Alt Vinyl as tenants

From The Star And Shadow Cinema Wiki

This document is where to put your thoughts on having Alt Vinyl as a tenant. There are practical and logistical issues but we need to establish whether it would work in principle. Please add ideas below.

The initial list is written by Ilana based on various discussions and meetings where people have expressed issues.

Pros for S&S and Alt vinyl

• Income from rent
• Ability to secure income from private source rather than rely on public funding - especially in light of expected funding cuts.
• Regularly people in the building to help with deliveries and, if can be made secure, access
• If designed well good use of space
• Possibility of advance ticket sales & memberships managed by Alt vinyl
• Alt vinyl independent nature is one supported by many at S&S
• S&S occupies the amount of space it has by fluke rather than design and needs to think of better uses fro some of it - this could help and to keep things tidier (!?)
• possibility of having an S&S space within the shop to distribute zines posters and anything else that S&S creativity comes up with. CF Extrapol in Nimejjin (sp??) which has a wee shop selling all sorts of interesting things. This could also be a small earner for S&S
• An interesting pre-cursor to having the S&S open more during the day as a social centre/cafe

Issues to clarify / potential problems / cons

• Ideological issues - having a commercial business within S&S
• Paid staff/ company in building with volunteers.
• Worry of creating any "them and us" situations and volunteers having to act as landlords as additional duty. Compare this to cottage: the "tenants" look after space themselves, come to meetings with shared issues and pay rent but do not expect landlord action to come from S&S. Would Alt vinyl be prepared to share responsibility of contacting landlord over building issues? Would be acting as a shared user/volunteer in that case.
• Access - responsibility on Alt Vinyl to know who are volunteers and potentially pressure on them to let people in when no volunteers are in the building if asked. A worry in security terms.
• Alt Vinyl's understanding and expectation of what s&s is like. It can't change, people come in at all sorts of odd times -eg rehearsals, meetings, private conferences, filmmaking. This cannot need to be run past Alt, rather any non shop activities need to come to programming. And shop needs to be built in order that it won't be disturbed by s&s activities.
• Integral- upstairs neighbours. Can't play loud music in corridor in the day. Need to test this level.
• Rates and change of use. Need to establish if there are any legal or council issues plus to make any increase in rates payable by Alt vinyl. And would it affect our rates concession?
• Bad use of space if designed badly.
• What if it fails? What will we do with shop space then? Need to factor this into the build.
• Security of stock and shop equipment. Needs to be well secured and self contained.
• Need to be careful in establishing agreement Clarity over what kind of agreements S&S is comfortable with. If this works it is potentially a unique case - possible through mutual support and liking each other. Need to ensure it's transparent that we approach any proposal from an ideological standpoint.
• Fixed agreement- terms would need to be reasonably long term to be worthwhile for both parties but also need to factor in a break clause(min 6 months)
• Relationship akin to working with independent promoters- makes it more crucial to clarify these relationships.
• Need to ensure Alt Vinyl clear about how programming works so any events come through that system openly (in-store gigs as eg).
• Can we make money in other ways with use of space?/ can we afford to turn this down? Suggestions include studio/workshop/darkroom membership or use fees (dependent on projects and available money, but could advertise temp work space)
• I don't personally have a problem with alt-vinyl. We already plough money into all sorts of things that are ethically dodgy - the Israeli economy for instance (when we show their films), or alcohol suppliers. On the other hand, as capitalist concerns go, alt-vinyl is one of my favourites. We don't use our space well, and I'd rather see us utilise what we have by renting out sections, than going under on a point of principle - Craig Wilson

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Proposal to Alt Vinyl:

Star & Shadow happy to negotiate working with alt vinyl and to make this a reality. As a unique arrangement for S+S, we need to ensure we have common understanding and agreement on the following points:

• Money - there are lots of positive reasons to work together, but S&S does need to make a certain amount of income from rent (£XX minimum) and needs to ensure that alt vinyl can pay the actual costs of utilities etc as used. To discuss - how we measure electricity use (especially as heating is likely to be electric), rubbish, rates. Positive things - alt can be around for cardboard collection and perhaps we can have paper too.

• Paid Staff and volunteers - we need to have open discussion so that both sides feel comfortable sharing facilities (e.g. toilets, kettle) and have mutual trust.

• With not for - S+S has always worked on this principle, and would need to feel confident that alt vinyl staff can work with us. As e.g. the cottage tenants are self sufficient, will bring issues to meetings but work together to solve them. There is no volunteer that will be acting as landlord.

• Tenancy - we still have not agreed all the terms but one of them is that we pay for any work the landlord does proportionately. Need to discuss how this is shared in our subletting leases.

• Planning - we need to find out what planning issues there are with changes to the building and how long this process might take. (NB Robin is contacting David, a volunteer who is also a Newcastle City Council planner)

• Security - the Alt space needs to be built to ensure the security of S+S if shop is open outside of cinema times. And for the shop to be secure if it is shut when S+S events are on.

• Responsibility to S+S volunteers and users - Alt vinyl should not be responsible for letting people in to use the space, this needs to remain arranged through S+S keyholders. Too much responsibility for alt - need to make sure that vols understand this. However having alt staff on site will be good for delivery and pick ups.

• Could S+S sell stuff in the shop? - tickets, memberships and other S+S related things? Tshirts/screenprints etc - how would this work?

• Term of lease. Agree a minimum term as building work is a big step but also in case there are problems.

• Any events outside of shop activity - these need to be brought to S+S programming meetings in the same way as any other event.

• Noise - Space will need to be sound proofed so Integral (upstairs neighbours) are not disturbed.

• How S+S works - We need to ensure Alt Vinyl's understanding and expectation of what s&s is like. S+S can't change, people come in at all sorts of odd times - e.g. rehearsals, meetings, private conferences, filmmaking. This cannot need to be run past Alt. Shop should be built in order that it won't be disturbed by s&s activities.