Fresh debate over the cost of Bard Celebrations
TO be, or not to be: that is the question. Whether it is better to have a Shakespeare Birthday Celebration that costs £97,410 this year or strip the whole thing down to a more modest, less expensive affair in 2019?
A thorny question, considering the international impact the annual birthday celebrations have in terms of branding and visitors numbers and the knock-on income for local retailers, guesthouses, hotels, Airbnb and vendors which is estimated to be £694,000.
But in many respects the figures from this year’s celebrations make uncomfortable reading; total cost £97,410, cost of parade £23,000, storage of birthday celebration flag poles £10,646 - net loss £40,530.
When the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust decided six years ago it no longer wished to organise the Birthday Celebrations Parade and flag unfurling, Stratford Town Council committed itself to ensure the status quo. However, this noble gesture has incurred greater costs than anticipated and “the elephant in the room is turning into a woolly mammoth,” according to town clerk Sarah Summers.
At a meeting of the town council on Tuesday, a lengthy motion ensued as councillors discussed the case for and against staging next year’s celebrations either in their current format or stripped down to a civic procession with no flag unfurling – in effect should the town council consider relinquishing its role as main organiser and invite other key stakeholders to get more involved?
Cllr Jason Fojtik said: “I’ve become very proud of what the celebrations have become in recent years. Long-term it isn’t just the benefits on the day, we get benefit months and years ahead, I think it’s a very small investment that we put in for that.”
Town councillors voted to keep the birthday celebrations in the current format for next year.
This week Stratford District Council had its say, a spokesperson said: “The district council has contributed £25,000 which is the same amount at the town council. Recognising the heightened security risk and the cost associated with mitigating against potential incidents the district council added a further £25,000 for 2018 specifically to cover the cost of security. While the district council does not put the equivalent staff resources as the town council, there is a significant amount of officer time and ‘in kind’ support given.”
Another key stakeholder, is the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Geraldine Collinge, RSC Director of events and exhibitions, said: “The RSC contributes financially and operationally to the annual Birthday Celebrations with a wide range of highly popular free activities for the whole family, including stage fight workshops and theatre make-up demonstrations and we plan to continue this in the future. This year we also worked with the Positive Youth Foundation with around 50 young people from Coventry and Warwickshire, who took part in the literary parade and created two pop-up performances outside the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. We hope that Stratford will always celebrate Shakespeare’s Birthday and we look forward to discussing the future shape of this with all relevant parties. Meanwhile, we fund our Birthday Celebrations activities directly from our own budgets.”
Philippa Rawlinson, Director of Operations and Marketing at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust said, “We’re proud to support the annual Shakespeare’s Birthday Celebrations creatively, financially and operationally. We stage a popular programme of free street entertainment and activities, offer free access to the five Shakespeare family homes for local residents, and host international diplomats throughout the Birthday weekend. We welcome the news that the Town and District Councils will continue to support the traditional parade which is at the heart of the festivities, and we look forward to discussions with all partners about how we can work together to celebrate Shakespeare’s birthday in a way that everyone can enjoy."