Perth and Kinross Council is backing the refurbishment of Perth Theatre to the tune of an extra £1.5 million.
All being well, however, the local authority hopes that it won’t have to put its hand in its pocket. To ensure the ambitious refurbishment project can go ahead as planned, the council has agreed to underwrite a grant of up to £1.5m.
This will be used to plug any gaps in the funding campaign launched by Horsecross last year. Although £13.5m has already been pledged for the redevelopment, an additional target of £1.5m has been set.
Horsecross chief executive Colin McMahon revealed that the creative organisation would try to secure this from a variety of sources trusts, foundations, corporate sponsors and donations from individuals.
At a meeting of the council’s strategic policy and resources committee, Councillor Alexander Stewart raised concerns about the local authority’s position.
He said: “We all look forward to the progress within the theatre and it is a very exciting opportunity for the arts strategy in Perth.
“I acknowledge the fact we are going to potentially underwrite it to the tune of £1.5m but, in reality, this boils down to the success or failure of the fundraising by Horsecross.
“We all know that is a difficult situation at the moment because a lot of organisations are looking very carefully at what they will and will not fund.
“If Horsecross is successful, then we won’t have to fund it to the tune of £1.5m, but if they are not, then we may have to look at that at some stage.”
Council leader Ian Miller told the committee it was “important” that the local authority took every step to ensure the Perth Theatre project went ahead as planned.
He also advised that various strands of fundraising had “yet to be concluded”.
“The matter has been discussed at length at the Perth Theatre board,” he added.
“I have been given some assurance that fundraising was being progressed quickly, but they still have some way to go. At this stage, it’s very important the project is not delayed so we are underwriting the funding of that money.
“It’s a difficult financial time for everyone and it is not easy to raise funds, but I’m confident they will.”