The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Council planning to find £1.4m for culture
Proposal seeks to dig into reserves to help pay for City of Cultureinspired events
Council chiefs in Perth plan to dig into their reserves to help pay for more than £1 million of City of Culture-inspired festivities.
The packed programme is expected to pull in an extra 250,000 visitors to the area.
However, one local politician warned the spending would “raise eyebrows”, coming just days after it was revealed a plea for funding from the local foodbank was rejected.
Under the banner, Beyond the Fair City, the culture schedule includes a celebration of Perth’s medieval vennels and a project commemorating the local significance of the Stone of Destiny.
The £1.4 million programme has been adapted and scaled down from an original line-up planned for Perth if it won the City of Culture title.
Next week, councillors will be asked to transfer £725,000 from local authority reserves to pay toward the package, with the remaining £750,000 coming from key business partners, trusts and foundations.
If approved, Beyond the Fair City will run for about three years.
Local SNP MSP Pete Wishart said: “While I am fully behind the cultural regeneration of Perth, I do think that people will raise an eyebrow about this Creative Collaboration will explore ways of expanding and diversifying local creative industries, creating high-value jobs.
It involves nurturing talent at the new Creative Exchange, due to open next year.
A Made At Home mentoring scheme could also be offered to graduates at Perth College.
The second aim, Creative Capital, will celebrate Perth’s rich heritage with Future of Place – a programme of events celebrating cultural diversity – and Ancient Roots, commemorating the area’s rich heritage.
The third outcome, Creative Excellence, looks at delivering high-quality, innovative events such as the Festival of the Vennels, an artistic look at the city’s historic alleyways. money being spent on the same week that we are told there is no council money to help keep Perth Foodbank open.”
He continued: “People in Perth will need reassurance from the council that this money will create overall revenue for the local authority, otherwise I think people will struggle to get behind the plans.”
In a report the council’s head of culture, Fiona Robertson, said: “The outline events programme proposed for Perth 2021 was costed at £15m, with a £3m contribution from the council,” she said.
“Delivery at this scale is not achievable without an initiative like UK City of Culture and the major additional investment it would have levered in.
“But to remain competitive and grow our market share of the regional and national tourism economy, we need to continue to invest in events and cultural programmes which respond to visitor growth potential.”
She said based on projections prepared as part of the 2021 bid, the programme would attract 250,000 extra visitors over three years.
Councillors will be asked to rule on the scheme at their meeting on Wednesday.
A local authority spokeswoman said: “As we have said previously, we haven’t received a formal application from the Perth and Kinross Foodbank for funding.
“Discussions are, however, ongoing with senior officers regarding finding alternative premises for the foodbank to consider, which would help to reduce their operating costs and free up funding.”