The Lighthouse handed over to Administrators
The Lighthouse handed over to AdministratorsThe chair of the board of The Lighthouse has said that she is 'heartbroken' at the decision to call in administrators and said that the board had done 'everything possible' to avoid the situation.
Eleanor McAllister OBE said that the options were 'very limited in the current economic downturn' and that they had no choice but to place the centre for design and architecture into administation.
“When I was asked to chair the Lighthouse Trust Board, I had hopes we could find a way ahead after the significant losses incurred in mounting the critically successful, but expensive, Venice Biennale project, and the government decision not to fund a second Six Cities Design Festival.”
McAllister took on the role of chair of the board 18 months ago, but has seen debts mount, with it now reportedly owing around £300,000 which it is understood the Scottish Government will pay.
The administrators will now investigate all options to determine if a sustainable economic structure can be delivered that will enable The Lighthouse Trust to continue its existing role and fulfil any immediate commitments.
It is also understood that the centre will remain open for business while the position of The Lighthouse is assessed.
McAllister continued: “Last year, with additional support from our main funders, the City Council and the Scottish Government, we put a crisis package in place to secure our immediate future and to enable us to continue our educational and exhibition programmes at both within and beyond The Lighthouse.”
“That new package was very dependent on maintaining the income generated from our commercial activities. The Lighthouse business model has always required commercial income to subsidise its extensive programme. No other gallery in Scotland has to generate such a high percentage of its income from commercial sources and the Lighthouse has been very successful at that in the past. However, the extra income we needed from rents, grants and conference and events just did not materialise as businesses, organisations and charitable trusts cut back on their activities when the credit crunch hit and the recession deepened. The Lighthouse, already in a vulnerable position and with no reserves to call on, has not been able to rally.
“The Board hopes that the Administrator, working with ourselves, the City Council as owners of the Lighthouse building and the Government as the major funder, will be able to get a resolution that ensures the future of this early Mackintosh building, so important to Glasgow's architectural heritage. We also hope to protect some of the Lighthouse's key activities and exhibitions, and to maintain public access to the building. Most of all, we hope to find a way for The Lighthouse to continue in some way to fulfil its vital role as Scotland's National Centre for Architecture, Design and the City,” concluded McAllister.
As rumours began to circulate of its impending administration yesterday, Simon Farrell, chairman of the Design Business Association Scotland, commented: “From a professional and personal point of view I think this is very sad news. The Lighthouse has acted as a beacon for Scottish design and architecture over the past few years and it will be a real shame to see it go. I sincerely hope the board can find a way to keep the light shining."
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As a design community we need to take some responsibility and some action on this.
There is an online group forum which was set up when news started to filter a few weeks back: http://lighthouserenewed.ning.com/ Some constructive thoughts, opinions and support would be appreciated...
Sorry to hear that good people are losing their jobs. But I have to say I am not sorry to see the back of this Deyan Sudjic inspired folly. The building was never fit for purpose as a design centre - its spaces were either too big or too large. And is running costs were such that the entire strategy of all those in the public sector with resposibility for promoting good design became dominated with simply keeping this building open. Now we have dispensed with this millstone lets hope public money can be diverted into more meaningful projects.
The statement seems to indicate that there are still some options on the table for both the building and the activities and the exhbitions... so "we have dispensed with millstone" seems a bit inaccurate to be honest.
does this mean they wont spam us with crap invitations now?
The Lighthouse is a fantastic building with fine commercial potential that has never been fully investigated, developed or realised. The management and lack of inspired commercial development is the folly, not the building. Hoist on its own petard springs to mind. Great pity. Emlyn would seem to have the most balanced view.
I love The Lighthouse. It had so much potential. I've done a lot of work with them over the years, mainly through their education programme, devising and delivering courses and workshops. We used to record Urban Learning Space seminars and produced a podcast series for them (www.innerear.co.uk/category/clients/the-lighthouse/) and ran some digital media workshops for them. Their education work was brilliant.
The exhibitions were good, perhaps a little esoteric at times but often interesting and inspiring.
I never thought the building worked well commercially, apart from the shop, which had great potential. Their marketing and PR could have been much more visible. They could have used social media to amplify their activities. Anonymous person, you have a good point about lack of publicity. (but don't post anonymously). Stephen, did you get emails from them? I didn't get many invites. Maybe they should have found a better way to reach people. Gordon, I disagree that the building wasn't fit for purpose. I think the building is fantastic but perhaps the way it was used wasn't quite right.
Essentially I think the problem lies in setting an organisation up as a publicly funded arts space, with an education remit, then withdrawing that funding and expecting that organisation to function as a business. Arts organisations can be businesslike and businesses can be artistic, but the two don't come together often enough. I think there's a real need to bring the two worlds together.
There's a new 'creative' place opening today in The Trongate, just as this closes! Surely a real revenue-saving, missed opportunity? I was active in supporting Lighthouse but it was upside down. The cafe-bar, which should have been the hub was miles away, the reception was a soulless, empty void that created barriers. I quite liked Lighthouse but I make a living out of design and creative services, the punters they needed to visit don't! It lacked 'everyman' appeal. It should have been a top 'club' space like Milkweg in Amsterdam, it was dead at night, when most people are looking for something to do. It was too snooty, too elitist.
I never took my 8 year old son there, not even once. That tells you a lot.
Dugall, and Victor, yes, exactly. It's an amazing building. One of Glasgow's best kept secrets, and that's the problem. Commerciality was always precious. Why? It should have been a brand and wasn't. It should have been lots of things to different people and wasn't. Just one of these scary public sector things that seems to blight. It's certainly not a millstone, just a place that very much now needs to be embraced and brought into the public realm as a project that could have major legs if handled in a more savvy commercial way, still keeping it's integrity as a fantastic business and educational/arts/cultural opportunity for the right organisation with vision.
Think the last thing the lighthouse needs to be thinking about now is being a 'brand'. It needs to be a space (online and offline), full of life and activity, where the design and architecture community in scotland feel that they can make things happen. To that end, the aforementioned community (well, some of it) is gathering on a ning site to exchange ideas for the future of the lighthouse, (as already mentioned by emlyn). Lots of specific, constructive and creative ideas already there. Would encourage as many people as possible to join up and contribute ideas: http://lighthouserenewed.ning.com
Trongate 103 is a red herring in this discussion— it is a renovated arts building. It contains arts organisations and individuals all of whom have been resident in the king st/saltmarket area for a long time, have been running their own arts based activites for some time, and will continue to do so in this renovated space. A more significant comparison is the support of the SNP for a V&A in dundee, but even that is not necessarily like for like, and anyway, the more creative spaces the better... more on that here: http://lighthouserenewed.ning.com/profiles/blogs/dundee-1-glasgow-0-but-...
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