New arthouse cinema (Pálás)

westgolf

The fact that the opening post in this thread is EIGHT years old says it all really !

nuac

Time to close down this project and sell the site.

Gross misuse of public funds for some luvvies' "cinemaw"

Arghus

nuac wrote: »

Gross misuse of public funds for some luvvies' "cinemaw"

To be fair, the problem is that it isn't anybody's cinema.

dilallio

Work to recommence in October

http://connachttribune.ie/work-to-resume-on-controversial-picture-palace-in-october-011/

Work on the controversial Picture Palace arthouse cinema in the city is set to resume in October following a myriad of recent delays.
It’s now estimated that the long-awaited cultural venue will be completed in time for the Galway Film Fleadh in July 2017.

wetlandsboy

A story on the arthouse cinema was just on Morning Ireland, in advance of a feature on tonight's Primetime.

joeKel73

wetlandsboy wrote: »

A story on the arthouse cinema was just on Morning Ireland, in advance of a feature on tonight's Primetime.

https://www.rte.ie/radio1/morning-ireland/programmes/2016/0927/819468-morning-ireland-tuesday-27-september-2016/?clipid=2293131#2293131

Arghus

J o e wrote: »

https://www.rte.ie/radio1/morning-ireland/programmes/2016/0927/819468-morning-ireland-tuesday-27-september-2016/?clipid=2293131#2293131

I was wondering when the story was going to gain some traction, it's crazy!

TerrorFirmer

Galway Bay fm newsroom – The controversial city Picture Palace is to feature on Prime Time this evening. (Tuesday 27/9)

The SOLAS arthouse cinema has been the subject of several delays in recent years – despite having received millions of euro in public funding.

The building remains unfinished, and will require significant additional funding to be brought into use.

The running of the picture palace has recently been taken over by Dublin firm Element Pictures.

A report on the matter will be broadcast on Prime Time at 9.35 this evening.

Prime Time reporter Fran McNulty says the project has been ‘cursed’ since the beginning.

Lelia Doolin, who led the project from the start, says she doesn’t know why the development is being featured on the programme.

City CEO Brendan McGrath has admitted that the Picture Palace is being featured as a result of the amount of public money it has received.

Looking forward to seeing this. They did some fair digging on it I believe so be interesting to see what comes out.

Thargor

Sounds like a complete and utter disaster according to Primetime, millions upon millions p1ssed away and it barely looked halfway finished, they were denied permission to go inside, same crowd of muppets running it since day one aswell.

joeKel73

The Arthouse Cinema accounts department...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDIbYXM2jK0

Arghus

Jaysus. I'm more despondant than ever after watching that. A bewildering fifteen minutes of money trails and blame being shifted about. Christ, so much money, so many people, too many years and still no end in sight.

It's depressing to think that the most intensive digging done on that site since it's started was by Prime-Time in unearthing some of the crap that got brought out into public view tonight.

When Michael "I'm sick of trees" Crowe seems to be the most rightly annoyed and sane individual being interviewed to talk about the project, well, then you know reality is seriously out of whack. What amused me, in a blackly farcical manner of course, was how calm and relaxed the Minister, the city council and Element Pictures seemed to be about how it was all working out: sure don't mind about the money and those mad divils from Solas, once it's built it'll be the bee's knees.

"Did you carry out due diligence?"
"We carried out our own due diligence..."

pure.conya

So that Lelia Doolin just plays the thick regarding the whole thing? It baffles me how somebody so incompetant can be put in charge of such an ambitious project costing millions

beardybrewer

wetlandsboy wrote: »

A story on the arthouse cinema was just on Morning Ireland, in advance of a feature on tonight's Primetime.

http://www.rte.ie/player/ie/show/prime-time-30003251/10628632/#pos=946

nuac

Interesting programme.

A few points occur

1. Western Development Commission

Is it part of their function to support projects such as this? I thought they had Connacht wide responsibilities. Could think of better ways of investing their funds

2. There is now a large business community in Galway city. May be slow to put up funds as I only heard mention of about €300 K from non tax payer sources.

3. Apart from Michael D and some cinemaw luvvies, is there any paying demand for this facility?

Crowe spoke a lot of sense

Even if this is completed I doubt if an "arts cinemaw" will entice enough paying bums onto those seats. There are already a number of cinemas in Galway

Time to pull plant, close project and sell

ben.schlomo

nuac wrote: »

Interesting programme.

