Enter stage right: Theatres provide thought for Hamilton City councillors mulling annual plan submissions
Hamiltons theatres have secured a scene-stealing central role in the considerations of the citys politicians, as they weigh up this years budgets. But whether the Founders, Riverlea and Clarence St theatres can earn rave reviews or a hail of rotten tomatoes remains to be seen. There was little opportunity for any kind of theatrical flourishes from Hamilton City councillors when they gathered to mull over submissions to the annual plan on Thursday, the medium for the meeting being an online Zoom conference. Among the submitters making presentations to the council during hearings the previous day was a group from the Theatre of the Impossible Trust (TOTI) led by former mayor Margaret Evans, who called for the now-defunct Founders Theatre closed in March 2016 due to health and safety concerns to be converted into a multi-use facility. READ MORE: * Fear and loathing at the Hamilton City Council annual plan submissions * One man's pitch to turn Founders Theatre into Children's Museum * Change of heart on Hamilton's $50,000 street corner What we are asking for at this stage is not money, its time, Evans said. The idea that we have creates the opportunity to have a town hall for a variety of activities that are currently not so well served in the city. We have notified all of the theatre groups that this is our plan, and emphasised that we are not to be in competition with them. Rather it is to work with them and create an added value. At Thursdays meeting Cr Martin Gallagher said reviving Founders, like the old Municipal Pools, could be the opening of a potential pandoras box. Cr Mark Bunting asked if staff could provide him and his colleagues with arts funding schemes employed by similarly-sized councils, to see if there were any models that could be replicated in Hamilton. Clarence Street Theatre general manager Jason Wade had also addressed the council on Wednesday, where he pointed out the closure of Founders had left Clarence Street with the burden of hosting many more touring shows. It is important to invest and not to pull back. There should be more community funding. Hamilton city remains one of the lowest per head of capita in Aotearoa for community arts support. There should be a dedicated arts fund as there once was. This took years to establish and it would be useful again, as long as it was funded adequately. Im sure you will hear much criticism at this annual plan ... no doubt the usual suspects will come out and say how you should only be spending on essential services that poo, water and rubbish collection is all our money should be spent on. It is those people who are the first to moan when there is nothing to do in the city. The Riverlea Theatre also represented at the hearings in the form of chairman David Waine requested help to reseal the car park outside the theatre. If you have been to Riverlea Theatre recently, you would have noticed we have some very significant potholes in our car park. Apart from us doing a Sponsor a Pothole or naming a pothole after yourself, which does have some merit, the idea would be trying to find access to funding which would allow us to fix said potholes. Meanwhile, the Riverlea, Clarence and Meteor theatres were the recipients of an $85,000 boost this month in recognition of the part they play in improving the wellbeing of Hamiltonians. That money allocated prior to the theatre groups supplications to the annual plan hearings came from the councils Covid-19 community response fund. Bunting, who also chairs the councils community committee, said the funding was made in recognition of the arts as an essential service. Wellbeing doesnt just mean providing essential food and accommodation, although that is critically important. It also means supporting peoples cultural, social and environmental needs too. Financially, the council was still catching its collective breath after effectively being knocked sideways by the Covid-19 lockdown and a resulting $22 million revenue loss. However, corporate general manager David Bryant revealed at Thursdays meeting that thanks to a series of saving initiatives devised by the finance committee, the organisations deficit for the 2020/21 financial year had been reduced from $11 million down to $5m. Pre-Covid, the council had been looking at a deficit of just $929,000. Further refinements would be made at future committee meetings, he said. There will be many opportunities to adjust as we learn more. Mayor Paula Southgate wrapped up the meeting by pointing out the annual plan was merely a rehearsal for the main event. Lets get through this, do our deliberations, and focus on the thing we all want to focus on which is the long term plan, which is where we can really make a fundamental difference to how we do business.