A social enterprise which managed Ulverston’s Coronation Hall is set to hand the venue back to the local council.
Ulverston Community Enterprise said it was a difficult decision, but due to the upheaval and financial impact of the pandemic – including loss of key staff and systems – followed by drastically rising costs and inflation, changes in audience and hirer behaviour, recruitment difficulties, and a tough landscape for arts and culture funding, it found itself faced with an uncertain future.
Combined with the emergence of the new unitary authority and owners of the building – Westmorland and Furness Council – as a potentially committed and viable operator prompted the decision to enter into discussions in April this year.
Following several months of talks with the authority, responsibility for the day-to-day operation of The Coro will be handed back over to the council at the end of the year.
Westmorland and Furness’ cabinet is due to discuss the handover on November 14.
The social enterprise has operated The Coro since 2016, under a lease management agreement with the previous authority, South Lakeland District Council.
It was formed in 2014 in response to a review of assets by that authority that considered the futures of both Ulverston Town Hall and The Coro.
After a long period of negotiation and consultation with the wider community it was agreed that a community ownership trial wold take place for five years, with a support grant from South Lakeland District Council.
It also took on the management of Ulverston’s markets to support ambitions to increase footfall in Ulverston, attract more visitors and tourists, ‘reimagine’ The Coro, revitalise the markets and engage and involve the local community to develop new ideas and projects.
During its tenure, around 30,000 people have been welcomed through the Coro’s doors, plus 70,000 people at free outdoor public art installations and, when safe to do so, socially distanced large-scale exhibits during the years disrupted by the pandemic.
Beth Kennedy, director of Ulverston Coronation Hall, said: ‘This was an enormously difficult decision. We had an ambitious vision to develop The Coro into a regional leader for arts and culture which, sadly, we are not going to be able to see through.
“However, we are incredibly proud of what we have achieved in our time and to have successfully guided The Coro through some of the most difficult events and hostile financial conditions for entertainment venues in recent history.
‘UCE was born out of a community-driven campaign to Save The Coro. That has informed our decision-making throughout our tenure of the building, including following the pandemic.
“While our operation and finances had been utterly decimated and reopening in any viable way provided a renewed challenge of monumental scale, we’ve always placed the community needs and love for this building first.
“Therefore we did re-open and have worked tirelessly to restore the cultural and community offer in The Coro and re-establish a more stable financial position. But in reality, we never truly recovered from the impact of those two years.
“However, we have managed to survive to a point where we have an opportunity to hand back management to a new local authority, with greater resources, that understands and appreciates the role of The Coro as a valued community hub. Westmorland and Furness Council now has the potential to offer The Coro far greater certainty and security for the long-term future than UCH – and so in the spirit of Save The Coro, this is the right decision to take.”
Westmorland and Furness Council’s cabinet will be asked to confirm that from January 1 2024 the management and operation of The Coro will revert to the council and that it will continue to operate it as a cultural and community venue, initially until March 2025.
This will allow the council time to prepare an options appraisal and business case setting out proposed long-term options for the operation and management of the venue.
The cabinet will also be asked to agree that the current temporary pop-up library offer will continue to be provided from The Coro and Ulverston Market Hall, while options for reinstating the permanent library offer in Ulverston are developed and consulted on, and to agree a budget for The Coro’s running costs up to March 2025.
Councillor Virginia Taylor, Westmorland and Furness Council’s cabinet member for sustainable communities and localities, said: “We would like to place on record our immense thanks to the dedicated staff, board members and volunteers of both UCE and UCH who have worked tirelessly since 2016 to operate The Coro and provide the town with a vibrant cultural offering, and a venue for many community groups and events. They have overcome many challenges during this time, in particular during the COVID 19 pandemic.
“Subject to a decision by Cabinet on 14 November, the short to medium-term future of The Coro as a cultural venue will be secured and long-term options post-March 2025 would be subject to appraisal and a full business case.
“Although we recognise a change in management may cause some uncertainty, we can reassure the community that we absolutely recognise the importance of The Coro to Ulverston and our ambitions would be to maintain, protect and enhance its role as a vital arts, cultural and community venue.”
Work is now ongoing to fully investigate and understand the emerging opportunities that could result in having The Coro back under local authority control.
In the meantime, all public and private events booked in up until the end of 2023 will be going ahead as planned, and anyone with an event pencilled in for 2024 will be contacted over the coming weeks.
