20 June 2011

Greens join the war upon the print makers

| johnboy
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Imagine you’d signed off on a lease to use a property, and then a bunch of jokers turn up, decide they like your place too, and demand to veto where you put your furniture just so they can use it five days a year.

That’s basically where the Megalo Printers are with the old Fitters Workshop in Kingston.

Today the Greens’ Caroline le Couteur is practising her bandwagon jumping and demanding that the Fitters workshop be retained as a music venue with Megalo to make do in there without inconveniencing the five day a year musical purpose of the workshop.

“The ACT Greens support recent initiatives toward the creation of arts hubs in Canberra, and are very supportive of plans to relocate Megalo to the Kingston foreshore.

“However, my concern is that there has been very little consultation with the musical or the broader community on the use of the Fitters Workshop since the discovery of its acoustic qualities.

“The Fitter’s Workshop is recognised as having exceptional acoustic and light qualities. The building has played host to a number of musical concerts including classical, folk, world and jazz as part of the International Music Festival.

“The $3.9m allocated for the upgrade of the Fitters Workshop could be used to accommodate both uses. Megalo could be provided with the facilities that they need, while maintaining a functional performance space.

Note to Caroline: Less than 1% of the “broader community” gives any sort of a damn. ‘

I’m all for music venues, but we already have a number of them, which are already under-utilised.

I realise the highbrow music community are used to getting their way on pretty much everything at huge expense to other arts in this town, but it would be nice if their sense of entitlement could find some sort of limit.

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Endrey said :

Imagine if you’d signed off on a lease to a property that the ACT government was giving you $3.9 million to upgrade. I’d be willing to give up 5 days a year for that. Not that I care about this at all.

Who’s pulling the strings here lining up a fringe music group (from a fringe music community) against a fringe arts group (from a fringe arts city)? It’s like a bad comedy. In the meantime I stepped on a syringe on the lawns of the O’Connor Scout Hall this morning. Is there a badge for that?

except the fitout has to be compromised permanently for the musos.

But send us a picture of your foot and the needle and we’ll make you an internet star!

Imagine if you’d signed off on a lease to a property that the ACT government was giving you $3.9 million to upgrade. I’d be willing to give up 5 days a year for that. Not that I care about this at all.

Who’s pulling the strings here lining up a fringe music group (from a fringe music community) against a fringe arts group (from a fringe arts city)? It’s like a bad comedy. In the meantime I stepped on a syringe on the lawns of the O’Connor Scout Hall this morning. Is there a badge for that?

It’s like we have a dodgy mayor running this town…

taninaus said :

and as for a small group – have you seen Megalo, its programs and level of community involvement lately? certainly not a small group.

OK, Megalo looks better than I thought, but, having a look at their web site, their community involvement seems a bit light for what they’re getting. Damn the musicians though!

I find the music lobby for the Fitters’ Workshop to be very selfish. There are many music venues in Canberra. The Fitters’ workshop was one of 13 indoor venues for the Canberra International Music Festival, and they didn’t even use the Welsey Music Centre. Megalo has a rare chance to move to a central location. They are dedicated arts practitioners who must find the current campaign against them to be quite distressing.

keepitup said :

The $3.9m should be put towards a roof on Canberra Stadium. I’m sick of freezing my nuts off while watching the Brumbies or Raiders cave in.

See my previous comment, but replace “Fitters’ Workshop” with “Canberra Stadium.”

alaninoz said :

Well, I give a damn! Why is $3.9m of taxpayers money being spent on the Fitters’ Workshop anyway? Where is the public benefit in keeping one, or two, small groups happy?

Alan – based on other upgrades it would probablly need that level of spend no matter what use it was to be put to so that it has toilets, fire safety compliance, disability and some sort of fittings.

and as for a small group – have you seen Megalo, its programs and level of community involvement lately? certainly not a small group.

The $3.9m should be put towards a roof on Canberra Stadium. I’m sick of freezing my nuts off while watching the Brumbies or Raiders cave in.

“The $3.9m allocated for the upgrade of the Fitters Workshop could be used to accommodate both uses. Megalo could be provided with the facilities that they need, while maintaining a functional performance space.

Note to Caroline: Less than 1% of the “broader community” gives any sort of a damn.”

Well, I give a damn! Why is $3.9m of taxpayers money being spent on the Fitters’ Workshop anyway? Where is the public benefit in keeping one, or two, small groups happy?

And I love that the proponents are groups with no business plan or financial arrangements to enable them to pay for the space they desire. Megalo has been (i presume) paying rent in Downer for many years and has a clear enough business plan to have lasted in commercial space for a long time. They will use the new space full time and turn an empty building (most of the year) into a thriving resource for artists and the community – I can’t see why this isn’t a good option.

Yes the musicians may use a good venue which is unfortuante but they still have a number of specialist performance venues that they can use throughout the year like Llewellyn Hall, Canberra Theatre and I am sure others can name other venues.

there has been no discussion to date on what these performers would be willing to pay for such a venue being reserved for them full time?

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