Isle of Man seeks young professionals with 'Shoreditch' makeover

[John Wright]

25 minutes ago, Roger Mexico said:

Of course we do need to look at what that funding is spent on.  I was always under the impression that Arts Council staffing consisted of a part-time secretary who organised the necessary admin around grants etc.  Maybe that was the case 12 years ago, but a look at their website now shows they have one each of:

Arts Development Manager

Arts Development Officer

Arts Engagement Officer

Arts Graduate Intern

Arts Administrator

(I'm using titles because I'm not complaining about individuals who no doubt have their own artistic talents, but it's notable that these are all admin rather than creative titles).

However, as is often the case with Government websites, this is out of date.  I get weekly e-mails from them (very lengthy, but sometimes reminding you of something that's on) and the merry band has now risen to eight:

With the Arts Administrator promoted to Arts Administration Officer and additionally there now being a:

Head of SoundCheck

Art Tank Facilitator

Creative Development Coordinator

Art Tank and SoundCheck appear to be youth-related (for visual art and bands respectively)and helping run the sort of thing that youth clubs often have done.  From memory the payroll has doubled in about a year and crept up before that. 

Presumably the money that pays for them all comes from that declining pot and I suspect what has been lost is the subsidy for touring companies that used to come here.  

When I was first an Arts Council member, 25 years ago, there was a paid Secretary/administrator, full time, and a secretary who was seconded from IoM Bank.

It functioned much as you suggest and was amateur and pretty useless, and institutionally corrupt ( half the annual grants and subsidies were spent on a building and events set up by or organised/promoted by the Council vice Chair).

The two paid employees were useless, one was terminally idle and obstructive and otherwise unemployable, the other past retirement age and both in the thrall of the vice Chair who received their unadulterated adulation.

I managed to persuade the appointment of a development officer. I earned the enmity of the vice Chair and the Secretary/Administrator as they both applied for, and didn’t get the role. The bank secondment came to an end. I put together a sponsorship committee and raised significant sponsorship of large scale events, Hallé, Royal Liverpool Phil, London City Ballet, Rambert Dance..

I led the charge against the institutional corruption.

Then the Arts Council was independent of government. Then it was brought into DESC. 

Im not sure if the lottery money pays the wages of that group, or whether the wages are now covered by the Department. I agree it seems over staffed. But as you observe some of the posts ( under other more realistic, less flowery, titles ) would have been in the department, but not under the AC umbrella.

On average I spent 20-30 hours a month on AC admin, fundraising and policy/meetings. For free. Some other members contributed the same.

[Danoo]

1 hour ago, pongo said:

Places like Shoreditch work because they have evolved organically over decades and centuries in response to the ebb and flow of economics, immigration etc. Some of what are now the poshest parts of West London had shown the way in the 70s and early 80s.

By the 90s everyone knew that Shoreditch was a good place to still buy cheap. Being so close to the City - while physical proximity still mattered so much.

Shoreditch did not have to promote itself as a place to go to. It happened despite local government.

It's a model which the rest of Britain could learn from.

(It's a good example of why we should not worry about the decline of our former retail areas. We should stand back and see what naturally replaces that.)

We have neither the volume of people nor the type of individuals here that could resurrect a declining retail space and turn it into a vibrant redevelopment. 

Maybe if we continue to import more businesses and people from east Asia and other parts of the world we could develop a cosmopolitan street food marketplace in Douglas. It would have been wise for us to attempt to put the ill fated roof over Strand Street many years ago but as with a lot of things here, a lot of talk and no action.

[Andy Onchan]

3 hours ago, Roxanne said:

I see some merit in this idea. As VoR says, sometimes it starts with the feels and then other things follow. Not sure I’m too keen on the AC getting involved though, although Martin Cain is a good guy with a good outlook abs art and design is his back ground so who knows, he may just know what he’s talking about.

There’s a lady in Ramsey currently crowdfunding a massive muriel to go on one of the corners on Parliament Street. If it comes off it would look pretty damn cool and would tie in with Ramsey’s reputation for hosting more independent shops anywhere else on the Island. So yes, with some reservations, I quite like the concept. 

I was registering a new domain name at the weekend and discovered that ‘im’ domain names are thought of as quite ‘hip’. I was surprised. 

Had a girlfriend once called Muriel. We met, fell out (as you do). Saw her a few years after and by god she'd put on some beef.  Needless to say, not keen on massive Muriel's.

[Roger Mexico]

1 hour ago, Declan said:

Presumably the Soundcheck and Art Tank roles are what the DSCE funding goes. Could they have been transferred into the  Arts Council to give managerial oversight of those projects.

The DESC funding probably isn't enough, only a steady 22-23K a year, but these may be roles transferred this financial year from the youth service and that wouldn't have shown up yet.  Six people managing the two that actually do something would be fairly on-brand for the Government though.

It seems to be very difficult to find any accounts for the Arts Council to say what they spend the money they get (there was £517,000 in 20-21 from the Lottery) or who gets the grants they give out.  They used to do annual reports with the details, but don't seem to any more.