As ex-Councillor Fencesitter explained a few months ago events at the White Elephant Enclosure are held on one of three basis:-
Hire – where the user pays a set fee of around £400 to use the WEE and receives the full amount of the ticket income.
Split – ticket sales are split between the WEE and the user.
Buy in – the WEE pay the act a fee to perform, but keep all the money from ticket sales.
Hire bookings in February/March came from the WEE Dramatic Society (two nights, 120 attendees), The Soft Lads Boxing Club (220 attendees), a Tim Pretty tribute band (125 attendees).
Users of the WEE on a split basis were the Jim Trailer Quartet (120 attendees), Shylock Homes (215 attendees over two nights), Cate Shush Tribute (130 attendees) and a performance of Teachers, starring Smalltown and Dullbridge Town Councillors which saw 55 people attend.
Buy-in acts during this period included Comedian Cabaret 125 attendees in February and 65 in March, and the Paper Folding Show which attracted 42 people. Three live streams from the Theatre National, which it is assumed are also on bought-in basis are over-exaggerated by the WEE as having 20 attendees each.
Whilst these figures were produced by the usual random number generator a rough calculation of income can be made as follows:-
Hire costs – £1600
Split (based on a generous £10 per ticket sale) – £5200
Buy-in – £2490
Live Streams – £300
These totals would give the WEE an estimated income of £9590, or £4795 per month.
With the WEE budget expected to achieve an income of £5712.50 per month, it is immediately obvious that the target of increasing income and ‘bums on seats’ hasn’t been achieved and with April figures looking even worse, it is to be hoped that the secret consultants come up with some ideas – fast.
It should be noted that attempts to ascertain how much money is spent on buying-in acts requires the skills of forensic accountants with greater abilities than those currently investigating the National Scottish Party. This is because whilst income is listed in the monthly White Elephant Enclosure accounts, expenditure on buying-in performances is hidden within the general monthly accounts of Smalltown and Dullbridge Town Council. Not very ‘Open and Transparent’ at all.
It is expected that the WEE Mismanagement Committee who meet this evening will look at the number of attendees at these performances and congratulate themselves on a job well done.
However, it should be noted that only an estimated 1390 people actually spent any time on the uncomfortable seats during February and March, meaning that 93% of the population of Smalltown and Dullbridge are subsidising a venue that they don’t even use.