A few points occur

1. Western Development Commission

Is it part of their function to support projects such as this? I thought they had Connacht wide responsibilities. Could think of better ways of investing their funds

2. There is now a large business community in Galway city. May be slow to put up funds as I only heard mention of about €300 K from non tax payer sources.

3. Apart from Michael D and some cinemaw luvvies, is there any paying demand for this facility?

Crowe spoke a lot of sense

Even if this is completed I doubt if an "arts cinemaw" will entice enough paying bums onto those seats. There are already a number of cinemas in Galway

Time to pull plant, close project and sell

When completed then it's the new company's problem regarding demand etc. I for one would be interested in using an arts cinemaw, whatever a cinemaw is, not everyone wants to go and watch Fast and the furious 28 surrounded by teens on their phones.

joeKel73

This should have never got beyond the planning stages.

As was pointed out last night...

http://connachttribune.ie/government-had-concerns-over-picture-palace-cinema-211/ wrote:

The business plan for the Picture Palace addresses the issue of demand by citing a 14-year-old Arts Council report under a section entitled “Proven Need for Cultural Cinema in Galway”.

The financial projections contained in the business plan are based on a minimum of 63 film screenings each week and minimum weekly attendances of 1,722 people. This is based on 25% seat occupancy

Not a hope would they get an average of over 27 people at 9 screenings every day.

They should have started by subsidising artsy films in Galway's commercial cinemas.

charlie_says

Solas didn't come of out of that looking well at all. Stinks of mismanagement and possibly corruption. Seems ludicrous that someone would draw a salary as a charity director unless they were just totally ignorant (and their accountants and solicitors) of the law or just simply thought it was worth grabbing as it'd get lost in the sea of funds that have been spent.

The lack of tendering for the running of the cinema and the body language and response of the director from Element looked and sounded suspect. Might wonder that there is more of a story there?

At least they have a good track record of running cinemas, they got a peach of deal with this.

Arghus

charlie_says wrote: »

Solas didn't come of out of that looking well at all. Stinks of mismanagement and possibly corruption. Seems ludicrous that someone would draw a salary as a charity director unless they were just totally ignorant (and their accountants and solicitors) of the law or just simply thought it was worth grabbing as it'd get lost in the sea of funds that have been spent.

The lack of tendering for the running of the cinema and the body language and response of the director from Element looked and sounded suspect. Might wonder that there is more of a story there?

At least they have a good track record of running cinemas, they got a peach of deal with this.

I especially liked the part when he started absentmindedly pulling on his shirt collar while attempting to spoof his way out of properly answering a question. It was almost cartoon like. Though Element, like you say, have a good record in running cinemas.

what_traffic

Arghus wrote: »

I especially liked the part when he started absentmindedly pulling on his shirt collar while attempting to spoof his way out of properly answering a question. It was almost cartoon like. Though Element, like you say, have a good record in running cinemas.

At least he appeared, but not the best time alright to be pulling on the shirt collar.
No representation from Solas was poor form.

pure.conya

ben.schlomo wrote: »

When completed then it's the new company's problem regarding demand etc. I for one would be interested in using an arts cinemaw, whatever a cinemaw is, not everyone wants to go and watch Fast and the furious 28 surrounded by teens on their phones.

There's already an arty cinema screen and space in the eye with fancy seating and a bar so there was absolutely no need for a €9,000,000+ art cinemaw in the city

ben.schlomo

pure.conya wrote: »

There's already an arty cinema screen and space in the eye with fancy seating and a bar so there was absolutely no need for a €9,000,000+ art cinemaw in the city

Sure there must be no demand so,may as well not bother with any new infrastructure as we can shoehorn everything into something else. Just because it's been managed like a five year old was in charge doesn't mean it shouldn't be put to use, what would your proposal be for the site?

pure.conya

ben.schlomo wrote: »

Sure there must be no demand so,may as well not bother with any new infrastructure as we can shoehorn everything into something else. Just because it's been managed like a five year old was in charge doesn't mean it shouldn't be put to use, what would your proposal be for the site?

If I'm honest I don't know if the size of the site it's good for much, in my mi the whole project was a complete disaster since the planning stages, it was only every going to be so big because of it's location, I'm at a complete loss as to where it should go from here but I'm annoyed enough over the millions wasted again to say it should be scrapped and worry about what goes in in its place at a later date

Thargor

ben.schlomo wrote: »

Sure there must be no demand so,may as well not bother with any new infrastructure as we can shoehorn everything into something else. Just because it's been managed like a five year old was in charge doesn't mean it shouldn't be put to use, what would your proposal be for the site?

