Stirrer TV

PUBLIC’S “OPEN DOOR” PLEDGE TO COMMUNITY

30-06-2008

Arts organisations and community groups in the Black Country have been given an “open door” pledge by the bosses at West Brom’s newly opened Public Art Gallery. Bookings director Carol Creasey is calling on members of local groups to come forward and dictate the venue's agenda.

Creasey said: “It’s about saying 'what’s going on around here and what would you like to bring into The Public?' because I think it’s extremely important that the activity in this building is representative of Sandwell people and the local community.

"One of the things that there's been a lot of press coverage about is that there's no theatre or cinema in West Bromwich or in Sandwell.  Well not any more because we've got the facility to do cinema screenings and theatre performances in the theatre, so I think actually we've got a perfectly sized space.

"It's not too big and its not too small, to enable us to deliver a range of activity, and that can go from film screenings to theatre performances to conferences and training activitities or music.we're open to people coming in and having a chat with us about 'what would you like to do in the building?' - and how can we work together with local people to deliver that.

"I think the success of The Public is going to be in our partnerships.  It's not for us to come in and say, 'this is what's going to happen'.

"I think it's about our partnerships with Sandwell communities and organisations to say, 'how would you like to populate this space?  What programme would you like to see going on in here and how can we work to to deliver that?'

"The door's open.  If you'd like to do something come an have a cup of tea and a chat and lets see whether or not we can accomodate what you had in mind because its all of our building".

"It's not for us to determine what goes on in here.  It's up to us to work with the local community and local representatives to make it work."

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