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| Location | Lerwick, Shetland, Scotland |
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| Owner | Shetland Arts |
| Type | Music, Cinema, Community education |
| Opened | 25 August 2012 |
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Mareel is a multi-purpose entertainment venue located on the waterfront of Lerwick, the capital of Shetland. Opening in 2012, the facility includes a music venue, cinema, conference rooms and educational facilities.
Mareel is designed as a multi use venue [1] and hub for the creative industries. [2] The site is near the new Shetland Museum and Archives in Lerwick. [3] Shetland Arts are the lead agency behind the project, Gareth Hoskins were the architects and D.I.T.T. the building contractors. [4] The name means "phosphorescence on the ocean". [5]
The main performance auditorium has a standing capacity of about 650 and a seated capacity of around 250, with a balcony seating a further 85 people. There are 2 screening areas. The main cinema has a seated capacity of around 160 with a smaller second cinema seating around 40.
The recording studio has a control room and live area. The split level cafe bar incorporates additional performance areas. The rehearsal area(s) have sprung floors making them suitable for music and dance use. The multi media production suite has facilities for film, TV, music, graphics and website production.
Shetland College UHI began delivering music courses in Mareel in the 2012/13 academic year. [6]
Timeline of key dates in the project's history [7]
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Mareel has attracted finance from sources including [34]
Opinions on Mareel are split amongst many in Shetland [35]
Motivations for building Mareel include the development of the music, film and creative industries, tourism, educational opportunities, job creation and the provision of leisure and education facilities for the community, particularly young people. [36] [37] [38] [39]
Some local businesses, particularly Lerwick pub and night club owners via the Shetland Licensed Trade Association, claimed that Mareel would negatively affect their profits and an anonymous State Aid complaint was submitted to the European Commission on 17 July 2008. Shetland Arts countered these claims by providing evidence that Mareel would "generate activity and vitality into the night-time economy of Lerwick, to the benefit of all including the local hoteliers, publicans and restaurants". [40] The State Aid complaint was not upheld.
Another source of concern was Mareel's business plan which detractors claim is unrealistic, particularly in terms of revenue raised from sales at the cafe bar. However, the business plan has been reviewed and approved by funders. Highlands and Islands Enterprise commissioned an Economic Impact Study which highlighted outcomes including the creation of 52 jobs and a positive impact on population retention of young people [41] - an HIE Youth Migration Study identified the "creative industries as one of the most important sectors in encouraging young people to stay in or return to Shetland." [42]
Some detractors have claimed that the capital funds allocated to Mareel would have better been spent on other projects, such as to avert the closure of rural schools, apparently under the misapprehension that the funders' capital could have been diverted to bail out the Shetland Islands Council Education revenue budget which had been overspent for many years.
In 2008 the Shetland Islands Council voted to review their support for Mareel even though they had agreed their support on number of previous occasions and had "already spent around £750,000 on Mareel and previously committed itself to spending a further £4.5m from its capital programme.". [43] The council voted 15:7 to commission a business plan review and re-vote six weeks later.
The Shetland Islands Council's finance officials reported the business plan to be "robust" and "well researched", but that costings estimates were "light" and audience and income targets "challenging". [44]
The result of the subsequent vote on Wednesday 25 June was in favour of continuing support for Mareel. Due to a 9:9 split convener Sandy Cluness used his casting vote and is reported to have said "As far as I am concerned you can go ahead and build Mareel" [45] as he delivered his decision, to "cheers of delight and lengthy applause from the 40 or so supporters" [10] who were present in the council chambers.
Despite the vote "a few councillors (were) apparently unable to accept the democratic decision." [46] West Mainland councillor Gary Robinson called into question the convener's handling of the vote stating "I think Sandy (the convenor) has won a battle, but the war isn’t over yet" [45] and that he and other opponents (including Alison Duncan who had 6 weeks previously expressed his desire to "place a bomb" [45] under Mareel and Jonathan Wills, a one time supporter of Mareel) would be considering their options in the coming weeks. [45] This group continue to voice their opposition [47]
Councillor Alan Wishart, who had voted against Mareel, reflected the majority view that the vote had been handled "properly and fairly" stating it had been "pretty intense, but a reasoned debate and I’m content with that... It was very reasonable on both sides and democracy had its say." [10]
Most of Lerwick's music venues and clubs closed during the 1990s and 2000s including the North Star, LK Sound Factory (Jubilee), Somewhaur Else, Ferry Inn (converted to Beltrami's but no longer featuring live music), Mooney's Wake and Baroc, and Mareel is seen by many as a positive development for the local live music scene. [48]
Mareel's recording facilities are also considered to be an important development for the local industry, for both commercial and educational uses. [48]
Artists Nayan Kulkarni and Roxane Permar were commissioned by Shetland Arts Development Agency to create public art for the building using the medium of light. They conceived the project, Mirrie Dancers, which involved members of the community and Shetland Lace knitters in the process of making work which will become part of the permanent installation at Mareel.
Shetland, also called the Shetland Islands and formerly Zetland, is an archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands, and Norway. It is the northernmost region of the United Kingdom.
Lerwick is the main town and port of the Shetland archipelago, Scotland. Shetland's only burgh, Lerwick had a population of about 7,000 residents in 2010.
