The Woolwich Works arts venue struggled after trying to operate under a “west London model”, Greenwich’s tourism boss has said – but he believes the troubled arts venue will recover under its new head Nick WIlliams.
The flagship arts venue in the Royal Arsenal opened in 2021 after costing Greenwich Council £45 million to refurbish and fit out – £14 million over the publicised budget. But it quickly ran into trouble and was bailed out with £2 million of council loans last year, with another £300,000 coming via a council-owned company earlier this year through a sponsorship deal.
Council bosses have tried to pin the blame on the lingering effects of the coronavirus pandemic and the government choosing to direct arts funding away from London.
But Barrie Kelly, the chief executive of Visit Greenwich, the company which promotes the borough around the world, told councillors last week that the chief executive of Woolwich Works, James Heaton, had tried to pursue the wrong model for the venue.
Heaton left in February and is now managing director of the Sohoplace theatre in the West End. Woolwich Works is now run by Williams, the former executive director of the Perth Theatre and Concert Hall in Scotland.
“I used to work very closely with James Heaton when he was brought on board,” Kelly told the regeneration and culture scrutiny panel last week. “He was a very shrewd operator, but coming from west London, I think he tried to bring in a west London model that maybe Woolwich wasn’t ready for, and didn’t really work particularly well in partnership with anybody.
“The new regime who’s come in, Nick, his model is entirely the opposite of the previous model, which I think is a good thing, because first and foremost, Woolwich Works has to be a community resource. You have to give local people what they want.
“And if you can’t excite local people, you’re not going to bring in people from all over the country, are you? He seems to be doing that, and I’ve met him a couple of times and I think his new approach is definitely the right approach.”
Woolwich Works had been criticised for poor publicity, and Kelly gave Matt Hartley, the opposition Conservative leader, an example of the sums involved and what could be done at the meeting of the regeneration, transport and culture scrutiny panel.
Kelly said that the recent Woolwich Lates campaign – which aimed to drum up business in the area – was an attempt to “connect Punchdrunk, Woolwich Works and the [Royal] Arsenal with the town centre. That was the plan, but there wasn’t a huge amount of money to do that. But we’ve started the process.The marketing budget was, like, £20,000.”
He added: “If you want to promote Woolwich to the whole of London, for example, you certainly need over £100,000 to do it well.
“Obviously the Elizabeth Line is incredible and lots of demand will come naturally, but I think, working with TfL and all the Woolwich stakeholders, we could quite easily put together a consortium and a campaign for about £100,000, about that level.”
In July the interim head of Woolwich, troubleshooter Clare Williams, said there were “a number of teething problems” with the building and it was costing £1 million a year to maintain, despite the council’s huge outlay on the refurbishment of the old military site.
But she added: “I do believe that the worst is over now. There’s still some rocky times to go through, but we’re really looking at a very exciting future.”
Events at Woolwich Works this week include a Santa’s grotto, free guided tours, quiz and open mic nights and a bring-your-own-baby comedy session.
https://greenwichwire.co.uk/2023/12/16/45m-woolwich-works-struggled-with-west-london-model-tourism-boss-says/
