Agenda item
Debate
To debate key issues affecting the Borough.
‘It’s yours, join in’ - Members will hear from Rachel Evans, Fountain Studios and Chair of the Brent Culture, Sport and Learning Forumand Nicholas Kent, Tricycle Theatre on cultural activity within the borough.
Minutes:
The Mayor welcomed to the meeting Rachel Evans from Fountain Studios who was also chair of the Brent Sport and Culture Forum, Nick Kent, the soon to retire Artistic Director of the Tricycle Theatre and Indhu Rubasingham the Artistic Director designate of the Tricycle Theatre.
A pack containing a presentation, a copy of the Cultural Strategy for Brent 2010 to 2015 and other material had been circulated around the chamber. Rachel Evans opened the debate by reading the strap line to the Cultural Strategy 'It's yours…Join in'. She added that the cultural provision within the borough belonged to everyone and this made it very important. She felt the borough should celebrate the cultural activity that took place in the borough and referred to the Tricycle Theatre as one of the cultural gems in the borough. She asked members to write down what they thought culture was to demonstrate how widely it could apply. Rachel Evans referred to the circulated strategy as a vision for culture, whilst recognising that the vision needed to be flexible as circumstances changed. The Brent Sport and Culture Forum brought together representatives of local businesses, arts providers, education providers and the Council to be a conduit for ideas on promoting all the cultural activity going on in the borough. It encouraged young people to get involved and promoted the health and well-being of people. The strategy sought to achieve four main objectives - communication, engagement with young people, an increase in the amount of available space for cultural activities and maximising the wider benefits of culture.
Nick Kent spoke to the meeting referring to having worked in the borough since 1984. He expressed his love of Brent and his passion for the Tricycle Theatre. The theatre was housed in a relatively small building but undertook many activities. He stated that since 1984, 4.5 million people had visited the theatre as audiences, most of which were from the local area and over 36 million people from around the world had seen productions that had begun at the Tricycle Theatre. This translated into audiences of around 185,000 a year with many dignitaries also visiting the theatre. Nick Kent stated that the theatre employed 19 full time staff and 57 part time staff and 50% of the front of house staff came from Brent. The work of the theatre was designed to promote community spirit and it was proud to represent the borough. He felt the most important work the theatre undertook was with children and young people. The Council grant last year of £218,000 was wholly spent on activities for young people and amounted to half the total cost of the programme. The activities carried out each year involved about 40,000 children, with many being helped to learn English through drama and art. Nick Kent stated that the theatre attracted £3.3 million into the area and given his role he had been asked by Brent and Camden Councils to get involved in the regeneration of the area and it had been a role he wass proud to take on. Nick Kent introduced Indhu Rubasingham who would soon be taking over from him at the theatre.
Indhu Rubasingham referred to the exciting opportunity she had to build on the legacy that would be left by Nick Kent. She referred to the diverse community within Brent and stated that she wanted to develop a programme of work that reflected this. This required people from all backgrounds to visit the theatre and so ways needed to be developed to attract them into the theatre.
Rachel Evans urged members to recognise all the activities going on in the borough and to look at the ‘visitwembleyvisitbrent.com’ web site and encourage others to do so. She referred to the huge footfall into the Wembley area every time an event took place at the stadium and how some of these visitors could be encouraged to visit the borough at other times.
The Mayor invited members to comment or ask questions. Members paid tribute to Nick Kent for his work in the borough and for the many productions they had enjoyed seeing at the Tricycle Theatre and wished him well for the future. Particular mention was made of the work undertaken at the theatre for young people and the benefit the Council reaped from the grant awarded to the theatre. Whilst appreciating the need to engage with audiences, a point was made about balancing modern works with the classics. In reply, Nick Kent explained that his theatre had put on Shakespearean plays but they posed logistical problems for the theatre with the large casts involved and faced stiff competition from the many other venues in London that put on classical productions. For this reason his theatre tended to do classic 20th century plays.
The point was made that people who attended plays exposed themselves to issues that they might not ordinarily face and it was pointed out that the theatre put on senior citizen programmes on a Thursday and Friday afternoon. A view was put that the cultural strategy had been undermined by the closure of the Charteris sports centre and six libraries and it was asked what the Council would be doing to celebrate National Library day on 4 February. It was said that the Tricycle Theatre was at one end of the borough and people from other parts of the borough would not travel to it. For this reason it was felt that outreach work was of more benefit to the wider community. In response it was pointed out that there were other venues in the borough that people could attend such as the East Lane theatre. It was also pointed out that children from all over Brent went on visits to the Tricycle Theatre.
A plea was made for the Tricycle Theatre to follow the Council and become a Fairtrade venue. A question was asked as to how resilient the arts could be against the cuts being made in public spending. Rachel Evans stated that the borough still had many libraries and it was important to celebrate them and promote their use. Nick Kent referred to the recent decision of the Council to redevelop the Willesden Green site which would provide a new replacement library and to the fact that as part of the regeneration of the Kilburn area, Camden Council had moved a library into the Kilburn High Road which had in turn increased the facilities available to local residents. He acknowledged the point made about Fairtrade. He felt the arts faced a very difficult future and the lack of government resources had led him to decide to resign from the theatre. He urged everyone to lobby in support of culture and the arts because of the benefits it brought. He thanked members for their kind words and comments in support of the work of the Tricycle Theatre.
In answer to a question Rachel Evans explained that Fountain Studios put on many large TV productions including X Factor and The Cube which were free to get into and attracted a large number of people.
Councillor John responded to the presentation on behalf of the Executive and the Council. She thanked Rachel Evans, Nick Kent and Indhu Rubasingham for their presentations. She stated that in the modern world, entertainment had to be of high quality. She referred to the importance of Fountain Studios and the Tricycle Theatre, both of which attracted large numbers of people into the borough. She referred to many of the productions she had enjoyed at the theatre and paid tribute to Nick Kent's work. She welcomed Indhu Rubasingham to her new role. Councillor John referred to other cultural centres in the borough such as the Lexi cinema and pointed out that the borough would also be an Olympic venue later in the year.
The Mayor thanked Rachel Evans, Nick Kent and Indhu Rubasingham for their attendance.