Agenda item

DECLARATION OF INTEREST

CouncillorYuill declared a non pecuniary interest in the following item of business by virtue of his Council appointed membership of the Board of Management of Peacock Printmakers Ltd. Councillor Yuill did not feel it was necessary to withdraw from the meeting.

With reference to article 24 of the minute of meeting of Council of 17 December, 2008, the Committee had before it a report by the Director of Education, Culture and Sport which provided an update on the work being undertaken by the fundraising team engaged by Peacock Visual Arts as part of the Northern Light development proposed for Union Terrace Gardens, and requested financial support in order to sustain activity until the end of May, 2010.  The report explained that this was required due to the extension of the public consultation on City Square, the newly renamed project for Union Terrace and the Denburn Valley.

By way of background the report advised that at the previously mentioned meeting of Council, Members approved the release of £166,642 of the capped £3 million capital funding commitment from the Council to Peacock Visual Arts Limited for the Northern Light contemporary arts centre project at Union Terrace Gardens.  This limited draw down, matched by similar commitments from Peacock Visual Arts cofunders, Scottish Enterprise and the Scottish Arts Council, had enabled Peacock Visual Arts to continue with the advanced stage of the project, pending the outcome of the public consultation on the City Square proposals.  The Scottish Arts Council had agreed to sustain their original offer of £4.3 million, again pending the outcome of the public consultation. The report explained that since the launch of the public consultation on the proposed City Square, the independent campaign group ‘IheartUTG’ had been lobbying to save the gardens.   The report highlighted that this organisation was totally independent of Peacock Visual Arts, with their own fundraising activity and agenda.

The report continued that the Peacock Visual Arts team had worked for two and a half years to raise political, media, cultural, corporate and individual support and required minimum campaign team activity to be sustained to maintain this momentum, having halved the team in the past year.  

The report outlined that the campaign activity proposal, as set out within a report to the former Policy and Strategy Committee of 9 June, 2009 (article 16 of the minute refers) had resulted in fundraising and sponsorship deals, media coverage and significant engagement with stakeholders and the public.  

The report concluded that there had been significant expenditure to date to support the work of the fundraising team and that valuable work had been undertaken in order to maintain the profile of the Northern Light contemporary arts development in a period of considerable uncertainty for Peacock Visual Arts. The report concluded that a decision not to continue the funding for the team until the results of the City Square public consultation were known, would significantly impact on the future of the organisation.

The Committee resolved:-

(i)         to note the progress of the fundraising team in the realms of public and stakeholder engagement as detailed within the report;

(ii)        to continue to support the work of the fundraising team financially at a monthly cost of £3,040, in order to sustain and develop the Peacock Visual Arts Northern Light work to date, pending the outcome of the City Square public consultation which had been launched on 11January, 2010;

(iii)       to continue this funding to the end of May, 2010;  and

(iv)       to reiterate the importance of this money only being utilised for the purposes intended, and to request that officers write to Peacock Visual Arts to reinforce this point.