Nairn as a centre for the arts?
Michael Barnett posts on Nairnmatters a case for turning Nairn into a centre for the arts in the Highlands:
Make Nairn a cultural centre by building a modern Arts Centre capable of supporting and promoting the entire spectrum of arts and culture – ie music, theatre, dance, art (painting, drawing, sculpture), camera, and so on. Do this by building the Centre on the existing eyesore site and plan to surround it with coffee shops, boutiques, and other small businesses playing to the visitors the Centre will attract. The Centre might be a central multi-purpose theatre seating say 400, with studios, workshops, galleries, so that it could accommodate exhibitions, live performance, training courses, etc. This has logically to be an ideal solution – it just needs vision, the capital to acquire and develop the site, and a business plan to ensure the Centre is financially sustainable.
I think everyone agrees something needs doing about the derelict buildings along the A96 through Nairn – but there seems a complete unwillingness on the part of the Highland Council to address this, force the issue – show some leadership.
Which means the issue remains focused in the private sector, with no real motivation to sell – not least as commercial property values have fallen 25% across the UK over the past year.
And if the Highland Council really did gift Somerfield town centre land for a supermarket, is there really any hope of getting that back?
There have been various potential solutions raised to do this, and the arts issue is a very intriguing one.
A core problem from a business perspective is that arts traditionally are not profitable concerns, and often reliant on continued funding from government-sponsored arts bodies.
Which means if someone can get a plan together to work with established arts bodies then perhaps there’s a real chance of tapping into government money to get something moving.
However, it’s difficult to see how private business will or can get really involved – unless there’s a stonker of a plan in play. Perhaps this is what Michael is considering, and if so, I’d be excited to see how such plans develop.
In the meantime, the danger is that redevelopment of Nairn’s eyesores remains a process in deadlock, with those with the ability to make final decisions on the matter either unable or unwilling to do so.
UPDATE: The Highland News covers it here and the plans seem potentially further progressed than I imagined – with the Visit Nairn association behind it all hopefully the project can catch on that group’s momentum. 
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what a fab idea