The boss of the Highlands’ biggest theatre has issued a passionate plea to councillors not to scrap its funding in their next round of budget cuts.
Eden Court chief executive Colin Marr presented a powerful defence yesterday of its 170 jobs and £9million annual contribution to the region’s economy.
Addressing councillors at their Inverness headquarters, a short walk from the theatre, he appeared to strike a chord with most, if not all, that the arts count even in an era of unprecedented austerity.
Approaching 19 years at the helm of the popular arts venue, Mr Marr said: “I’ve been told there are members who’d like to explore what would happen if the council stopped funding Eden Court.
“We’re realistic. We know the financial pressures you’re under but we can continue to grow our income and perhaps even grow the service that we deliver. We can only do that if funding reductions happen at a reasonable pace and we get reasonable warning of them.”
The theatre earns 78% of its annual income. Of the rest, £500,000 (9%) has this year come from the council and £700,000 (13%) from government agency Creative Scotland.
About 340,000 people visit its theatre, cinema and educational events each year, making it the UK’s most visited in per capita terms.
Mr Marr cited a Highland-wide independent survey carried out between 2007 and 2010 that found almost 75% of people had bought a ticket for the venue.
“We’re not serving a narrow demographic, we’re serving nearly everyone in the Highlands,” he said.
He ruled out ticket price rises to counter funding cuts, explaining that 75% of the ticket price goes to the performers.
Speaking later, Highland budget leader Bill Fernie acknowledged the council-owned theatre was “a major asset for the Highlands”.
He pointed out, however, that Highlanders’ priorities are “education, social work and roads, in that order.”
Mr Fernie said it would be tragic if Eden Court was to suffer because the council failed to look closely at its grant.
“That’s not to say we won’t cut their funding but we couldn’t remove it,” he added.
Thomas Prag, a co-chairman of Inverness City Arts, said: “Some members talked about cutting the entire grant to Eden Court. Eden Court provides extraordinarily good value and touches many people.”
