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about the arts and entertainment in Leicester and Leicestershire

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25th November 2010

Does the arts give value for money?

Do we get value for money from the Arts? When times are hard and people do not have much to spend, it is more important than ever that the arts are seen to be good value for money.

During the great depression of the 1920s, the one thing that bucked the trend was entertainment. People escaped from the harsh realities of every day life by going to clubs, pubs and music halls, where they could enjoy themselves and find some relief from the tribulations of worklessness, poverty and low incomes.

People haven't changed that much. They still have a need for entertainment. What has changed of course is how they get it. Even in the poorest homes in this city you will find television sets. If people want to get out of the house and do something a bit more social, there are numerous opportunities available to suit all tastes.

Is art just for posh people? Well fine art or classical art might be but here at Artsin we take a different approach. Our pages reflect an overlap between the arts and entertainment. We do cover fine art but we tend to cover art as entertainment.

We have pages on comedy, popular dance, community arts, music for the masses, festivals and our visual arts pages cover films, photography, video and digital. We might even cover magic, fashion, poetry and children's books. We take a wider view of the arts than most comparable magazines. We try to see the bigger picture.

If you had £20 to spend on a night out, what would you do? See a band? Go for a laugh at a comedy gig? See a show at Curve or De Montfort Hall? You could do any of these things on a budget of £20. If you're unemployed, over 60 or under 16, the chances are you will get a discount ticket. There are also quite a few free events, particularly if you are a fan of live music.

if you want posh art and you can afford it, you have plenty of choices. What's important here is that the arts, as we see them, are available to everyone. If you are from the Asian community, you have lots going on from Bangra to Bollywood. If you are from the African or Caribbean communities, you will not be short of things to do. If you are Polish or from one of the many European groups settled in Leicester, there will be events specific to your cultural interests.

This vibrant, multi-cultural city and county offers its peoples a huge variety of choice. Events of all kinds go on all year round, almost every day of the week, providing something for everyone, no matter what their age, ethnicity, orientation or health status. This is what makes Leicester a great place to live.

We get asked whether arts (broadly defined) should be subsidised from the public purse. We get asked specially whether the 'big' venues, like the De Montfort Hall, Curve or the Phoenix should be subsidised by rate payers.

We say no. There is no need for arts and entertainment venues to be subsidised by tax payers, especially in these financially stringent times. Generally speaking the arts and entertainment should be self-financing.

There is a case for investing in new artists, minority arts, the leading edge of creativity, improvements to access for people with disabilities, projects reaching out to people with mental or physical health issues, the very old, the very poor, the young ... certain specific arts activities should qualify for financial support, where it is difficult or impossible to expect them to be self-financing.

A lot of work is going on to use the arts as a medium for reaching out to disadvantaged or excluded groups. That support should come primarily from charities but there is some case for justifying support from local authorities or the NHS were there are proven benefits both to the target groups (old, young, ill, excluded, at risk) and the public. The well being of individuals, groups and communities can be enhanced by the arts and there is a strong case for supporting these projects with money and other resources.

We do not see a case for justifying public expenditure on 'big' venues. Multi-million pound venues should be self-financing and not underwritten by the tax payer. That is not say that the buildings concerned should be in the private sector. We have already argued the case, in a previous editorial, for social enterprise approaches to running arts venues.

There is probably a stronger case for supporting the smaller venues that are vital to the life of a local community, where building and operating costs are difficult to sustain. Where the benefit to a community is worth every penny of the relatively small budgets they work to.

Big venues should be able pay for themselves. If they can't then they are doing some wrong.

Art and entertainment bring millions of pounds into the local economy. More and more people are coming to Leicester and the county to enjoy the many festivals, events, shows and occasions that are on offer here. Those people contribute to local businesses, hotels, restaurants, bars, taxis ... leisure is a vital part of the local economy.

Should local politicians meddle in the arts? asks Robert Mandell in a recent article in This is Leicestershire. In an outspoken and forthright piece, the one-time music Director of the Haymarket Theatre, argues that Leicester City Council should stop meddling in the arts. The debate continues as to how to find a sustainable future for the Hall that does not involve public subsidy. Politicians are divided on the issue of whether privatisation is the answer.

The City Council's cabinet is to consider a "draft De Montfort Hall business plan", according to The Leicester Mercury. Why? Do politicians think they can run an arts venue? Apparently they do and this lies at the root of the problems facing the DMH, and Curve. If the Council has any control over the future of these venues, there is only thing it should be doing: making sure that properly qualified and experienced managers are running them and then leaving them to get on with their jobs.

