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SINGAPORE: The Substation said on Friday (March 5) that it was seeking autonomy over the space at 45 Armenian Street in order to “continue to operate as a multidisciplinary arts center and arts incubator.”
This is in response to the statement issued by the National Council of the Arts (NAC) on Tuesday, in which it said that the Substation was seeking autonomy over all the space to be able to generate income from the rental of the place, including the space previously leased to Doorbell.
NAC’s statement was “incomplete,” said The Substation, which announced it would be shutting down permanently after moving.
He also challenged the NAC’s claim that it “invited the current board to co-create the vision for the revamped arts center” with them.
The NAC “did not address ‘co-creation'” in its letter to the board dated February 17 this year, the arts center statement said.
“The letter simply stated that the Substation, as a co-tenant, would be ‘consulted to provide information on the future of 45 Armenian Street in relation to its precinct,'” he said.
“While NAC said that the Substation could return to 45 Armenian Street as a co-tenant with other groups, it would still have meant that the Substation could no longer function as an arts center, our reason for being.
“Even if we had returned to 45 Armenian Street after the renovations, The Substation would have been a diminished presence in the building that it had occupied and defined for 30 years.”
READ: NAC ‘disappointed’ with The Substation’s decision to close, says the company was ‘increasingly financially unsustainable’
He added that the board did not believe this was the “correct result given The Substation’s proud heritage.”
“We recognize the pain that many in the art community feel at the decision we have made. We ourselves feel the loss deeply. “
CLARIFICATIONS ON COMPLAINTS RELATED TO FINANCE
The Substation reiterated in its statement that it is an art center, not an art group, noting that the “financial and operational models of the two are very different.”
He cited the Esplanade – Theaters by the Bay as an example of an arts center, and said the two venues are similar although The Substation is “much, much smaller in scale.”
“As the operator of an arts center, we have autonomy over our physical spaces, which we dedicate mainly to the use of the arts,” he said.
“We attract and can select suitable contractors, both in the short and medium term, who provide a ‘community effect’ in the space, beyond their contribution to income.”
He added that the Substation, like the Esplanade, also has spaces that it would rent for commercial use, such as the garden area previously occupied by Timbre, and for the use of artistic groups at “non-commercial and highly subsidized rates.”
READ: Substation to be closed permanently after moving out of the Armenian Street building
“Like Esplanade, we have employees who oversee the building facilities and site management, and we bear the costs of maintaining the property and utilities,” he said.
The Substation also disagreed with the NAC’s comparison of its dependence on government funding with other Major Companies.
The NAC Major Company program supports selected arts organizations through public funding.
The NAC statement mentioned that the substation’s dependence on government funding, which averages 86 percent of annual revenue, is the highest among its major companies. He also said he was concerned that the Substation was “increasingly financially unsustainable” after 31 years of financial support.
“The operating model of an arts center is very different from that of a theater, dance or music company,” said The Substation.
He noted that the Esplanade’s headline figure for the deficit before grants for the 2019-2020 financial year was S $ 54,184,000, while its grants for the year and the government grant-property rentals in total amounted to 56,155. .000 Singapore dollars, over 100% of its deficit. before the subsidies, highlighted The Substation.
It also responded to the NAC’s claim that scheduling accounted for a “small proportion of total operating expenses,” averaging 23 percent between financial years 2017 and 2019, while incurring more than $ 1.5 million. Singapore dollars in wages and other labor costs.
The Substation clarified that the S $ 1.5 million was incurred in three years.
“We currently have 11 employees in total,” he said. “We believe in paying fair wages to our employees and we certainly don’t overpay them.”
It added that calculations using published audited financial statements for financial years 2017 through 2019 showed that programming costs averaged 35.7 percent of total operating expenses, not 23 percent as stated by the NAC.
“There are different ways of looking at programming spending as a proportion of total operating expenses,” he said.
“If you include the compensation of employees whose work encompasses arts programming … as part of programming costs, our percentage of programming spending as a proportion of total operating expenses increases to 76.3 percent on average for the fiscal year 2017 to fiscal year 2019 “.
The Substation again used the Esplanade as a benchmark, saying that incumbents’ programming costs for the Esplanade reached 14 percent of their total spending in fiscal 19/20, citing the Esplanade’s own annual report.
Considering the financial support of the NAC and the assumption that it cannot raise “substantial private funds,” the Substation said it would have to cut the number of personnel by more than half and that its programming and bandwidth budget would be reduced. I “slashed” once I vacate the premises.
“We believe this would severely impact the Substation’s mission to nurture younger artists. The consequence of this is not simply an adjustment of the Substation’s vision, but a drastic divergence from its original mission, ”he said.
“In other words, the Substation will no longer be the Substation as we know it.”
The NAC responded to The Substation’s statement later on Friday, saying Esplanade “plays a different role than big business in our arts and cultural landscape and is funded and held accountable for unsolicited results from big business. Business”.
“The Substation should be properly compared to other Major Companies, some of which also operate facilities and art centers similar to the Substation, but are not dependent on government funding to the same extent,” he said.
“NAC has funded The Substation for its work under the Large Business scheme, as there are no other schemes that provide sustained, multi-year organizational funding.”
