HAVING been instrumental in the turnaround of fortunes of an arts venue, one dale resident is looking forward to the challenge of helping another cash-strapped centre get a firm financial footing.
Ada Burns, the former chief executive of Darlington Council, has agreed to join the board of directors at The Witham, in Barnard Castle, as part of a plan to secure its long-term financial future.
Ms Burns, who retired after 13 years in the top role at Darlington council in May, said she is excited about getting involved with The Witham and has been a regular audience member to comedy nights.
The mother of two, who lives in Cotherstone, says she is “hoping to give something back to the community and is getting up to speed” before her first board meeting.
She was full of praise for the work the volunteers and interim director Shelagh Avery have done.
She said: “I think the work that has been done so far is fantastic and Shelagh has done a wonderful job. The work the volunteers do is amazing and if we can build a bigger network of volunteers from all age groups, maybe those looking to get back into work, it will help.
“Things have improved financially in a short space of time. My view it is incredibly hard to run an arts venue without public funding. Unfortunately when grants are given they have to be spent very specifically and a lot of people forget there are still bills to pay such as water, electric and wages and that money needs to come from somewhere.”
Ms Burns, who grew up in Antrim, in Northern Ireland, was in charge during the renovation of the ailing Civic Theatre, in Darlington, and is proud of the commercial success it has achieved now re-named The Hippodrome.
She added: “There are three elements which make an arts venue. The first element is the one which makes a lot of money, the second will break even and the third may not make any money but it is important to provide it. And there hasn’t been enough shows that bring in the money.”
“At the moment there are people who will go to the shows and that’s great, but we need to look at those who don’t as that will be a huge figure and we need to attract them and get them involved.
“We need to have more business involvement with the place so it’s a good relationship. One of the things that will in time need to be looked at is maximising the spend when people are at The Witham.
“Although this would be a capital spend, it is worth looking in the future at how the cafe can be more commercial during events.”
