Pass Fortune assets on to other theatres

I HAVE just come from a packed AGM of the Fortune Theatre Trust, at which a vote was taken to dissolve the trust and liquidate the theatre’s assets via an onsite auction.

The assets of the Fortune Theatre Co have been accrued through rates and taxes paid by the people of Dunedin and New Zealand via the Dunedin City Council, Creative NZ and the Community Trust of Otago, among others.

These assets belong to the Dunedin community, which cherished the theatre for 40plus years, and it is wrong of the trustees to dispose of these on the basis they have little value and to ‘‘balance the books’’.

There are several theatre companies in Dunedin such as The Globe, The Playhouse, The New Athenaeum and The Mosgiel Fire Station Theatre that I am sure would be extremely grateful for these assets, benefit immeasurably their productions and ensure our community has some sense of ongoing commitment to local theatre.

Grassroots organisations dream of what they could do with what seems to be deemed to be ‘‘lowvalue assets’’ in this case.

The Fortune provided a focused node of activity creatively for

Dunedin and to retain that legacy something needs to be done before these assets are scattered to the wind.

While I understand this is about trustees’ fiscal responsibility, the DCC and Creative NZ have also publicly committed to professional theatre in Dunedin and I’m sure the value of the assets to the community far outweighs any small amount of cash that may be generated to meet debts that appear to have been poorly managed to date. Scott Muir

Normanby

Doomsday behaviour

THERE is no reason for Kim Dotcom’s Silicon Valley pals to have a second bite at the apple in Queenstown. It’s their country, and in particular the actions of their bombastic, bullying president, that are liable to precipitate a doomsday event.

I. R. Stewart

Oamaru