SomersetClive’s White Elephant Enclosure expert Councillor Fencesitter explains the three easiest ways to guarantee a loss at the WEE:-
There are three basic ways for booking a show – a promotion, in which the venue books the act at a set fee and takes all the income; a hire, in which the act books the venue at a set fee and takes all the income; and a split, in which the venue and act split the income.
A promotion puts all the risk on the WEE, as they pay the act to appear and then cross their fingers and hope that tickets will sell. As we’ve seen many, many, many times this leads to a guaranteed loss of income as tickets never sell very well.
A hire is often more successful, especially for local community groups who can sell tickets to family and friends. It’s not quite as successful for promoters who often hire the venue in the hope of attracting a large audience, only to find that few tickets sell and they are left with a loss. It won’t be long before word gets around amongst promoters that booking the WEE is a loss making venture and then bookings from outside bodies will dry up.
A hire based on a split of ticket sales is also doomed to failure with both the hirer and the WEE having to cover the losses incurred.
The previous Smalltown Culture and Arts Manager (SCAM) stated that more hires were being booked so the WEE is guaranteed a small income of circa £450 per performance no matter how few tickets are sold.
If the WEE was hired out every night of the year this would generate income of around £164,000 per annum. With current expenditure of £245,000 this would result in a loss of only £81,000 which would be less than half the cost of the current Town Council subsidy.
That’s what I call value for money.