Public saved by £3m grant
Controversial Black Country arts centre The Public has had its future secured for the next two years by a £3 million bailout.
The cash award from the Arts Council means the troubled £63 million West Bromwich venue should finally be fully open by the end of the summer.
The Public opened more than a year ago – two years late. But the promised state-of-the-art interactive gallery inside never opened as experts could not get the hi-tech exhibits to work.
Planned admission charges of almost £7 per person for the gallery have now been scrapped and the whole venue will instead open to visitors for free, funded by the latest handout, until 2011.
Bob Badham, regeneration boss at Sandwell Council, said: "We will not be charging for the gallery, which will be free to visit and will open for public previews on the August Bank Holiday, to coincide with the Sandwell Show.
"All the money we need to run the arts centre until 2011 is in place. Sandwell Council will not be asking the taxpayer for more money.
"The centre will cost £1 million a year to run, which is a far lower spend on arts in any similar authority.
"After 2011 we are eligible to apply for the same grants as any other arts organisations to cover these costs."
A new firm, Sandwell Arts Trust, will be set up next month to run the centre.
The Arts Council last night approved a new business plan, put together by Sandwell Council and Sandwell Leisure Trust, after an earlier plan was rejected in January.
Critics today remained unconvinced.
Councillor Tony Ward, opposition Conservative group leader at the council, said: "I can't believe that Sandwell taxpayers will not be forced to bail out the project again at some point."
