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Dateline: 20th January, 2003 Death of the Colchester Festival After our news story about Wandsworth Council's cutting support for the Battersea Arts Centre and our article on the topic of public funding yesterday, he hear news of the death of the Colchester Festival, another victim of a lack of public support.After our incredibly successful festivals in 2000-2002, we showed Colchester Council Officers and the Town Management Company our festival plans for 2003-2007 and asked for a relatively tiny amount of money. It was crucial and critical initiative, one which would change the landscape of the arts in the town for ever at low cost. They told us they would not help. Not in cash, not in kind. Not in any way, as they had no money. Colchester Festival Association has therefore decided that they were not prepared to give any more time, money and help to a Borough that seemed to be actively ungrateful. So there is no festival. Colchester Borough arts, heritage, leisure and tourism last year spent £2.9 million (not counting parks, recreation and sports), and employed 340 people to do it. Tney also spent over £180,000 on print (source: Statement of Accounts 2001-2002). They are required by law to show that the best value has been achieved with this money. Our plans clearly showed that we could provide far more 'arts per pound' than they were providing. However their budgets seem to be set in stone for years ahead, giving no room for manoeuvre. Colchester is - or was - unique in the Arts. Not only do we have arguably the best repertory theatre and a contemporary arts gallery which is ranked with the best, as well as an arts centre which is vibrant and successful and a media centre which produced world-class work, but we also have - or had! - a number of individuals who got together to dream up new and exciting ways to act as an inspiration and catalyst to their town's social cultural and economic development. They didn't just dream, however, (anyone can do that, and produce piles of documents to prove it). They actually put into practice their vision and made something out of nothing, producing not one but two large local festivals. They knew that the economic benefits were enormous, ploughing back the costs involved into the local economy tens of times over. Everyone who got involved was excited and delighted by the sheer quality and quantity of the work - the street parades and the community plays and the exhibitions, the competition, the musical stages, the street entertainers, the authors and poets, the dancers and actors - all were of the best. And all were at a ridiculously cheap cost and free at the point of delivery to the public and tourists alike. A crucial and critical initiative, one which would change the landscape of the arts in the town for ever. On Tuesday we met with representatives form the Council and the Town Management Company to discuss plans for the festival in 2003. We showed them our plans for 2003-2007, asked for three things:
We produced figure after figure to show that there would be profits to be made for the town. We showed how festivals worldwide added benefits and value to towns. We explained how festivals act as a social glue to help cut crime and build communities.We could have shown how much different local authorities in similar towns spent on festivals- ranging from thirty to ninety thousand pounds. We asked for nine thousand plus services in kind, like a bit of photocopying. We would have settled for six. We even indicated a low-cost way of ensuring an income by setting up an investment fund from an interest-free loan from the Capital Expenditure Reserves - a system widely and successfully in use throughout the world. After three successful years during which we employed hundreds of artists, entertainers and craftspeople, on a tiny budget, we genuinely expected that they would be excited by this. We thought that they might leap at the chance of getting actively involved. We were foolish enough to take the portfolio holder at his word when he indicated last year that there would be some regularising of our income with three year forward budgets. We gave them at least a year's notice of the kinds of small amounts we would be asking for. Imagine our shock when at the meeting, although they expressed enthusiasm for what we were planning, they would not fund us at all this year, not a penny, despite the fact that we had been assured this time last year that they would give us three year forward funding. They did offer to send out our April newsletter (which was a full what's on in the summer, advertising not only our festival, but all the festivals planned this summer, the tattoo, the Oyster fair, the Cricket week and so on) with the hand-delivered Courier. The following day, though,they changed their minds and refused on the grounds that it would cost them a little extra. In addition to this, the brand-new Town Centre Management Company - set up solely to create an increased profile and economic regeneration in the town - indicated that they were unlikely to fund us either as no-one had told them of this, and they had already allocated all the budgets. As a direct result of this lack of visible support, we are unable to raise any significant money from our other major commercial sponsors. Quite rightly they say that if our own Council won't support us they cannot either. Who can blame them? I cannot believe that in this day and age there could be any sort of arts unit that commits every penny in advance until 2006 leaving themselves no slack, no rope, no contingencies, no room for manoeuvre, unable to shift any part of a 2.9million budget from area to area in order to react quickly to new initiatives and bright ideas which need fast reactions. No commercial or voluntary organisation would last two minutes like this. This is the ultimate contraceptive to the fast development of new and exciting ideas and makes innovation impossible. First, the Free Festival fell by the wayside and now the Colchester Festival. Disillusioned by the sheer indifference of the local authority professional departments - whose £2.9 million pound arts and culture budget and their £180,000 print budget (2002 figures) is so spoken for until 2006 that they could not allow them the tiny one third of one per cent of it that we asked for for the purpose of employing and giving opportunities to hundred of local artist, craftsmen and performers - nor will a single one of their 340 employees find a moment of their time to help us in a practical manner with a bit of marketing advice, help with road closures and planning matters or print design, or allow us to distribute their newspaper with their regular mailings - although they originally promised this and then reneged. In fact when the Festival Association asked for a meeting with the people concerned they were so busy that their diaries were completely full for nearly three months and when it came to the point, two of the key people didn't turn up - too busy it seems. And during the meeting only the one reaction - "We are not going to help. Even if we wanted to we have no money." So we have thrown in the towel. We can't keep fighting for money and recognition every year. It's an uphill struggle. One of the major reasons that the Free Festival died is that no-one would take the ball and run with it. We now feel the same, and our personal time and money that we put into the festival will be better spent on our families and earning a living. This is not some form of blackmail in order to get them to cough up. It's too late for that. So it is with the greatest regret that we say that there will be no Samba Ramble, no Fiesta Club, no Colchester Community Circus, no RanTan Band, no storytellers and face painters, no new plays, no street entertainers, no dance festival, no promenade plays, no textiles exhibitions, no Great Cloth Fair, no community tug of was, no Jazzband festival, no chariot / boudicca competition, no community music tent, no fashion shows, no new technology exhibition, no literature events or poetry sessions, no all-night films, and no long term plans to create lasting additions to the Colchester Collection or to create public artworks. The great vision is dead. On a personal note, I am more hurt and sorry than I can possibly say. Thank you to everyone who wanted to take part this year for your ideas and enthusiasm. Thank you for your encouragement and offers of practical help. Dorian Kelly http://www.colchesterfestival.org
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