Summerhall reprieved as a Fringe venue
Future of whole complex not clear as sale date set.
Summerhall appears to have been reprieved as a Fringe venue for at least three years, as responsibility for running the venue element of the Summerhall complex is taken over by a new charity ahead of its sale going to a closing date of September 18, 2024.
However, the future of the remaining 120 tenants of the Summerhall complex, who are mostly on single year leases, remains at the mercy of any future buyer of the complex, which was put on the market by owners Oesselmann Estates Limited in May this year (see Summerhall For Sale)
The various elements of Summerhall. Summerhall Arts has three-year leases on rooms in the Main Building and Pub/Distillery Block. Image: sales document for Summerhall.
The reprieve for the venue element of the complex has been engineered by Sam Gough, Chief Executive of Summerhall Management Limited, the loss making entity which has been running the venue since it was bought by OEL from Edinburgh University 13 years ago.
The main director of Summerhall Management is Robert McDowell, one of McDowell family which also own OEL. Robert McDowell’s philanthropic spending both set up the whole complex and has kept it going. He is not on the board or in a position of governance with Summerhall Arts.
Speaking to All Edinburgh Theatre, Gough confirmed: “Summerhall Arts and Summerhall Management share a human resource in me. I would move fully over to Summerhall Arts for this plan.”
The new charity was set up in October 2023, to “deliver vital support and opportunities to local and national creative arts practitioners and inspire, challenge and engage artists, audiences, and the community, whilst making a lasting contribution to the cultural fabric of Edinburgh and beyond,” according to a statement released at the time.
New plans
Under new plans announced this week, Summerhall Arts will take on a new, three year lease for the venue’s outward-facing, year-round spaces within the complex. This will be a reduced footprint to that currently used by Summerhall Management.
In a statement announcing the plans, Gough said: “Summerhall was put on the market by the current owners in May. Since then, we have been working flat out to find a way to safeguard the consistent artistic delivery and the year-round programme of events at Summerhall, not just through the sales process, but into the future.
Members of the Summerhall Arts team. Marcus Pickering (Chair), Harry Mould (Trustee), Samantha Chapman (Visual Arts and Cinema Curator), Arusa Qureshi (Music Programmer), Sam Gough (CEO), Tom Forster (Performance Programmer) and Nancy Riach (Trustee). Pic: Peter Dibdin.
“Whilst the Fringe and other events for this year are safe, we have been conscious that a longer-term future for the management of the building and the delivery of the arts has been less certain.”
Outlining the reduction of space leased under the plans, Gough told Æ that in the rambling old building, gone would be “storerooms, old cupboards, everything above the first floor, all of Robert’s stuff upstairs.”
He continued: “What we have is all of the galleries and all the theatre spaces. All the arts outward spaces I still have and the exclusivity to do all of the artistic output as per normal. So for the majority of punters they would see no difference. The food and beverage operation all the annual program of events and the bars that support it, and the pub, will stay with me.”
The parts of the complex only used by Summerhall Arts during the Fringe – including he basement of the Tech Cube, the Demonstration Room and the Cairns lecture theatre – would be leased for a two month period over the Fringe.
“My costs, my core costs are slashed because I would not be a lead tenant, I would just be a tenant – which is a great thing to be,” Gough said.
concerns
Other tenancies at Summerhall are on a much less secure footing. Æ has spoken to several tenants who have expressed concern about the future of the complex as a hub of artistic endeavour with a wide range of different companies in the one space, and of their own position in particular.
The Summerhall Arts lease covers rooms in only the Main building and Pub/Distillery Block of the buildings of the Summerhall complex. It has none in the Tech Cube, Blocks B or C, or the Church, as illustrated in the diagram above. Barney’s Beer has a tenancy in the Brewery and Artist block.
The sales brochure for the complex suggests that refurbishment options for the complex include “residential, galleries and entertainment spaces, boutique hotels, offices, studios, and student housing”.
“From a tenant’s point of view, the announcement has a glaring omission – us!”, one tenant (no relation) told Æ in an off the record comment. “I appreciate that Sam and Summerhall Arts have to be pragmatic about what they can take on (and fundraise for), but this announcement does nothing for the vast majority of tenants who are on one year licences, and it’s a shame that we weren’t mentioned.
“As you probably know from your close sources, there are three tenants with recently renewed 10 year leases who are very secure, while the other tenants are not, despite the big contribution we make to Summerhall’s reputation as an arts hub.
“We feel on pretty shaky ground, even though we’ve all helped keep Summerhall going by paying rent for many years, and can make a valuable – both monetary and reputational – contribution to its future, if we’re included in future plans.”
The longer term tenants include the Barney’s Beer brewery and Pickerings Distillery. Marcus Pickering is also Chair of the new Summerhall Arts.
Fundraiser
In order to secure the means to enable its transition and safeguard the output and the staff, Summerhall Arts has set up a £500,000 fundraiser on JustGiving to cover the additional core costs associated with delivering the annual programme of arts and culture.
Gough said: “In order to get us through the winter into next festival season, we are fundraising to cover core [costs] and also to improve facilities in theatres that desperately need the space and need to help. So it’s just to keep the dream alive.”
ENDS
