Arts / Arts organisation should have funding clarity in coming months
SHETLAND Arts’ future funding situation should become clearer in the coming months, the charity’s AGM heard on Thursday.
Chief executive Graeme Howell said once decisions on core funding from Shetland Charitable Trust and Creative Scotland are made the charity will “need to review the structure of the organisation”.
The public were able to attend the meeting remotely but any questions were restricted to what was contained in the AGM agenda.
The AGM discussed the organisation’s accounts for 2023/24 and performance.
Prior to the meeting local writer Donald S Murray had said he was “amused and puzzled” by the method in which the arts organisation held its AGM – saying having it purely online was a “basic contradiction of the meaning of the word ‘general’”.
Chair of the trustees Susan Mail said at the AGM that any questions relating matters outwith the agenda could be fielded and discussed outside the meeting.
Education and outreach lead Bryan Peterson also said people do not need to wait for an AGM or survey to get in touch with Shetland Arts.
It comes after some dissatisfaction over last year’s AGM – while local creatives also spoke out amid concern over the way forward for the publicly funded arts agency.
Claire White, speaking as a member of the public, said during Thursday’s meeting that folk with an interest in the sector would benefit from meeting with Shetland Arts trustees directly as well as staff.
She said trustees are the ones “carrying creative opportunities from one generation to the next”.
“Everybody here is invested in that vision and desire to see Shetland thrive culturally,” White said.
Mail referred to Peterson’s answer and said trustees are there for governance. “I’m not sure what we can add to that kind of meeting,” she added.
Meanwhile Gillian Martin, who was also watching as a member of the public, said “when there’s an opportunity for dialogue I think it would be really welcome if that could be made more public or more apparent that that opportunity is there”.
The meeting began with Mail reflecting on the last financial year, which she said was “one of change” as the organisation continued to manage its recovery from the Covid pandemic while dealing with the impact of the cost of living crisis.
She said a voluntary severance scheme for staff was undertaken to “ensure the ongoing viability of the organisation”, while the charity had to “manage vacancies effectively”.
“This has increased the expectation of the remaining staff, and myself and my fellow trustees are incredibly grateful of their effort to continue the work of the organisation,” Mail said.
At the moment Shetland Arts is struggling to staff its Lerwick arts venue Mareel, with the cafe/bar having to be closed on certain days this week.
Shetland Arts’ accounts showed that staff costs reduced from around £1.4 million to just over £1.3 million in 2023/24.
Mail said there will “there will always be valid criticism of an organisation like Shetland Arts that is limited by the constraints of funding”, but she added she was “heartened” by the positivity shown in a customer satisfaction survey.
She added that a multi-year funding application for Creative Scotland has enabled Shetland Arts to review its intentions and consult “broadly with staff and stakeholders” on its strategic direction.
Howell said once funding decisions are known, “we won’t be keeping this a secret”.
“Once we do know and we’ve had a chance to assess what the impact of that is…we’ll be getting those answers [about the future] out there,” he said.
Regarding the funding applications to the charitable trust and Creative Scotland, the arts chief added: “The development work for the business plan that was submitted to both organisations started last year and has been influenced by conversations with the board, the staff team, responses to the various surveys we’ve done.”
Referring Shetland Arts’ future activity, Howell said he was reluctant to speak about this until the funding situation became clearer.
“I think to sort of be promising stuff now that I’m not sure we’re going to be able to deliver will probably not be wise or sensible,” he said.
Joyce Davies also asked about the prospect of Shetland Arts utilising more volunteers to help with staffing challenges.
Howell said the organisation does use volunteers in some circumstances but longer term it is a matter for waiting for the funding news “so we know what the scale of the organisation is going to be, and that may lead to a complete change around staffing – we just don’t know that at the minute.”
Meanwhile Irene Hambleton from accountants RSM said 2023/24 was “another challenging year” for Shetland Arts but one that had a “a lot of good things” too.
When excluding capital grants, total income was slightly down – by around £20,000 – to just under £2.5 million.
Trading activities was up £157,000 to just over £1.1 million, while grants dropped from £1.45 million to just under £1.26 million.
The organisation received £716,000 from the charitable trust and £250,000 from Creative Scotland.
The meeting heard that Creative Scotland funding was down on the previous year due to less Covid-related recovery grants.
Overall the AGM heard that there was a surplus of around £33,000 compared to a deficit of £133,000 the previous year.
The day after the meeting Shetland Arts commented on its recent £100,000 funding award from the Coastal Communities Fund, which the council administers using Crown Estate revenue, for the refurbishment of the organisation’s Bonhoga Gallery in Weisdale.
Invitations to tender for the refurbishment will be sent out soon, with the project expected to be completed by September 2025.
Bonhoga was shut last year in preparation for the refurbishment.
Meanwhile there was also a word of praise for Shetland Arts staff from Shetland Folk Festival committee member Mhari McLeman at the AGM on Thursday.
She said the folk festival’s voluntary committee was at “breaking point” when putting on the event in 2023.
McLeman described is as an “incredibly difficult festival to put on as a group of volunteers”, with a particular worry about slow ticket sales in the recovery from the Covid pandemic.
But she said staff at Shetland Arts went the “extra mile” to support the committee.
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