I think we labour under the misapprehension that VC doesn’t really do a lot. In fact, I’ve spoken to someone in CCBC to get some facts and figures, and the VC Arena is hired 1 day out of every three. Okay - that means it’s empty for two-thirds of the year, but as venues go, that’s actually not that bad. A lot of the bookings are for conferences, which obviously won’t be widely known outside of the conference circuit, but that also means a lot of business for the hotels and shops. And that’s on top of all the use the Theatre, restaurant and meeting rooms get which means that the building is open almost every day.
In terms of gigs, it seems VC faces a raft of problems. Apparently, many of the big-name tour promoters actually own the venues in which the acts perform (or have deals with venue chains), which means that not only do they benefit directly from the ticket income but they also get the benefit from the bar takings. Naturally, the promoters are going to favour their own places first, and try to get what they can from smaller places - which could well mean unrealistically high ticket prices.
The VC management work with a remit that places restrictions on what they can do and how they do it, but it boils down to getting the best value for the taxpayer out of the place, which means hosting as many events as possible. One thing that did interest me was that as with the majority of venues, attendance for the International Concert series has declined year on year, which means Damocles is hanging perilously close in terms of orchestral shows.
