Library gallery campaigners to hold own 'engagement events' (From Kidderminster Shuttle)

Heather presented an intelligent and coherent argument to the County Council yesterday. She pointed out that the so-called public engagement was deliberately misleading and that the council was in breach of every aspect of its own guidelines on the promotion of the arts. This included the fact that every pound spent on the arts by the council produces a much larger income, so the library gallery should be seen as a moneyspinner. It's failure in that aspect is entirely down to lack of input from the County, which now wishes to destroy it. In other words, John Campion's department at Worcestershire County Council has thrown money down the drain for years and decided to deprive Kidderminster of a cultural and financial asset for the sake of shuffling budgets around.

In addition his department has twisted the figures to create an entirely false impression of public opinion. It's a disgrace.

So actually there are even more questions, yet to be answered by Mr John Campion. Maybe a realisation that the capacity to 'Think Local' means looking beyond one's person political space and engaging with those at home with the issue on the table, could facilitate the way forward.

It is clear from the planning statement that library staff under the guise of being 'pro-active chose to manipulate the outcome by distinguishing between Arts and Music users and frequent users. How this differentiation took place is clearly open to question.
A total charade that demonstrates the lengths that will be gone to by those with the power. A song and dance in itself.

The whole point of the Gallery was/is that it is an integrated, single venue, custom built and equiped facility to cover all the arts in one venue. Simple enough to understand, one might suggest, but not if you are County Council cabinet (or it seems, the County Arts Department) - the venue is now to be split - pictures hung elsewhere in the library and a top class piano put into a totally unsuitable room used, mainly, for jumble sales! Not once, in this whole process, has WCC offered to meet with the Friends to debate the options to run the Gallery, or the alternatives that we were prepared to consider to find a mutual resolution to this. All WCC can say is the Friends "didnt want change". How do they know what the Friends wanted? The only "discussion" was to inform that they were going with Option A (the loss of the second floor facility).
Clearly they were democratic cowards, fearing, that in debate with those who really understood the issues, they would lose the arguement when they had already decided what the outcome was going to be. That is not democracy or community engagement in action. That is dictatorship and the abuse of power because you have the power to abuse.

I suggest anyome so minded goes and watches the cabinet podcast where they discuss libraries and in particular the gallery.

Interesting not least, because John Campion claimed that there is no group, and the chances are remote that one will come along, to help them realise the savings needed for Kidderminster Library (short version paraphrased).

Really John? It has clearly escaped your attention that that is exactly what the Friends were set up to do and are constituted to do. eg: Help the Council develop and promote the Gallery and seek funding as a voluntary group to enable that to happen. But then as you didn't actually talk to the Friends as a collective to find that out, it suits you to say that, and now as a matter of public record, that no such group exists. I will leave others to determine whether such a statement is actually deliberately misleading and what the consequences should be of that.

However, it was actually comedy gold in the same cabinet podcast to hear Marcus Hart wholeheartedly support his WFDC leader and WCC cabinet colleague in claiming the cabinet library report as an example of 'localism'. Really? Which bit? I suggest he go reads the Bill his own party produced, it might be quite enlightening for him.

There were other things in the cabinet's debate and justification of their actions that are open to challenge. But they are fortunate enough to hold positions in a type of governance (cabinet) that makes such a challenge very difficult - which is why I imagine they feel untouchable. But the Gallery Friends will be studying this and responding in due course.

And as Howard says, they are indeed democratic cowards because in an open debate they would actually struggle.

So, I challenge John Campion and any of his cabinet colleagues who think what they are doing is justified, to an open public debate about the gallery with the Friends.