Of all the news stories to get your goats this week, it was an unexpected headline that riled.
News that DCA – Dundee Contemporary Arts centre – could face closure amid financial troubles led to the kind of polarising comments normally reserved for a Dundee derby, politics or religion.
On the one hand, there was sadness for a modern institution in our city.
“Where will we meet for our summer beers?” someone asked.
Another person said: “I love DCA’s outdoor space.”
One reader reminisced over art exhibitions and how much the space has brought to our cultural scene.
But there was another very separate camp which rubbed their hands in glee at mention of closure.
Our emotional reaction
So many businesses have left Dundee in recent years – Disney, Zara, Debenhams, Monsoon, Accessorize and Toys R Us to name only a few.
We’re not alone and, as I said a couple of columns ago, my weekly travels round the towns and cities of the UK suggest we are in much better shape than many, if not most.
But who would ever relish one more closure in Dundee meaning job losses and another empty, great building?
The answer to our emotional reaction to this particular story lies in the detail.
For this is not the tale of another Dundee business finding itself in trouble.
On its own website it says: “DCA is grateful to receive core funding from Creative Scotland and Dundee City Council, and further generous support from trusts, foundations, and corporate partners, members, friends and patrons, together with donations from visitors online and in our building.”
It’s wonderful that a creative, cultural hub has help.
But put yourself for a moment in the shoes of the many Dundee businesses whose only income comes from the profits they turn.
Many bars and eateries have had to close or still struggle daily to stay in the black, paying employees, rent and supplies amid growing costs.
They’d give their last drop of whisky for financial help – not to mention the draw of space above and around them to attract art and film lovers through their doors.
So when DCA director Beth Bate told MSPs in Holyrood it may have to draw on the last of its reserves to fill the financial gap and keep its doors open – and that it has been “wrung dry” as it attempts to save cash amid “previously unimaginable financial precarity” – I’m not sure she read the room.
DCA chiefs must face up to criticism
Every restaurant, bar, butcher, boutique and the rest in Dundee and beyond have operated within the same challenging environment but the vast majority do so without external investment.
Bate says they’ve cut jobs, hours, resources and been as lean as they can. But who hasn’t?
I’ve no doubt dealing with the government can be painful but, again, it’s the same for everyone, business owner or not.
And there are commercial aspects to DCA like its bar which can make money.
I love the DCA. In the 24 years it has been open to the public, it has become part of Dundee’s rich cultural landscape, from V&A to Verdant Works, our transport museum and McManus Gallery.
I wish to see all of them thrive and survive. But every business must have a sustainable model.
While reading through comments is a bad idea if you’re the subject and you value your sanity, on this occasion maybe the board at the DCA could look for the common threads of criticism.
Could its marketing be better? Could its continuity in providing food of good quality be upped?
Could it attract V&A visitors by letting them know they’re there? Could it be more in touch and ask what Dundonians and visitors would like to see exhibited?
Should it be more ambitious?
Or will it point the finger and blame everyone and everything else?
Come on DCA, you’re brilliant – now it’s just time to act like it.
Conversation