David_Schneider On July 21st, 2015 I sat in the gallery observing a meeting of the Parliament of Barbados. At one point while they were debating the manner in which the history of the country should be presented, a member said the Empire Theatre should be preserved considering its role in the Uprising of 1937.I Googled and found this article from 2012 saying the Empire was the first place attacked and should therefore be a museum for the riots:http://www.nationnews.com/nationnews/news/27319/-empire-riots-museum(Wish I knew how to hyperlink.)

BEAT Barbados are tirelessly campaigning to bring the Empire back and plan to transform it into a state of the art yet sympathetically restored centre for performing arts. If it goes ahead, The Empire could be the leading entertainment venue in the Caribbean! CEO and Founder of BEAT Barbados, Jim McGowan (seen below exploring the projection room in inappropriate footwear for such an activity) has dedicated the past two years of his life to persuading government to back his proposal, along with getting plenty of financial backing to make this happen. Some extremely well known celebrities are among those championing the project. The Empire is causing a real buzz in its own crumbly, silent and patient way.

Photo: Keith Clarke

Published Friday, May 4, Pages 35 and 36 WEEKEND NATION
HEADLINE: Shift burden!
by RICKY JORDAN

ONE OF THE THREE proposals to restore the derelict Empire Theatre is in a Catch-22 situation. Registered local charity BEAT (Barbados Entertainers, Artistes and Technicians) Foundation, which proposed its restoration plan of the iconic building over a year ago, is now offering to help Government raise the needed funds – some $25 million – to restore and reopen the Probyn Street, City building within a year. But it needs Government’s approval to do so, and urgently, given the deterioration of the structure since its closure almost 35 years ago.

“The Empire is now in a vulnerable state owing to the fact it has been neglected and now has the appearance of being an abandoned structure for years. It has become a tragic eyesore in Bridgetown and we are concerned it is now at risk of being demolished through neglect,” BEAT chairman Jim McGowan told the WEEKEND NATION.

With this in mind, the foundation wants to shift the burden of responsibility for the funding, restoring and operating of the Empire away from Government and into the hands of the community, which would include philanthropic organizations, the artistic fraternity and the general public. “BEAT believes that given the opportunity, the community will rise up and raise the necessary money and that it will succeed in securing sufficient funding and philanthropic gifts, once the community can get the nod from Government,” McGowan added. “At the end of the day it seems that it comes down to one simple thing, which is: do we have the money to do the project? In our discussions with Government, while they appear to like everything else about our project, the one challenge is that they would like comfort or some assurance that we would get the money. It is an understandable position. However, the problem is that we can’t go out and start a campaign to get the money for a building that we don’t have any legal right to, or at least some form of agreement to,” explained McGowan.

“To go out and start asking for money on behalf of the Empire without having permission or a legal document would make us, essentially, frauds. Therefore, we need to have some letter of comfort, a letter of agreement, some way of Government endorsing and giving us permission to go forward and do the fund-raising. So it’s a chicken and an egg scenario. What comes first? The money or the permission to go and get the money?” asked the founder of BEAT, whose board includes secretary John McKenzie, fund-raising chairman Guy Beauvais, and artistes’ representative Andrew Pilgrim.

Government, meanwhile, has stated it was also considering two other private sector proposals, and though these have not been disclosed in detail by Government or the other proposers, reports have circulated that there is one proposal to use the Empire space as a boutique/brewery and another to restore it as part of an overall Pierhead redevelopment project.

But McGowan, who was involved in the restoration of the Elgin & Winter Garden Theatres, an Ontario Heritage Foundation Project in Toronto, said he believed the BEAT Foundation’s proposal was the only one currently available online for public perusal and the lone one genuinely catering to the arts and heritage aspect. With a vision for Barbados to become “the entertainment capital of the Caribbean”, he suggested that entertainment, developed on a grand scale, could be a catalyst to rejuvenate the economy, create employment opportunities, and add value to the Barbados brand and destination.

“Government has had many years to find the money to restore the Empire, and now BEAT Foundation is asking for a one-year window and to be permitted the opportunity to secure the funding to restore and reopen the Empire. “To give this initiative the best possible chance of success, we would like to see the project be as non-partisan as possible since it is a nation-building one and should therefore be set up for success in a manner that can unite the entire nation,” he added. In fact, McGowan added, if the Empire is seen through the lens of partisan politics, it would potentially divide Barbadians’ views and their support for it.

