‘We need you’ - Nairn Community and Arts Centre seeks public support to survive
The management behind a Nairn cultural hub has unveiled a new strategy to future-proof the venue after facing financial challenges.
Encouraging more community engagement and a focus on fundraising, as well as creating greater awareness of what they do and how they operate are among the key points that the team behind the Nairn Community and Arts Centre (NCAC) will be concentrating on moving forward.
Due to financial struggles coming from increasing running costs, as well as the unexpected failure of a £60,000 funding application with Creative Scotland - which was turned down after a cut in government funding to the public body - the charity running the centre had to ask for £50,000 in emergency support from the Nairn Common Good Fund.
• Sign up to our free newsletters
The funding was awarded at a meeting of Highland Council’s Nairnshire area committee last month - requiring the centre to set up and share their plans to achieve financial sustainability with local councillors and the Nairnshire Common Good Fund engagement group.
Bob Ferenth, who is chairman of the board of directors for the centre, said they are optimistic about the future.
“We already have several grant applications in progress at the moment,” he said.
“What we have been awarded from the Common Good Fund is essentially a draw-down facility against a pool of money rather than a grant - which means that if we are successful for any grants, we won’t be able to access that money - but should we not get any of the grants, this will be a lifesaver.
“Now that we know that we are secure from a funding perspective, we’ll start to operationalise our recovery strategy, which we have in part already started working on, and move forward.”
One of the main points of this plan will be to raise awareness about what the centre does, and how it operates.
“Many still think that we are run by the council or High Life Highland, but we are not.
“We have not been very good at promoting ourselves as a charitable organisation. We need to change that too. We need to make sure that there is an awareness of what we do and how we operate.”
The building is owned by the council and the full operational lease held by the charity means that it is in charge of all repairs and maintenance. However, because it does not own the building, it is unable to apply for capital cost grants. So the board is working on a community asset transfer application, which it started a few months ago but was put on hold by the financial challenges.
Another big part of the plan will be getting the community behind the centre.
“This by name is a community centre, and we need to have the community support behind us - and with us - to make this a success,” Mr Ferenth continued.
Part of this effort started establishing a 50/50 prize draw in April, which is a monthly lottery which people can enter by donating £5, and can receive half of the amount raised through the monthly draw.
“Currently we have around 100 people who entered, but we are aiming to get to around 500. We are hoping to get the community so step up and support us. If some of the community groups that use our centre regularly entered, it wouldn’t be difficult to get to 500. And that would be a massive help and have an immediate impact on our finances.”
Another part of the plan is starting a fundraising team for the centre, for which the charity is looking for volunteers to take the lead.
Centre manager Rhona MacDonald said: “We have so many groups raising money for so many charities, and in the past we have helped raise a lot of money for good causes.
“It would be great if part of that effort was now directed towards the community centre. The Nairn Ceilidh Group for example will donate their proceeds to the centre this year.”
A big fundraiser on August 24 will mark the start of that fundraising effort, with a call to local artists and performers to help with the entertainment on the day for an evening of song and dance. The plan is to organise three big fundraising events every year moving forward.
Local businesses are also asked to do their bit.
Mr Ferenth added: “We will soon launch a sponsorship programme for local businesses. This is a chance for businesses to demonstrate their support for the centre. We are currently in conversation with two local/national businesses and will provide an update on this shortly.”
More volunteers for the board of the charity are also being encouraged to reach out and a call has been made for people to support the events at the community centre.
“We are a charity for the benefit of Nairn and the wider community,” Ms MacDonald added. “This is all about Nairn.”
