has been proven many times that a fit and healthy population, which of course sport plays a huge role in, prevents obesity and all of the implications which follow from obesity. That in turn results in lower public health and disability bills for the taxpayer to fund. The arts are a financial outgoing with no obvious financial returns, whereas sport does generate long-term financial benefits for the island. For that reason it would seem logical for the States to prioritise government spending on sports facilities ahead of the arts when money is tight.
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Neil Inder – You make a good point, however I still don’t see why the arts should be funded in any way, shape or form, when we are struggling to fund the real necessities, and therefore, while it may not be, my either / or point SHOULD be a valid one.
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Neil I. We could do with a survey to find out just how many islanders actually use/visit this facility, and how many times in a year they do so….
the results could be very telling…..!!
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Eh,
Just for the sake of debate. Just because we are told we don’t have the money for something it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s true.
We might well have the money for many things if we were more efficient; or we had a tax strategy in place that dealt with our deficit.
Of the former the SOG are making progress in the Financial Transformation Programme and of the latter I believe Charles Parkinson has stated that there will be an announcement of tax changes; at the end of the year?
Things like the arts and paying for x-rays are the easy wins; whether they are the right wins is up for debate.
Expensive agency nurses, generous child benefits, primary school rationalisation, document duty avoidance, cliff rescue teams in the police, ambulance and fire service, rationalising the emergency call centres into one place, rationalising the maintenance departments of various departments (questioning why the same departmetns are competing with private enterprise while having the safety net of public funding), or even asking the unthinkable as to why Guernsey support the darling of the seas the Flying Christine which is, in my view, a Sark Ambulance: Does Sark contribute tax to Geurnsey? – I could go on.
There are a myriad of areas that Guernsey could look at. Why don’t we, because soft services are easier?
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David,
I’m not a great fan of pure ROI arguments because they usually do not take into account the intrinsic benefit an activity. Even so, you are wrong to imply that the arts cannot generate a financial return through its instrumental benefits.
El Sistema in Venezuela produces a ’social dividend’ of $1.68 for every dollar invested according to studies by the Inter-American Development Bank, which is loaning Venezuela the money to pay for it. I’m sorry I can’t find a better source for that figure than the Spectator – see http://www.spectator.co.uk/arts-and-culture/music/6083988/lesson-from-venezuela.thtml – but assuming it’s correct, that’s about the clearest evidence of a return you can get.
Your implication that public sports investment produces financial returns might be true, but there’s a lot of devil in the detail of the argument you are making – you’d have to show that public sports investment means greater participation in sport amongst certain groups, that greater participation in sport amongst those groups means better fitness for those groups, and that better fitness of those groups means financial return to the taxpayer making the investment.
As your final trick, you’d have to show that the marginal return of increasing sport investment is greater than the loss of return resulting from reducing arts funding by the same amount.
Homework for the weekend I suppose!
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ChrisJ
The funding that you seek would result in the arts being treated more favourably than sport, that’s the simple reality of the situation.
I have nothing against the arts, but think it should be a case of the user pays, as is the case with most other activities.
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If I want art, I’ll go to the Doghouse or Pieces. Or many of the other fine establishments on the island showcasing artistic talent.
Horses for courses, why should 1 persons art be funded, and another persons art wholly revenue generating.
I also attended an art exhibition by a talented Guernsey aritst, at Oatlands of all places!
Art is already not the sole preserve of the rich, that is, if you are quite happy to “slum it”!
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Neil,
Unfortunately, because of the inadequate policy planning process under which we are forcing ourselves to operate at present, there are many “either or” questions facing the States.
Last September there was a straight choice between hosting the British-Irish Council conference or introducing a comprehensive bowel cancer screening programme in 2010.
At the same time there was a straight choice between having a Tribunal of Inquiry into the airport fire fighters’ dispute or implementing the domestic abuse strategy.
There will be similarly “x versus y” choices every year unless the States a) reforms its policy planning process, and b) addresses its structural deficit of approximately £40m per year.
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Absolutely excellent point Steve-O.
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Neil,,,,,the Flying Christine is a St Johns Ambulance…. and Sark does alot of fund raising for the Christine,, and we are charged in the event of using her.. and Guernsey people would soon raise a stink if they were over here and had an accident, and had to wait till the next scheduled boat to leave before the could be evacutaed to hospital,,,I fail to see why you would bring her it to it,,, as St James and it wanting funding is not of any intrest to Sark people, its not like we come over to use it,,,,
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Local Res,
I had a read up on the service, and the marine ambulance doesn’t form part of the taxpayer funding of the SJA – you are indeed correct. Apologies, one wrong out of 20 ain’t bad.
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There we go then, problem solved, fund raising for St James, just like the Flying Christine and then people who want to give money can, and rest of us can choose our own charities.
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Steve-O. Spot on.
In no way shape or form have I ever found myself or any of my cohorts arranging a night out at St James for a knees up/spot of choral singing/night of chamber music/art exhibition…
on the other hand, the finance industry sponsored/invited la-di-da’s seem to frequent it quite regularly, and seem to love it (good on em, I say)…..
so let them fund it.
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