“It might be idealistic to think that we could get unanimous consensus and support from all politicians, but that’s what we’re going to strive for. Basically we’re asking at this point for the politicians to give a vote of confidence to the people, so they could take on the project as citizens, raise the funds, put it back together and use it for public benefit,” he stated.

With costs projected at US$10 million to $15 million, the 859-seat theatre, which opened in 1922 and closed in the late 1970s, has been on the radar of successive Governments for some time, with plans to employ a Cuban architectural firm, to have it retrofitted by Chinese and, mainly, to use it as a centre for the performing arts. Since then, its roof has caved in and it has become a bush-strewn haven for rodents and insects.

While the Empire would run as a performing arts venue solely, the FCH ought to be marketed for business meetings, equipped with the latest in teleconferencing services, presentations, recordings,  other ancillary services and of course serve as a performing arts venue. The FCH has limited wing space, no fly space, a shallow stage and no orchestra pit and its seating is small. To put in an orchestra pit would mean sacrificing about 100 to 150 seats and the expense of excavation to access the pit by underground  would take it out of use for a long period of time.

The work begins with the need to build competitive packages to attract record companies that meet or undercut other international studios. This would include a cooperative effort by local stakeholders; the waiving of taxes on equipment brought in by recording companies by government and the like.

Then, there needs to be a major marketing push, Barbados, because of Rihanna has become a top of the mind name across the globe, we are ideally placed to be able to approach prominent names in the business. People like Simon Cowell, Mick Jagger  and L.A. Read to name three. If we build it, they will come because Barbados is not unfamiliar, these people have become known faces on the West Coast of Barbados over the years.

The Empire, we know, will need to be gutted and therefore it can be restructured to include balconies to maximise seating, wing space, fly space and an orchestra pit. That means that it will not be as acoustically compliant as the FCH. However, the limitation on shows that can be performed would be greatly eased. The Empire also ought to have a sprung stage to accommodate dance at the ballet level.

There is no point in thinking however that shows in Barbados can just take off from the get go. Those of us who visit the theatre when we have reason to travel to New York or London for example, the most a major production can sustain itself in Barbados is probably 3 nights. It means that theatre is not the kind of production to be cost-effective to start with. The key to making it work is to marry what some aspire to do in Barbados with our tourism product. By expanding our tourism advertising and landing major names to perform, then, little by little, pre-sales can be managed as a part of the tourism attraction for example and it will lead to being able to sustain shows for longer periods of time and make them more cost-effective.

Hopefully with people like Sir Cliff and others like him living in Barbados who happen to be rich and can identify with a project like this, it will ensure breakeven i.e. it can sustain itself. Major theatres around the world, it is known, rely in the main on contributions from patrons etc. Perhaps Sir Charles, Sir Kyffin and other local deep pockets maybe persuaded to contribute.

The key is to enable the Barbados environment to grow interest and support in the Arts  and by extension the cultural industry. In this process our local cadre of artistes will benefit from participation in the process. We have to take baby steps, something our local cadre of artistes must accept. Here is an ideal opportunity to set up an apprentice scheme for  people interested in pursing a career in the arts both locally and internationally. This is what leveraging our level of education and diversifying our economy is all about.

What about the many tours undertaken by performing arts groups. One such is the St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, which undertakes world tours playing for one or two nights on each stop. Then, there is the Bolshoi and Kirov Ballets. And this is just Russia. Then, there are theatrical touring companies of productions such as Les Miserables and Phantom of the Opera and the like. So far we have had to make do with a periodic visit from the Chinese. Two or three nights of any of those mentioned would sell out as soon as the tickets went on sale. Also, there is the opportunity to do pantomimes, which need to have a local flavour and be performed by local artists with a local political and social satire – and those would sustain for a longer run. St. Winifreds School and Peoples Cathedral Christmas programs come to mind which are hugely popular. In such an environment there is the opportunity to inspire local productions.

The debate about the Arts and the need to grow culture in Barbados must be discussed, planned and prioritized by our policymakers with more urgency. Yes we have to design the strategy to ensure that as a sector it can sustain itself but the expression of a people is so important to defining identify, until we do so we will continue to be rudderless on the global seas where national boundaries have become blurred and by extension weak indigenous culture has become watered-down.

To our friends in the local Arts community who have been frustrated over the years to the lip service given to culture in Barbados, we feel your pain but the journey will be long and tortuous but it is one which must be started.