Corruption or sincere intentions?

Queen’s Hall, St Ann’s, is the country’s premier entertainment centre for concerts, shows and other theatrical performances. Compared with the Little Carib Theatre, which was started in Beryl Mc Burnie’s backyard, many moons ago, it was designed to be classy and not only in the royal sense. But is it? For years it was run down and declared unsuitable for any sort of decent show. No proper dressing rooms with a noisy nearby bar, being only one of the problems.

Then a few years ago, a $45 million allocation from government was granted for the refurbishment of Queen’s Hall and theatre people said “Alleluia.” But today, there are claims that the work remains unfinished because sub-contractors were not being paid. There is also talk of staff not getting paid on time, of bounced cheques and other difficulties. People to whom we spoke believed that the Board was not managing the Hall in an efficient manner, even though it was re-opened with great fanfare for the production of that controversial show, Carnival Messiah. There are two sides to the Queen’s Hall debate — one side highly critical of its present state — and the other, quick to defend, even to the point of threatening Sunday Newsday with legal action if it published anything likely to offend the authorities. Queen’s Hall was built in the 1960’s and falls under the Ministry of Community Develop-ment. Anne Marie De Silva, is the acting chairman of Queen’s Hall following the resignation last year of Margaret Walcott, under circumstances that were less than cordial.

Some of the confusion developed over the Hall’s presentation of the extravaganza Carnival Messiah. Members of the Board have categorically denied all allegations, insisting that work was in progress and Queen’s Hall would be completed in “due course.” The complainers told Sunday Newsday that there was a virtual slow-down of construction work and insisted this will continue to happen if the sub-contractors are not given the money allegedly owed to them. The source said the sub-contractors have not been paid for the past three months and were very upset. “Because of the type of building that they are dealing with, we thought government would have seen it fit to provide more money for the work to be completed,” he said.
There were workers on the site, but what they were doing, no one could say. When asked to comment, the Board dilly-dallied but eventually agreed to an interview. The first thing they did was point to the presence of what was clearly only a few workers on the site, asking if this was not evidence that work is going on.

But this was challenged by a source, who said there have been only a small number of workers for the past few months, and if work was really progressing, there would be many more workers on site. It was, he said, a clear indication that work had slowed down. Was it that the money had run out? Sunday Newsday was told that there is no more money to complete the external works of Queen’s Hall. Even with the majority of the interior completed, several people have complained about inadequacies of some of the work already done, such as squeaky chairs and a poor sound system. Some have lamented the deplorable state of the car-park which they find dusty and which they expect to be mud-filled when the rain comes. Sunday Newsday columnist, Donna Yawching, in an article on the recent 26th Biennial Music Festival, said: “If there was one downside to the Music Festival, it was Queen’s Hall itself. What an abortion.”

She criticised the acoustics derived from the refurbishment. “This is a concert hall that makes more noise that its performers,” she said. “But that’s not all. The Queen’s Hall geniuses also gave us spring-loaded chairs whose seats swing up when they are not weighted down by a human bottom. And these seats do not merely creak, they shriek like the souls of the damned each time they move up or down.” Yawching said while no-one would deny that the new Queen’s Hall is a definte improvement on its predecessor, called on its handlers to get their act together. Still to be completed are the fencing, car-park, lighting, drainage, the ticket centre, staff and administration building and the landscaping. A concerned source said it was not fair to the sub-contractors but described it as a chronic problem with government. De Silva, has denied that any money is still owed to anyone. A patron of Queen’s Hall, disclosed rumours that a number of bounced cheques from the theatrical performance, Carnival Messiah, presented around Carnival time, have been floating around and payments for scores of local performers and other artistes have not been honoured. Carnival Messiah, was a massive production late last year and was directed by Trinidadian-born/English resident, Geraldine Connor.

It is believed that it was this show, which cost a great deal of money, that caused the problems, as there was disagreement over whether Queen’s Hall could produce shows itself. The show is now said to be “heading to Broadway.” Referring to the production of the show and new initiatives to produce shows at Queen’s Hall, an official said, the Queen’s Hall Act states nothing about the Board having authority to undertake a production. “You have to have the authority from government to undertake these expenses,” the source pointed out. The Queen’s Hall Act of 1969, part two states: “The Board shall consist of seven members appointed by the Minister of Community Development and Gender Affairs and shall be responsible for the management, control and maintenance of the Hall.” “This is what their responsibility is, not in producing shows,” he added.

