To consider the response of Cabinet and the Board of the Courtyard to the report of the Courtyard Review Group.

The Committee considered the response of Cabinet and the Courtyard Trust Board to the report of the Courtyard Review Group.

The Chairman welcomed Mrs Margaret Thomas, Chairman the Courtyard Trust Board and Mr Martyn Green, Chief Executive of The Courtyard to the meeting.

The Director of Policy and Community informed the Committee that Cabinet had considered the report of the Courtyard Review Group on 17th February 2005.  She explained that Cabinet had been generally supportive of the Review Group’s recommendations although they had been unable to support the Review Group’s recommendation to offer The Courtyard an interim one-year funding agreement.  Cabinet had reached this view following receipt of a letter from the Arts Council indicating that a one-year agreement would require them to reconsider the level of support it provided to The Courtyard.

Cabinet had supported the Review Group’s recommendation that The Courtyard should seek to identify efficiency savings and requested that officers investigate whether it would be possible to provide some funding from the Children’s Services Budget.

Cabinet had also requested that the Courtyard Review Group be reconvened at an appropriate time to monitor The Courtyard and provide a further report.

The Chairman invited Mrs Thomas and Mr Green to present The Courtyard’s response to the report of the Courtyard Review Group to the Committee.  The full response was set out in Appendix 1 to the report.

In presenting the response of the Courtyard Trust Board Mr. Green highlighted the following principal points:

·         The Council received 14 days per year free use of The Courtyard.

·         Preliminary investigations currently revealed a franchised shop would provide a limited income.

·         Screen West Midlands were positive about the Review Group’s recommendation for a dedicated cinema space.

·         The Courtyard had hosted 18 conferences in the last year.

·         A reduction in the number of in-house productions would greatly reduce the level of support received from the Arts Council.

Mr. Green invited Members of the Courtyard Review Group to attend, with members of the Board, a visit to The Castle, Wellingborough in May 2005.  This would enable both the Review Group and the Board to obtain operational information and statistics from a comparable arts centre.

Councillor J. Stone, Chairman of the Courtyard Review Group, thanked Mrs. Thomas and Mr. Green for their comments on the Review Group’s report and the invitation to visit The Castle, Wellingborough.

In relation to the decision of Cabinet to award The Courtyard a three-year funding arrangement, Councillor Stone accepted the reasoning behind this in light of the letter received from the Arts Council.

The following are the principal points of Councillor Stone’s response to the letter received from the Courtyard Board on the report of the Courtyard Review Group:

·         He expressed some disappointment with the response of The Courtyard towards future monitoring by the Council.  He explained that as The Courtyard was a recipient of a large sum of public money then future scrutiny and monitoring was essential.  The Courtyard needed to be accountable to its major grant provider.

·         With reference to paragraph 20.6, of the Courtyard’s response, Councillor Stone informed the meeting that whilst he would not necessarily expect the Review Group’s recommendations to have been implemented by November 2005, the Review Group would at least expect to see what progress had been made towards their implementation or hear the reasons for disregarding them.  He noted how successful retail shops often were at tourist locations.

·         He accepted that “a middle-scale” arts centre was a more appropriate term to describe The Courtyard rather than “small-scale” as had been used in the Review Group’s report.

·         He suggested that The Courtyard contact the Council’s Highways Department to see what arrangements could be made to improve signage to the Courtyard.

·         He acknowledged that the Council’s grant now only represented 20% of The Courtyard’s annual turnover compared to 50% in its first year of trading.

·         He hoped that The Courtyard would continue to investigate the possibility of hosting more one-day conferences.

In looking towards the Courtyard Review Group’s further investigations in the autumn of 2005 Councillor Stone highlighted the following areas that he anticipated the Review Group would be investigating.  These were:

1.      That the lift was functioning properly and that the water ingress had been corrected successfully after their imminent anticipated repair.

2.      The results of the Economic Impact Study currently being undertaken by the Arts Council on behalf of The Courtyard.

3.      Evidence from The Courtyard on how older people benefited from using the Courtyard.

4.      Further information on the possibility of converting the existing studio into a dedicated cinema.

5.      The possibility of The Courtyard holding more conferences and incorporating a retail shop.

6.      Investigating the response of the Children’s Services Directorate to the Review Group’s proposal that it make an increased contribution to the Council’s grant to The Courtyard.

7.      Whether or not the Youth Service could make more use of The Courtyard’s facilities.

8.      The level of progress made towards achieving efficiency savings within The Courtyard.

9.      An update on the new commissioning agreement between the Council and The Courtyard and how it was working.

Councillor Stone emphasised that The Courtyard had no need to be defensive when being monitored by the Council and that financial accountability was the key to further success.

The following are the principal points made during the ensuing discussion:

·         Due to the limited circulation of the letter from the Arts Council on its current and possible future funding arrangements with The Courtyard, which had led Cabinet to award a three year funding agreement with The Courtyard, the Director of Policy and Community read relevant extracts from the letter.  The extracts gave details on how a one year funding agreement with The Courtyard would have resulted in the Arts Council reconsidering the current level of funding it provided to The Courtyard with the likely outcome being a reduction in the level of grant funding.

·         Concern was expressed at the lack of any specific business plans for franchising out a retail shop, catering and possible building remodelling/expansion.

·         Concern was expressed that the Courtyard Trust Board did not consider it to be a part of their remit to facilitate improved signage to the building.

·          A view was expressed that The Courtyard should fully utilise the facilities currently available to them before considering increasing the size of the building.

·         Responding to a request for clarification concerning music bands (Review Group’s report para 11.9) the Review Group commented that there may be the potential to develop popular music events, such as jazz bands and orchestras, they had not been advocating ‘pop bands’.

·         The Courtyard could look to diversify the range of groups it sought to attract for conferences.

·         Addressing the problems with signage to The Courtyard on the city’s roads should be considered a priority.

·         The possibility of a Tourist Information Centre being incorporated into The Courtyard should be considered.

Mr. Green commented that The Courtyard currently had a 3-year general business plan in operation which did incorporate the elements the Committee were concerned about.  He also informed Members that The Courtyard did host concerts from orchestras but it had proved difficult to make such events breakeven.

The Chairman thanked Mrs Thomas and Mr Green and welcomed the improved situation currently being experienced at The Courtyard.  However, he reiterated that it was important that as recipients of a large sum of public money The Courtyard was held to account.

RESOLVED:

That (a) a written response be provided to the Courtyard regarding a number of points made in their response as set out in Appendix 1 to the report;

(b) the response by the Courtyard Trust Board to the report of the Courtyard Review Group be noted;

(c) the response by Cabinet to the report of the Courtyard Review Group be noted;

and

(d) the Review Group be reconvened later in the year to undertake a follow up review.