Forum Cultural Centre may close within months
Image: All the drama of a symphony: the Italian Forum Cultural Centre
EXCLUSIVE
The Italian Forum Cultural Centre will close by August unless progress is made toward reducing its debt, it can be revealed.
In a letter to federal MP Anthony Albanese obtained exclusively by the Inner West Independent, president of the Italian Forum Limited (IFL) Ron Reynolds says the company is undertaking negotiations with potential investors. But he warns that if these fall through, and “if we are unable to meet our monthly expenses”, the IFL’s board “has resolved to cease the Cultural Centre’s operations in July/August 2013”.
Mr Reynolds asked Mr Albanese for help in reaching “any organisation, group or individual who may be interested in talking with us to a find a path through this impasse”.
The debt accrues from building costs, council rates and legal costs in what has been a protracted battle to establish and manage the site. A $3.7 million grant from the state government in 2010 saw the Cultural Centre develop into a state-of-the-art performance and rehearsal space. It is understood the construction debts date back to the establishment of the building in 1998.
The letter savages Leichhardt Council as “obstructive” and “unwilling to keep its commitment on the Cultural Centre”. The Commonwealth Funding Agreement which secured the $3.7 million investment put the liability on Council to ensure the centre remains operational until 2016.
The IFL wants to sell a number of its 46 car parking spots in the building, which it values at between $20,000 and $25,000 each, in order to raise funds. The complex ownership arrangements of the Italian Forum mean Council wants a development application submitted before it will consider allowing the sale. Mr Reynolds said he has been told by Council management that “in any case, you may not get what you want”.
In an interview, Mr Reynolds expressed frustration at the lack of cooperation.
“We’ve had talks about freeing up those car spaces…they keep saying they can’t do it,” he said.
“We’ve put a man on the moon, a machine on Mars – so why is this so impossible?”
IFL has approached banks for a loan but has been rebuffed because of its complicated contractual arrangements and because Council has refused to act as a guarantor, Mr Reynolds said.
Council has committed to loan IFL $36,000 per quarter for four quarters, at an interest rate of 7.05 per cent compounded daily. The loan cannot be spent on staff, marketing or preparation of a DA, terms which the letter to Mr Albanese describes as “highly onerous”.
“One would think the IFL deserves some recognition for our efforts and, at the very least, more respect for our professional and personal endeavours,” the letter says.
“The Council has neither a medium, nor a long term plan for this unique state of the art cultural asset. For this reason the IFL is induced to investigate whether the Federal Government can indicate an alternative public body willing to support the Cultural Centre’s objectives.”
A spokesperson for Council said it had “no control” over whether IFL closed the centre. The Council said the terms of its loan were not onerous and denied being obstructive about the sale of car spaces.
“Selling the car parking could result in people from other properties using the car spaces on the IFL site, thereby resulting in a shortfall of car parking on the IFL Site,” the spokesperson said.
