A Big Hand for IDEA
After founding City Life straight out of college in 1983, and various adventures in concert promotion, advertising and marketing, I found myself raising money and producing events for arts charities in Manchester and beyond.
One of these, Basement Video - run by the founder of Rabid Records and Absurd, one Tosh Ryan - was the foundation for IDEA. This stands for Innovation in Digital and Electronic Arts, founded in 1996.
Like many arts and media charities we lurch from crisis to crisis. Most of them major. But none fatal. We have two buildings. One is a grade II listed victorian gothic building in the midst of the University of Manchester and Metrolitan University campus. On the same stretch as the Art College and close to the RNCM.
This was founded in 1868 as the Adult Deaf and Dumb Institute and was a philanthropist-backed resource with reading room, gymnasium and what seems like a cross between a lecture theatre and a chapel upstairs.
Above the door is a big hand symbolising the lingua franca within. And a madonna and child adding to the churchy look and signalling the christian charity behind the foundation. The building was used for its original purpose for 100 years. This was followed by dereliction for some years, during which I did tinker with the idea of creating a venue here, a few short years as a sorry low rent curry house, and five years or so ago a rescue through IDEA.
We have run various exhibitions, production projects including many international visits and collaborations, and much arts and media training too.
However our resources are tied up in our other building - more of which later - and for the past couple of months we have been pro-actively looking for a partner to invest, expertly manage the catering, and leave us with some space to play in.
All the hard work on planning and listed building consent, all the design and even costing work has been carried out years ago.
We have found some soul mates. The proprietors of Big Hands and The Temple of Convenience. And today we're agreeing the shape of our deal in a quick meeting.
They will pay a small premium for the designs, they will bankroll the whole development cost, barring perhaps the mobility access costs for which we are looking for grants, they will guarantee the basic running costs, and once we have recouped the costs we will share and share alike. IDEA running the upstairs and Big Hands running the two lower floors.
It really is a pleasure doing business with Peter and Scott. There is a somethingly socialist undercurrent. A collective agenda. And a cooperative spirit. It takes us less than 10 minutes to agree all the terms. Apart from the eventual profit share. Both Tosh and I have been involved in Co-ops and the like for years. Both Basement and IDEA were originally Workers' Cooperatives. And old school musicians' collectives and that old Rabid spirit taught Anthony H Wilson all he needed to know to whisk away Martin Hannett and start and finish Factory.
One of these, Basement Video - run by the founder of Rabid Records and Absurd, one Tosh Ryan - was the foundation for IDEA. This stands for Innovation in Digital and Electronic Arts, founded in 1996.
Like many arts and media charities we lurch from crisis to crisis. Most of them major. But none fatal. We have two buildings. One is a grade II listed victorian gothic building in the midst of the University of Manchester and Metrolitan University campus. On the same stretch as the Art College and close to the RNCM.
This was founded in 1868 as the Adult Deaf and Dumb Institute and was a philanthropist-backed resource with reading room, gymnasium and what seems like a cross between a lecture theatre and a chapel upstairs.
Above the door is a big hand symbolising the lingua franca within. And a madonna and child adding to the churchy look and signalling the christian charity behind the foundation. The building was used for its original purpose for 100 years. This was followed by dereliction for some years, during which I did tinker with the idea of creating a venue here, a few short years as a sorry low rent curry house, and five years or so ago a rescue through IDEA.
We have run various exhibitions, production projects including many international visits and collaborations, and much arts and media training too.
However our resources are tied up in our other building - more of which later - and for the past couple of months we have been pro-actively looking for a partner to invest, expertly manage the catering, and leave us with some space to play in.
All the hard work on planning and listed building consent, all the design and even costing work has been carried out years ago.
We have found some soul mates. The proprietors of Big Hands and The Temple of Convenience. And today we're agreeing the shape of our deal in a quick meeting.
They will pay a small premium for the designs, they will bankroll the whole development cost, barring perhaps the mobility access costs for which we are looking for grants, they will guarantee the basic running costs, and once we have recouped the costs we will share and share alike. IDEA running the upstairs and Big Hands running the two lower floors.
It really is a pleasure doing business with Peter and Scott. There is a somethingly socialist undercurrent. A collective agenda. And a cooperative spirit. It takes us less than 10 minutes to agree all the terms. Apart from the eventual profit share. Both Tosh and I have been involved in Co-ops and the like for years. Both Basement and IDEA were originally Workers' Cooperatives. And old school musicians' collectives and that old Rabid spirit taught Anthony H Wilson all he needed to know to whisk away Martin Hannett and start and finish Factory.
posted by Chris Paul at 4:23 PM
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