All these 'big' venues play a vital role in our local arts scene but none of them if big enough to compete with the high capacity theatres in Birmingham and Nottingham. Leicester politicians have only so far succeeded in putting relatively small capacity venues into the city. In consequence, Leicester fans have to travel outside of the city to get spend their ticket pounds elsewhere.

What Leicester needs is an arena level venue that can offer local people a local choice for big name acts and which could bring much needed revenue into the local economy. Not much chance of getting that in the present climate but as a long term goal, that is, in our view, a serious project.

1st November 2010

Privatise Leicester's Arts Venues

Artsin calls on the City Council to disengage their Arts Venues and put them into the hands of the private sector.

Financial difficulties have confronted nearly all of the Leicester City Council run venues: Phoenix Square, Curve and the De Montfort Hall. The public are being asked to bail out these loss making venues.

We say it is time to call a halt to this and the only long term solution is to place these venues under private sector management.

Social Ownership solution

We think that the best solution is to place these venues in the social sector and turn them into financially independent social enterprises.

We were told that Curve and Phoenix Square are run by independent trusts (Leicester Arts Centre Trust and Leicester Theatre Trust) precisely because 'we believe there are benefits of freeing up arts centres from direct council control.', according to Cllr Patrick Kitterick.

The DeMontfort Hall, subject of a BBC TV news item today, is run by the Council but 'when the idea of handing it over to an Arms Length Management Organisation was investigated about 6 or 7 years ago it didn't stack up as the pension liabilities made the deal unfeasible.', Cllr Kitterick told us.

In the current climate of public funding, the local authority cannot justify spending on Arts Venues. Putting them in the hands of new owners will achieve two things: it will bring fresh new management expertise into the city and it will stem the flow of Tax and Rate payer's subsidies.

Social enterprises were championed by the Labour Government; the new Coalition Government also sees them as the way forward for a host of public services. The UK has a fast growing social economy and Leicester has some of the biggest social enterprise companies in the Midlands.

We need fresh, up to date managers running these flag ship venues

Council Officials are not the best people to run arts and entertainment enterprises. The skills and experience needed to run successful venues are constantly changing. What Leicester needs now is new blood in its arts management teams.

Public ownership is not the right way to run venues. The private sector is flourishing, despite the recession and the UK has one of the best set of arts and entertainment professionals in the world.

In our previous editorial, we asked:

'Given the pressures on the Council's budgets, is there any reason why the key arts venues should continue to be a drain on the public purse?'

Many private sector music and entertainment companies have performed better throughout 2009 and in the current year than other sectors of the economy.

So we re-state our previous position:

We would like to see these key arts venues being transformed into social enterprise companies, with their profits being ploughed back to community benefit.

Back in 2009 we noted that:

'The Minister of State for the East Midlands, Phil Hope MP, is a known champion of social enterprise companies, where profits are fed back into the business rather than into dividends for private investors.'

We know that the current government continues to champion social enterprise - a hybrid of private and public sector business - which has become known as The Social Sector of enterprise.

We stick to our previous position:

'What ever strings are left, that moor the big arts venues to the dock of local government, should be cut and their management should be placed in the hands of experts who know what they are doing. A well run arts venue that is fulfilling a public need/demand, can flourish if properly run by people who have experience in arts management.'

The East Midlands and Leicester in particular is home to some of the most successful social enterprise companies in the UK, involving their stakeholders and service users in what they do.

The private commercial sector sees Leicester as growth area for entertainment. A new multi-million pound concert hall - The O2 Academy - opens later this month. The Academy Music Group would not have come to Leicester if it had not seen the potential of the market for live music here in Leicester.

In October, private investors are opening a new 1,200 capacity venue in the city centre - The Auditorium.

A national venue chain has already opening a new venue in Granby Street - Sub91.

Leicester stands out as a powerhouse for new music and is one of the UK's most prolific cities for the creation of top class bands and singers.

These private sector companies would not have invested in Leicester if they did not see the potential for ticket sales.

Leicester has had several large commercial cinemas for some time and Cinema De Lux was added to the list when the new HighCross centre opened.

The mass market for entertainment is holding up well in the recession. But where does that leave minority arts?

As we argued before:

'Art and entertainment is part of the life blood of our community and plays a part in building and sustaining solid communities and economic growth.'

Popular music, films, dance and theatre are sustainable in Leicester as with most other major UK cities. There is also a vibrant demand for ethnic arts, comedy and new and experimental art forms, if properly marketed.

