Wednesday 16 November 2011

Because You’re NOT Worth It…

The average donation from visitors to Bristol's £27 million flagship museum M shed is just nine pence.
I guess they weren’t impressed?
That average of 9p a head is way below the recommended donation of £2 per person.

Even for a family of four that's less than 50p in total.
Well, who ‘recommended’ £2 per person? Especially since Hull Bristol residents had already had their pockets picked for this carbuncle:
So far, the 187,000 tax payers in Bristol have already paid roughly £64 each towards the cost of the museum, as the council put £12 million towards the construction costs.

The £27 million total is considerably more than the £19 million the project was expected to cost in 2007, although part of this extra expense was down to redesign of the original idea for the site.
Was there ever a council-run project that didn’t go over budget and over timescale?

It’s only taxpayer’s cash, right?
The original fundraising target was around £2.6 million. The council had raised £860,000 of this from a number of grants, including £250,000 from Imperial Tobacco, £50,000 from The Friends of Bristol Museum and The Friends of Bristol Art Gallery.
So, one grant from the eeeeeeevil Big Tobacco (and you have to wonder what they thought they’d get out of it in return?) and two from museum-lovers? While the public response was a giant ‘Meh!’…
A number of Evening Post correspondents have raised concerns about the costs involved with the museum.

Jane Jenkins said: "M shed is not the success the council claims – something that cost so much, took so long and delivered so little cannot be counted a success.

"There are legitimate concerns over its ongoing running costs.

"There is a real risk pride and arrogance will compound expensive past errors. We have rarely been told the truth about this museum project, but we are paying for it."
Quite! But not paying by dint of putting your hands directly in your pockets, no. Others are doing that for you!
And John Prentice said: "If it was such a great success, such a brilliant new museum, why did the biggest private support come from a tobacco company?

"People vote with their cash, so what are the levels of voluntary donations from the visiting public? Not much I bet."
About 9 pence. Bargain, eh?

7 comments:

Carl Minns said...

What have Hull residents got to do with this?

Antisthenes said...

"There is a real risk pride and arrogance will compound expensive past errors."

Only following the fashion set by the EU and the euro-zone.

JuliaM said...

"What have Hull residents got to do with this?"

Whoops! Good spot, thanks. Amended.

Umbongo said...

Not many Bristolians will admit that Bristol University was funded by the Wills family whose fortune came from tobacco.

But coming back to the subject of your post, it's no wonder that Labour couldn't wait to abolish an effective control on public spending after coming into power in 1997. This was the liability of councillors to be personally surcharged in the event that council money has been wasted or illegally spent. It was one of the few real world lessons Labour actually learnt, particularly from the £12 million surcharge paid by Dame Shirley Porter.

Greencoat said...

They should convert it into a prison for some of the criminals roaming our streets.

Heaven 17 said...

Bristol is no different from any place where the great and good have ideas about public entertainment, mixed with 'heritage.'

In Sheffield they opened, to great fanfares, a breathtakingly designed Museum of Popular Music. Bold, brave, cutting edge, etc... but in a couple of years it closed.

Even a city that gave rise to Def Leppard, Human League, Jarvis Cocker, Arctic Monkey, et al, could not guarantee interest.

Perhaps, methinks, a museum devoted to the slave trade (hush my mouth!) would be just as popular in Bristol...

JuliaM said...

"Only following the fashion set by the EU and the euro-zone."

Very true!

"It was one of the few real world lessons Labour actually learnt, particularly from the £12 million surcharge paid by Dame Shirley Porter."

And an indication that Dave's modern 'conservatives' are really no different, given that they haven't immediately put it back!

"Perhaps, methinks, a museum devoted to the slave trade (hush my mouth!) would be just as popular in Bristol..."

Heh!