Scottish Government culture minister urged to help reopen Belmont Cinema
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Scotland’s culture minister has been urged to help “thrash out a rescue” for Aberdeen’s shuttered Belmont Cinema.
Earlier this month, charity bosses announced the independent venue’s immediate closure and the loss of around 20 jobs.
Trustees at the Centre for the Moving Image (CMI) said a "perfect storm" of rising costs and reduced trade were behind the decision to stop trading on October 6, causing 102 redundancies at the Belmont, Edinburgh Filmhouse and the Edinburgh International Film Festival. Administrators FRP Advisory now control the assets.
Today at Holyrood, North East region MSP Liam Kerr called on Neil Gray to formally arrange a meeting to consolidate Scottish Government help to reopen the Belmont.
Mr Gray’s senior Minister Angus Robertson previously faced criticism for saying the Scottish film industry was “booming” a week after the closures.
And Mr Kerr referenced comments by former Belmont manager Colin Farquhar pointing to a naivety about the scale of the challenge as cinema lovers wait for Scottish Government involvement.
Mr Kerr said: “The impact of the cost-of-living crisis on our cultural sector was starkly highlighted when Aberdeen's iconic Belmont Cinema closed its doors.
"Weeks ago, the Scottish Government were warned of what was coming and did nothing.
"The people of Aberdeen this morning heard accusations that there is 'a naivety' about cinemas and the wider arts, and they were stunned to hear the Cabinet Secretary’s bizarre claims in Iceland that all was going swimmingly.
"If the Minister genuinely does want to engage, will he join me and other local representatives in a formal meeting with the Belmont backers and Aberdeen City Council, to thrash out a rescue for the Belmont?”
Mr Gray said he would be “very happy” to meet to discuss the cinema outside of the legal issues of administration, and added that “government colleagues, Creative Scotland, Screen Scotland colleagues are working very hard to try to find a solution.”
He added: "It's not true, his characterisation of government action is not true, first of all, but secondly, I have to be careful what I say with regards to CMI because obviously there are legal matters going on in terms of the administration process that is going there.
"However, I can give him the guarantee that both government colleagues, Creative Scotland, Screen Scotland colleagues are working very hard to try to find a solution.
"I'd be more than happy to meet with Liam Kerr within the confines of those legal parameters of which I speak.
"But obviously, we want in all scenarios to see these important cultural institutions continue to thrive. We know the significance of the Belmont in Aberdeen, not just in terms of its cultural perspective, but from an economic perspective as well, the same with the Filmhouse here at Edinburgh, and we will do everything that we can to ensure that we can protect those institutions as best as possible."