There is no reason to think that venues cannot attract audiences into shows and screenings for minority and leading edge arts, provided those who choose the line ups have their fingers on the pulse of what people want and if they can market these shows effectively.

Managres of the arts should work together for their collective benefit. The local media can and should play a vital role in letting people know what's on.

As we said before: 'There should be collaboration amongst the venues rather than the present picture of competition and fragmentation. Venue managers and promoters have organised shows in isolation from each other, doing their own thing as it suits them, rather than working in the interests of the whole music community.'

It's time for Leicester to build on the visions that have made the city stand out: The Cultural Quarter, Curve, The Phoenix have added greatly to the reputation of the city and have given us a mix of capital investment of which we can be proud.

The way ahead requires new thinking and new expertise to be brought into Leicester to make better use of these outstanding buildings.

Artsin has played a role in flying the flag of Leicester to the outside world.

Leicester's arts and entertainment venues are rich resources that can provide local people with a superbly staged shows in state of the art complexes. What we need now are new captains on the bridge steering the programmes in new directions.

What will aid that strategy is pulling these venues out of the public sector and freeing them up to operate as successful enterprises, in the private or social sector.

7th April 2010.

The General Election 2010

There has never been a better time to ask questions about the arts of our political leaders. Between now and 6th May, we have a great opportunity to fly the flag for the arts, both nationally and in Leicester/shire.

The politicians want our votes. As fans, followers and consumers of the arts and as artists, we want their support. So, let's ask them 'what are they going to do for us'? Us, the people who produce arts and entertainment and the people who benefit from the what artists give to our society and our community.

Arts in Leicestershire intends to ask questions at the hustings. We want to know, from the main political parties, how they see the arts, what policies they would implement, what support they would give and what commitments they would see their party entering into, where the arts is concerned.

Why is the arts important? In our view the arts is more than just the icing on the cake; it is much more than a luxury. Arts and entertainments of all kinds benefit the economy, the community and society. Art is not a sideline or a marginal add-on: art is something much closer to the well-being and soul of society and to the life blood of our local community

We urge both artists and the public who benefit from the arts, to ask questions of the candidates. Ask them to think about the arts. Ask them to say what their policies are for the arts.

The Artsin blog is where we will post the answers that we get from the hustings. We hope that readers will ask questions of the candidates and post their findings through the comments to the blog postings.

28th October 2009

If Leicester City Council pulls the plug on the Summer Sundae Festival and its Fringe then that is another stab in the back for one of Leicester's biggest assets: Live music. The Council does little enough to help music in this city and to pull the rug from under an up and coming fringe event is disatrous and unacceptable. Roll on the next hustings when we will be able to question prospective members about their policy on music and entertainment. We hope there will be a sea change in policy, leading to a much greater degree of support from the Council for live music and the arts generally.

A huge row has broken out about the De Montfort Hall being £1.4 Million in the Red. By the time CURVE opened it was a staggering £35 million over budget. We didn't see any heads rolling then, because it was the Council's own flagship project.

15th August 2009

Leicester needs a new music venue

For over a year now, ArtsinLeicestershire has been following the tour dates of 20 of the top UK bands. None of them have come to Leicester.

Why do big bands by-pass Leicester? The answer is simple: we don't have suitable venues.

In its hey day, The Charlotte hosted just about every UK band that has got anywhere. The Shed and the Firebug are too small to attract touring bands of any distinction. The Musician is a fine venue and hosts some celebrated artists but is too small.

The Leicester University Venue has seen a succession of big named bands that have played there to sell-out audiences but it's closed now for refurbishment. Maybe when it re-opens later this year, early next year, after a £15m refit, we will see a good programme of bands once more, after the planned 1,700 capacity hall has opened. But it's out of town and many non-students feel they can't go there or are just not sure if they can. Great for students but will the townies be able to get in?

The DeMontfort Hall is run by Leicester City Council. The kiss of death for anything arts or entertainment? A recent Leicester Mercury article tried to penetrate the issue of why the DMH programme ignores band music in favour of everything else. Their funders demand they be all things to all voters. There were some really good comments added by readers.

Sales of recorded music have fallen behind sales of tickets to live events, so it's a good time to go for live. In times of economic depression, entertainment holds up because people want to loose themselves for a couple of hours.

The small Leicester venues put on a busy and varied lineup of bands and there is always at least one live gig every night of the week. But we have nothing to offer bands who want 500 to 800 capacity venues, so they all head off to Nottingham, Birmingham and Coventry.

