‘The saga of Bristol Beacon is a lesson in how not to invest in arts and culture’

Investing in arts and culture is vital: it creates social change, has huge economic benefits and brings communities together and value to lives.

The saga of the Bristol Beacon is a lesson in how not to do it.

Years of reactive approaches to Bristol’s infrastructure have led to last minute, costly interventions and the Labour administration once again seeking the ‘least bad’ option. The options facing Bristol have the potential to jeopardise the very sector the Beacon seeks to support.

The story displays all the worst elements of the mayoral model – an enormous project shrouded in secrecy, with power and control all in one place with no transparency or scrutiny.

A lack of financial awareness coupled with poor project management and cost control has led to poor value for money. The additional borrowing of £25m brings the total bill to an eye-watering £132m.

Despite the Mayor’s claims to the contrary, this will impact both Capital and Revenue budgets. The repayments on the loan taken to cover the capital spend will have to come from the revenue budget, from which everyday services are paid – a sum of £2.3m, every year, for the next fifty years.

Marvin Rees has defended the escalating costs of Bristol Beacon’s revamp, saying that pushing ahead with the project “is the best financial option for Bristol” – photo: Martin Booth

This will have an impact on the opportunity for other capital investments and what Bristol is able to fund in the future. The Beacon’s ability to support community and cultural projects was central to the original business case.

We are in a period of great financial uncertainty as a city; we hope that better things are coming but we have to plan for the worst. Committing ourselves to such huge expenditure without a track record of achieving the desired outcomes, regardless of how optimistic we are, is a risky gamble with our future.

One of the reasons we Greens are so passionately in favour of the committee model is that it is more transparent, providing more oversight in the process.

The tough questioning and scrutiny of a cross-party committee can ensure projects and business plans are airtight and issues are spotted as they arrive. Cross party scrutiny in this case – we now know the music trust knew of problems last summer – would have undoubtedly prevented spiralling costs and time scales.

The economic value of the arts is key to Bristol but they must be economically and socially sustainable. It isn’t just about ticket sales and stage performers – it’s countless other people at work behind the scenes.

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Read more: Rees defends escalating costs of Bristol beacon revamp

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From stage managers and technical crews, dressers and costume makers, to front of house teams, marketing departments and cleaners, to cafes, shops and accommodation serving performers and guests.

This is a conversation for the whole of Bristol, not just a small group of stakeholders. We need to talk about the social and economic value of arts and culture, to communities.

We all need to talk about the future of the Beacon, at what point is the cost more than the benefit and how are we quantifying this benefit? These questions all hang in the air, unanswered and unquantified.

As a city we need to talk about how we fund the arts and their value to us. They are so much more than a building, and yet the closed Beacon impacts the entire city.

Whilst the Beacon has been closed, the Bristol Music Trust has been continuing with its outreach programme, providing the opportunity to learn music to children across the city, something many schools cannot do themselves currently.

This is critical work to allow access to the arts for all, not just the privileged, the sort of outreach work we need much more of.

Every year Bristol loses more creative spaces and potential spaces, pubs with community art spaces, art deco cinemas, artist studios and ‘meanwhile use’ buildings. Artists have always been on the sharp end of gentrification and economic crisis.

As Greens, we understand that it doesn’t have to be that way. Art isn’t about money, but the arts and culture sector does provide the largest economic return for investment – that investment needs to be made across the city.

Bristol is a city of creativity, let’s support it to flourish in all areas.

Ani Stafford-Townsend is Green councillor for central ward and co-shadow cabinet member for culture, communities, equalities & public health.

Main photo: Ani Stafford-Townsend

Read more:

• Rees defends escalating costs of Bristol Beacon revamp
• Music video provides glimpse inside Bristol Beacon’s new spaces
• Council spend more money on Bristol Beacon refurb than all transport schemes combined

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