Theres barely enough demand for the one in the eye so no, they shouldn't build any new arthouse cinema infrastructure, especially when their own due diligence shows crazy amounts of crowds every week to keep it afloat.

ben.schlomo

Thargor wrote: »

Theres barely enough demand for the one in the eye so no, they shouldn't build any new arthouse cinema infrastructure, especially when their own due diligence shows crazy amounts of crowds every week to keep it afloat.

As above, what's your solution or suggestion? Tear it down at more cost to the taxpayer? Or open it, employ people and see what happens? Just seems even more of a waste to not at least try it at this stage.

Thargor

We dont need to see what happens, we already know its doomed:

The financial projections contained in the business plan are based on a minimum of 63 film screenings each week and minimum weekly attendances of 1,722 people. This is based on 25% seat occupancy

Unless public funds continue to be pumped into it forever so maybe quitting now and selling it might be best.

Arghus

pure.conya wrote: »

If I'm honest I don't know if the size of the site it's good for much, in my mi the whole project was a complete disaster since the planning stages, it was only every going to be so big because of it's location, I'm at a complete loss as to where it should go from here but I'm annoyed enough over the millions wasted again to say it should be scrapped and worry about what goes in in its place at a later date

If you look at how much of a disastrous saga the whole thing has been from the beginning - and you take into account what looks to have been an airy-fairy and ludicrously ambitious business plan - then I think it's fair to say that it's a project that should never have been undertaken. And I say that as a person who is compulsive cinema goer and serious film fan - someone who was delighted to hear that a project like this was being planned for the city.

So if I could travel back in time I'd spend my days busily shouting "Stop! Don't do it!". However, I don't agree with the idea that after all this time and all of this money that the best thing to do would be simply say: enough, thanks, and then walk away.

It's frustrating because of the money and time, but it's also imperative to actually finish the project, to get something up and running because of the money and time already invested. A lot more resources than could ever could credibly be claimed as needed has been poured in - it's been a shameful disgrace, absolutely - but at this stage I'd rather something was salvaged from the whole debacle. The money has been spent: It's not coming back. I think for the project to be entirely abandoned now, at this stage, would be cutting off our nose to spite our face.

As stupid and all as it sounds: I'd rather have a cinema that cost too much; rather than a hole in the ground and a half finished building - because that particular outcome would definitely also cost too much and stand as the final stupid insult to top it all off.

We can have something that shouldn't have taken all the time and money, but it is still, at the end of all of it, something. Or we can have another outcome that will also have cost an arm and a leg and years, but will just amount to nothing - less than nothing, even.

I still think - if the day of opening ever actually fookin' comes - that the picture palace still has the potential to be a valuable addition to the city. It has been pain beyond pain up until this point, but I'd wager if it was actually to see the light of day Element could make a good job of running it. And I think the assumption that it is only going to cater solely to the tiny subsection of Galway society that really gives a crap about "arthouse", cinema is wide of the mark. To survive it will have to cater to a broader audience - they simply have no choice. Look at how Element's own Lighthouse Cinema operates in Dublin: they don't just show plenty of obscure stuff, they also run slightly leftfield mainstream cinema releases, revivals, etc, etc. And we're talking about a cultural institution that could potentially last for years or decades and become a proper cultural hub for the town. It could have knock on tangential benefits for things like the growth of theFleadh, the film schools and the local film and TV industry. Who knows?

Optimistic in the extreme, I know. But I'd rather hold out some hope for the future than be stuck looking at a half finished building site, which we've washed our hands of, for the next God knows how many years!

pure.conya

Arghus wrote: »

If you look at how much of a disastrous saga the whole thing has been from the beginning - and you take into account what looks to have been an airy-fairy and ludicrously ambitious business plan - then I think it's fair to say that it's a project that should never have been undertaken. And I say that as a person who is compulsive cinema goer and serious film fan - someone who was delighted to hear that a project like this was being planned for the city.

So if I could travel back in time I'd spend my days busily shouting "Stop! Don't do it!". However, I don't agree with the idea that after all this time and all of this money that the best thing to do would be simply say: enough, thanks, and then walk away.

