Letters / The fear of being publicly accountable
Last Thursday at around 5.30 pm, as I sat in Mareel’s foyer space, surrounded by film posters that have little or no connection to these islands, I tried to log on to the online AGM organised by Shetland Arts.
Though the meeting was (in reality!) taking place only a short distance away, I was unable to either attend or contribute.
My proximity generated many thoughts. It made me increasingly wonder where and what the trustees and CO were hiding from. Even the time of the meeting was a way of preventing the majority of those who were in full-time work from attending.
As for those who had a physical presence within the building, in most locations, they would have been able to meet in the auditorium, asking direct questions of those who sat around circling a closed-in table.
Lots of thoughts came to mind. Some of them were positive. We were told that in financial terms, Shetland Arts were – at present – in the black, though there were also doubts expressed that this was a long-term situation.
(Chief executive Graeme Howell apparently said once decisions on core funding from Shetland Charitable Trust and Creative Scotland are made the charity will “need to review the structure of the organisation’.)
However, even this uncertainty would result in an open public meeting in many, if not the majority, of locations throughout the country.
Why does Shetland Arts keep dodging its responsibility to keep people informed?
How many times, for instance, has the chief executive spoken to the local media over the past months and year? Isn’t this a dodging of professional responsibility – a mixture of silence and stealth?
The notion, too, that a publicly funded body’s AGM is not really for the widest possible consumption and debate is clearly unacceptable and the opposite of good governance.
Board members have the responsibility of addressing this, particularly in an arts agency which – in most examples – should encourage the widest possible range of freedom of expression.
In short, to quote Chris Smith, the former secretary of state for culture, if SADA was less ‘moothless’ and led properly, public, and encouraging open discourse, perhaps the people of Shetland might be less moothless about “the finer things of life that make life worth living”.
And that especially applies to our youngsters – who in other locations across Scotland receive far greater encouragement and support in terms of developing their artistic skills.
This critique of governance and management applies to many other publicly funded organisations in Shetland, culturally related or not. Their fear of being publicly accountable is palpable.
James J Paton
Lerwick
Arts organisation should have funding clarity in coming months
