Trinity Apse and the ScotPop Centre
Another option that had been mentioned by Frank Little the Museums and Galleries manager was Trinity Apse which is an old church just off the high street on Chalmer’s Close, some may remember it as the Brass Rubbing Centre.
I did look at it before Christmas with Frank but was given no indication of availability or price. It had I was told been rented out just recently for the day to some architects for £500 (actually £600 + VAT) but otherwise details were sketchy. There had been a big effort to have it used during the Festival but with no other details except that for some time now no council building could be given out for free.
Clearly I was looking for the arts price rather than the commercial price. Again if I knew what the building had made financially in a year I could maybe offer a little more and we would have a temporary home and the council would have increased income. I included Trinity Apse when I asked for details of the income for council buildings under FOI so I would know what to offer.
Frank felt the CAC was a better option so Trinity Apse was put on the back-burner even after I saw the figures for its usage. However when it was decided the CAC top floor would go through due process and not be treated as a trial I looked into the idea again. With the Tron market traders soon to be homeless I could possibly include an arts element, give a few of the artists a home and bring in a little more income to help with whatever rent I was quoted.
By now I had seen the figures which were astonishing. That architects’ rent I had been quoted was the only commercial rent in the three years I was given figures for and despite being told no arts related project for some time had been considered for a free let all the other lets had been free. It would be hard work getting people to visit given the location but it was still an exciting prospect with plenty of potential.
Unable to contact Frank I found a contact who was actually the commercial manager, a new post created 8 months ago that I was unaware of as surprisingly it had never been mentioned despite being relevant. I enquired about using the building until the end of the year depending on availability. Apart from a wedding in October there were no other firm bookings though it was on hold in July and August for the Edinburgh Art Festival part of the CAC and those architects were considering coming back at the end of June.
Given the EAF use 30+ venues and the council make no income I hoped they would give Trinity Apse up and we could work around the rest. However the commercial manager came back to me yesterday with no firm offer and asking me to make a proposal bearing in mind their commercial rates of up to £750 a day.
It is clear that despite constant reassurances the ScotPop exhibition is not being given anything like the same treatment as other arts projects and now the council has employed somebody to deal with these matters albeit with little success so far my original discussion with Paul Lawrence, the council’s Chief Executive of Place, of basing offers on previous performance is no longer relevant. This probably explains the insistence on due process over the CAC’s top floor.
The Dragon of Profit and Private Ownership on display for all of the Festival last year is clearly art attracting no charge while the ScotPop Centre appears to lie at the heart of capitalism.
In all my discussions it was agreed that pop music deserved the same support as the visual arts but it was stressed that no art form could now be supported as before with free or even heavily discounted venues. All evidence shows this not to be true and to be honest it is clear that rather than argue the case people are just saying one thing and doing another.
I have a sponsor flying in from Germany in a week’s time and after that I will make a decision but without a building ……………………