It's frustrating because of the money and time, but it's also imperative to actually finish the project, to get something up and running because of the money and time already invested. A lot more resources than could ever could credibly be claimed as needed has been poured in - it's been a shameful disgrace, absolutely - but at this stage I'd rather something was salvaged from the whole debacle. The money has been spent: It's not coming back. I think for the project to be entirely abandoned now, at this stage, would be cutting off our nose to spite our face.

As stupid and all as it sounds: I'd rather have a cinema that cost too much; rather than a hole in the ground and a half finished building - because that particular outcome would definitely also cost too much and stand as the final stupid insult to top it all off.

We can have something that shouldn't have taken all the time and money, but it is still, at the end of all of it, something. Or we can have another outcome that will also have cost an arm and a leg and years, but will just amount to nothing - less than nothing, even.

I still think - if the day of opening ever actually fookin' comes - that the picture palace still has the potential to be a valuable addition to the city. It has been pain beyond pain up until this point, but I'd wager if it was actually to see the light of day Element could make a good job of running it. And I think the assumption that it is only going to cater solely to the tiny subsection of Galway society that really gives a crap about "arthouse", cinema is wide of the mark. To survive it will have to cater to a broader audience - they simply have no choice. Look at how Element's own Lighthouse Cinema operates in Dublin: they don't just show plenty of obscure stuff, they also run slightly leftfield mainstream cinema releases, revivals, etc, etc. And we're talking about a cultural institution that could potentially last for years or decades and become a proper cultural hub for the town. It could have knock on tangential benefits for things like the growth of theFleadh, the film schools and the local film and TV industry. Who knows?

Optimistic in the extreme, I know. But I'd rather hold out some hope for the future than be stuck looking at a half finished building site, which we've washed our hands of, for the next God knows how many years!

Arghus, I fear that you as well as many others in this city have been held to ransom by being made feel there's too much skin in the game to pull out now. The whole idea and their projections are a complete crock of shít and there is absolutely no need to continue this nonsense for one more second. The money it's gone and the chances of recovering it are probably slim to none, it's time to cut our losses, move on and there will be a far better organisation will eventually come along with a plan for the site as it stands today, right now we need to stop this madness of doing the same thing over and over while expecting different results.

The city has an art house cinema in the eye with plenty of a choice on offer. The art house cinema is a surplus to requirements at the least and a major embarrassment so far and into the future if the city goes ahead and pumps even more money in

Arghus

pure.conya wrote: »

Arghus, I fear that you as well as many others in this city have been held to ransom by being made feel there's too much skin in the game to pull out now. The whole idea and their projections are a complete crock of shít and there is absolutely no need to continue this nonsense for one more second. The money it's gone and the chances of recovering it are probably slim to none, it's time to cut our losses, move on and there will be a far better organisation will eventually come along with a plan for the site as it stands today, right now we need to stop this madness of doing the same thing over and over while expecting different results.

The city has an art house cinema in the eye with plenty of a choice on offer. The art house cinema is a surplus to requirements at the least and a major embarrassment so far and into the future if the city goes ahead and pumps even more money in

To be fair - vague claims like "a far better organisation will come along" and "we should worry about what will happen at a later date" are somewhat nebulous predictions about the future. What if - in the case that the plug is pulled - the site stays unused for years on end and it amounts to nothing? Would it be a case for you then of: Pheww! At least they didn't put a cinema there!

stampydmonkey

Cut losses.....sell to developer for nothing...build some well needed new apartments

pure.conya

Arghus wrote: »

To be fair - vague claims like "a far better organisation will come along" and "we should worry about what will happen at a later date" are somewhat nebulous predictions about the future. What if - in the case that the plug is pulled - the site stays unused for years on end and it amounts to nothing? Would it be a case for you then of: Pheww! At least they didn't put a cinema there!

With respect, your extreme optimism as you put it yourself is no better. Having listened to arty types repeat the same nonsense bigging up this project for years, the repeated applications for more funding to finish the job several times at this stage, being inconvenienced by the crazy traffic restrictions that the city had to endure for years during the build I for one am sick of it all. You asked me what I would do with it and I told you I don't think the site is fit for much.

You seem to think repeating more of the same mistakes that have been made the last 8 or 9 is the way to go as if there isn't a more deserving and viable organisation to be found anywhere in the city either now or in the near future that can come in and make far better use of the space created.

Looking at the daft solas projections for when they opened (lol) it's clear we didn't actually require an art house cinema 8 years ago and we most certainly don't need one now so yes I would breath a sigh of relief every time I pass it that at least they didn't put a cinema there