The Northern Isles are a pair of archipelagos off the north coast of mainland Scotland, comprising Orkney and Shetland. They are part of Scotland, as are the Hebrides. The climate is cool and temperate and much influenced by the surrounding seas. There are a total of 36 inhabited islands. The landscapes of the fertile agricultural islands of Orkney contrast with the more rugged Shetland islands to the north, where the economy is more dependent on fishing and on the oil wealth of the surrounding seas. Both island groups have a developing renewable energy industry. Both have a Pictish and Norse history. Both were part of the Kingdom of Norway until they were absorbed into the Kingdom of Scotland in the 15th century. They remained part of it until the 1707 formation of the Kingdom of Great Britain and the 1801 formation of the United Kingdom. They both played a significant naval role during the world wars of the 20th century.
The Out Skerries are an archipelago of islets, some inhabited, in Shetland, Scotland, and are the easternmost part of Shetland. Locally, they are usually called Da Skerries or just Skerries.
Tavish Hamilton Scott is a former Scottish politician. He was the Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Shetland from 1999 to 2019, and Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats from 2008 to 2011. He stepped down as Leader after the 2011 Scottish Parliament election, in which the Liberal Democrats were reduced to five seats, down from 16 in the previous parliament.
Scalloway is the largest settlement on the west coast of the Mainland, the largest island of the Shetland Islands, Scotland. The village had a population of roughly 900, at the 2011 census. Now a fishing port, until 1708 it was the capital of the Shetland Islands.
The Shetland Times is a weekly newspaper in Shetland, published on Fridays and based in Lerwick, the main town in the Shetland Islands.
Good Shepherd IV is a Scottish ferry, connecting Fair Isle to Shetland Mainland. It is owned and operated by SIC Ferries.
Lerwick and Bressay Parish Church is the largest Church of Scotland congregation in Shetland, serving the islands' capital Lerwick and the surrounding area.
Shetland Arts Development Agency or Shetland Arts for short, is a Scottish charity formed in 2006 with a remit to "encourage and assist in promoting and advancing the creation, practice and presentation and study of all forms of art - visual, performing and creative."
The Garrison Theatre is a 280-capacity venue in Lerwick, Shetland, Scotland, with a sprung proscenium stage with fixed raked seating. The auditorium has 19 rows, named A to S, with 8, 12, 13, 15, or 16 seats in each row.
Lerwick Town Hall is a municipal building located on Hillhead in Lerwick, Shetland, Scotland. It is used as an events venue and registrar's office. The building, which was also the meeting place of Shetland Islands Council until 2022, is a Category A listed building.
Quarff is a small village on Mainland in the Shetland Islands in Scotland. It is located on the main A970 road, 5 miles (8.0 km) south of Shetland's only town, Lerwick. The village is spread along a classic glacial valley that runs east–west across the island between high hills to north and south, with centres of population at Easter Quarff which is near the main road and the east coast, and Wester Quarff which is 11⁄2 miles (2.4 km) west and faces the Atlantic Ocean. A narrow road runs along the valley between the two.
Elections to Shetland Islands Council were held on 3 May 2007 the same day as the other Scottish local government elections and the Scottish Parliament general election. The election was the first one using seven new wards created as a result of the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004. Each ward elected three or four councillors using the single transferable vote system, a form of proportional representation. The new wards replaced 22 single-member wards which used the plurality system of election. The council was one of only three in Scotland with a majority of elected members who were independents.
Jean Urquhart is a Scottish politician. She was formerly a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP), first elected in 2011 for the Highlands and Islands region as a Scottish National Party (SNP) member, then continuing to sit as an independent after she left the SNP in October 2012. She had been an SNP councillor at the Highland Council from 2003 to 2011.
Roxane Permar is an artist who has worked in the field of public art and socially engaged practice. Her career has been based in the UK, where she lived and worked in London before moving to Scotland in 1998. Her practice is situated locally, nationally and internationally.
Gwilym Meredith Lloyd Gibbons, is a British arts leader who is notable for leading the political struggle, fundraising and development of the £13.5m Mareel in Shetland, the UK's most northerly music, cinema and creative industries centre. Mareel officially opened in November 2012, 18 months behind schedule and £1.5 million over budget after a protracted dispute with the main contractors. He was the first director of Shetland Arts Development Agency, leaving after 8 years in post in September 2014 to set up Creative Help, a new consultancy agency.
Elections to Shetland Islands Council were held on 4 May 2017 on the same day as the other Scottish local government elections. The election was the third using seven wards created as a result of the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004, each ward electing three or four Councillors using the single transferable vote system form of proportional representation, with 22 Councillors elected.
Screenplay is an international film festival held annually in Shetland, Scotland. The festival is curated by the film critic Mark Kermode and the film historian Linda Ruth Williams in partnership with Shetland Arts. Since 2012 the festival has been hosted by Mareel arts venue in Lerwick.
Elections to the Shetland Islands Council took place on 5 May 2022 on the same day as the other Scottish local government elections. Seven wards will be contested, each ward electing two to four Councillors using the single transferable vote system form of proportional representation, with 23 Councillors elected.
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