This is sad not only because fans have to pay more to see top bands but also because our local bands can't get the support slots on their own doorstep. What we need around here is a BarFly or Academy level venue and some really hot booking agents. Hopefully Leicester University will fill that gap once more. But the UK chains have gone elsewhere because the planning authorities don't want to offer them city centre sites with good potential.

Millions of pounds were spent on CURVE, another City Council run venue, but so far not one band has played there, local or national.

Leicester City Council has no commitment to live music and no policy on the subject worth looking at. If anything, it's policies have handcuffed the local live venues to extortionate business rates, over-bearing rules and regulations and a plethora of petty obstructions.

Most elected members fail to realise that live music is one of the biggest assets that this city has got. But the Council have done nothing to celebrate this or to aid the growth of Leicester's reputation as a national centre of music excellence.

We need a new live music in Leicester of a 500 to 800 or more capacity. Not run by the Council but managed by people who really are in tune with contemporary music and the music fans of Leicester.

Wednesday 15th October 2008

Leicester is the indie capital of the UK

No other city or town in the UK has produced such a good crop of excellent bands as has Leicester. Leicester's top bands are writing the best songs in the country.

Leicester's indie rock bands stand out as being some of the best to be found anywhere in the UK. Leicester band The Chairmen beat 11,000 other bands for the coveted top place in the national Surface Unsigned competition. They did this because their songs were clearly the best, by any criteria.

Local bands The Heroes, Autohype, Razmataz and The Utopians have written amazingly good songs which, if released into the UK charts, would go straight to the top and become classic hits.

Bands such as M48, The Screening, The Dandilions, Project Notion and many others are putting on high quality sets with excellent musicianship, great vocals and, above all, highly listenable songs. They are good to watch live and have laid down incredibly good tracks in recording.

We know this because we (as Get Your Band On) have listened to thousands of tracks over the past five years, from bands in every part of the UK. We have not found another city or town which has produced so many great bands or in which you will hear so many indie rock songs as good as those being written by Leicester's bands.

It is our experience of listening to tracks every day for the past five years and of bringing bands to Leicester to play, from all over the UK, that confirms our knowledge of the nation's indie scene.

In the UK, Leicester stands out as being the most prodigious source of good music and musicians, with songs that stand up against the best being heard anywhere. Our city is a centre of musical excellence and one of the best places to be found for live music.

If labels are in search of new bands that will rise quickly into the top of the charts, they should be going to gigs in Leicester and listening to Leicester based bands. Our local bands are writing high quality songs and deserve to heard at national level. There is a great wealth of talent in this city and if labels are not looking for bands here, they are clearly looking in the wrong places.

A&R should be focusing their attention on bands such as The Chairmen, Autohype, Razmataz, the Heroes, The Utopians, The Screening, M48, The Dandilions and many other of our local bands because these are the bands of the future and the ones that are producing music that stands up to the best to be found in the UK.

Much more needs to be done to bring label reps to Leicester to hear music. If they want to find the highest quality talent in the UK, here in this city if where they should be spending their time.

Thursday 7th August 2008

Arts in Leicestershire calls for growth in live music festival

The Summer Sundae Weekender is almost here, heralded by a busy schedule of official fringe gigs and unofficial shows at a variety of venues. Now that Leicester has been recognised by the Arts Council as being a major national centre of live music (5th in the country), more needs to be done to develop our late summer live music festival.

The Local Authorities, Leicestershire Promotions, The Arts Council and the private sector should put their weight behind growing this weekend into a major national event. We would go so far as to say that it could become in the same league as the Edinburgh Festival.

Several organisations in Leicestershire have, over recent years, complained that the public authorities do not do enough to sponsor and support Leicester's festivals. Leicester City Council has recognised the huge economic and community value of there being a programme of festivals throughout the year. These events bring large numbers of people into the city and this has known commercial advantages for the local economy, the benefits running into millions of pounds.

Now, with the opening, later this year, of the only new theatre to be completed in recent times in the whole of Europe, CURVE will add additional resources to the potential of music and entertainment in the city. The Comedy Festival is already a well established part of our annual programme and has enjoyed a national standing and reputation for a number of years.

We would like to see the Summer Sundae week and weekend develop into a fully fledged live music festival, planned, coordinated and sponsored by public bodies and the private sector and marketed nationally to bring large numbers of people into the city to enjoy not only the finest of our local bands, singers and orchestras but also acts of national status.

The Leicester Live Music Festival could become one of the most important and beneficial events in the city's calendar, enhancing our reputation as a destination for music-loving audiences and earning much needed revenue for our hard pressed venues and artists.

We have argued before that Leicester should support a major rock festival

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