Town Hall let free of charge
The Christchurch Civic Music Council will be allowed to hold a meeting in the Town Hall auditorium stage and choir stalls free of charge, the Town Hall Board decided yesterday. The purpose of the meeting is to use the continuo organ and to discuss the merrits of a pipe organ for the Town Hall. The Music -Council will start a fund-raising campaign later this year. It already has $114,000 of the $530,000 needed for the organ. The Town Hall manager, Mr Ray Sleeman, said in his report to the board that now was the time for the board to make a decision on whether it wanted an organ in the Town Hall. The chairman of the board, Sir Hamish Hay, said that provision had been made by the architect for an organ in the hall. Cr Rex Lester said he could not recall any discussion about having a pipe organ. The board was in no position financially to con-
tribute to the fund and he was also worried about the auditorium being out of use while it was being installed. It had been made clear to the board that the auditorium would be out of use for a reasonable time. They would have to ensure that it was available in a busy period.
Cr Lester said that he was not in favour of people being allowed to use the hall free of charge because it could set a precedent, but on this occasion it was reasonable. Cr H. M. Tait said the board was going into too many details on the merits of having the pipe organ. It was not relevant at this stage because all they were dealing with was a request to use the auditorium free of charge.
She moved that the request be granted providing the area was available.
Cr R. W. Skjellerup said it was only a few months since the council had accepted that there would be a organ in the Town
Hall as long as the board did not have to provide funds.
In a letter to the board, the Civic Music Council said that there would be obvious signs of the installations but these could be screened off when necessary. There was no reason why the Town Hall Board would suffer any loss of income during this stage of the project, said the council. The board would not be asked to contribute to the expenses involved in the purchase. Free use of the stage and choir stalls was granted to the music council.
Credit card phone booking
Mr Sleeman reported that the recently implemented telephone credit card booking system for events at the Town Hall was proving very successful.
Many people who rang to book praised the system and remarked how good it was not having to travel into the city to buy ticjftts any
more, he said. They were saved from making an extra trip when they wanted to see a show.
Price review A meeting between local arts groups and the Town Hall management staff had gone well, Mr Sleeman told the board.
“In general, the organisations were enthusiastic at having the opportunity to talk with Town Hall staff about their concerns. There was little criticism of the Town Hall and the services it gives to hirers.” The main problem was the age old one of expense, he said. Management planned to go back to the groups soon with a price review as there was room to manoeuvre in terms of cost, said Mr Sleeman.
The hall would not lose any income by doing this, he said.
Cr R. H. Arbuckle agreed and said that if usage became greater then the in-.-
come would increase. Mr Sleeman said that one way of reducing costs with some groups would be by cutting the number of staff used when performances attracted crowds of less than 1000. This could be achieved by not allocating seat numbers and letting people find their own.
Mobile stage units
The board agreed to buy five mobile stage units to cover a total of 288 square feet. As only one agent in New Zealand makes this type of staging, only one quote was received, for $7755. The allowance under the 1984-85 budget was $7500.
The one mobile unit already at the Town Hall was not enough to meet requirements, Mr Sleeman said. Many hirers had requested the staging, which could be used for functions, including nightclub-type entertainment, fashion parades, and - dance band staging. »
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Press, 17 May 1984, Page 9
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750Town Hall let free of charge Press, 17 May 1984, Page 9
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