Section 13 in the financial provisions states: “The Board shall so exercise and perform its functions as to ensure that its revenues are not less than sufficient to —
(a) cover operating expenses including taxes, if any, and to provide adequate maintenance and depreciation and interest payments on borrowings
(b) meet periodic repayment on any long-term indebtedness to the extent that any such repayment exceeds the provisions for depreciation
(c) create reserves for the purpose of the future expansion and the sums required for any purposes of the Board shall be met out of the funds and resources of the Board.”

Members of the Board said however, that Carnival Messiah had total support of the government and according to the Act, insists that it has the power to raise money for such productions. The acting Chairman, in a former news article, has gone on record saying that the Queen’s Hall Board wants to undertake at least four productions a year and that Porgy and Bess was to follow Carnival Messiah. But while the plans are being discussed, employees at Queen’s Hall have reported that their salaries are being paid late. One worker said: “The month before we were paid late but it was not as bad as this month.” While the Queen’s Hall management have denied these problems, a representative of the National Union of Government and Federated Workers (NUGFW), Sherwin Baptiste, alleged that workers have not been paid on a regular basis. He said efforts to meet with the Board to have negotiations on the 2002-2004 collective agreement have failed so far. He said the Union will be pressing forward for the rights of the workers and if the Board does not concede, they will be taking the matter to the Industrial Court. Baptiste said Queen’s Hall made two workers’ positions redundant and until now, the workers have not received severance pay.

Queen’s Hall Executives speak out — ‘Someone has an axe to grind’

Executive members of the Queen’s Hall Board have refuted all allegations against them, saying that making the entertainment facility one of the best in the Caribbean hemisphere and a major cultural centre, is their foremost purpose. They felt that the allegations were clearly the work of someone or people with an “axe to grind”. On allegations that work had slowed down because workers were not being paid, De Silva said: “Work has not been halted or slowed down at all.” Manager, Heather Henderson Gordon, added that the Board members have been in touch with the contractors, who told them that they were not aware about any work being stopped. “One of the things one needs to understand, is that with the type of work they do, there are three different contractors and they all cannot be here together until certain things are done,” she said.

De Silva said the complainers should publicly identify themselves. “If the source was so sure about what he/she were saying, they should state who they are,” she challenged. Dance choreographer and Board member, Carol La Chapelle, added: “Clearly, someone has an axe to grind.” With reference to allegations concerning bounced cheques following the second staging of the Carnival Messiah show, De Silva admitted that a few cheques had been returned due to an error. “It was clearly an error and it has been addressed,” added Henderson Gordon. She admitted that the staff’s salaries were a bit late last month, explaining that this was because of a backlog and a few other reasons which caused the delay. However, they denied that it had been the case over the past two months. “We are a very happy bunch of people here, we don’t want our staff unhappy,” she added. Board member, Thomas Sanoir, pointed out that these things happened in any government and/or, private institution from time to time and Queen’s Hall was no different. As for questions over the completion of Queen’s Hall, De Silva said: “Queen’s Hall is a work in progress.

A facility like this is called re-development, especially since it is a building with historical value. “We have spent approximately $45 million in building a state-of-the-art building. “But it is not for the building alone, it’s for the equipment and everything that will make it state-of-the-art,” she said. La Chapelle said, even so, the money was “peanuts” compared to the kind of costs needed to renovate or construct theatres all over the world. Henderson Gordon said the next things on the list are going to the Central Tenders Board, is the generator, which should be tendered for by this month or next month, the ticket booth and the grounds, drainage and landscaping. “We cannot complete the whole works on the ground because we have heavy construction still to do,” said De Silva.

She pointed out that quite a few things at Queen’s Hall were still temporary in structure. “In order for everything to be done properly, takes times,” she added. A generator for the Hall will cost about $1M (TT). But at the root of much of the dispute, is the role of Queen’s Hall itself. Some argue that Queen’s Hall is not in the business of producing shows but of managing and maintaining the Hall for use by others. So, is Queen’s Hall there to be rented out for shows or can it produce shows itself? Anne Marie De Silva, argues that there was nothing in the Queen’s Hall Act which banned them from producing shows. Another member of the Board, Carol La Chapelle agreed. “Carnival Messiah had the blessing of government, the same people who are responsible for the Queen’s Hall Act of Parliament. The show is something that Queen’s Hall has done and will do again,” she said. “Queen’s Hall has become a place of demand for people to send their scripts to. We have scripts coming from as far as California, one from David Rudder, Dereck Walcott and many others. We are finally doing what we should be doing.”

Are they now transforming themselves into a production company, rather than a rental facility? La Chapelle confirmed this, “Queen’s Hall has become more than a rental facility and will be producing shows which is what theatres around the world are supposed to be.” De Silva defended the second staging of Carnival Messiah, pointing out that there were a number of foreign investors who were interested in the production with the aim of taking the show to Broadway. Among them, is the “Dream Team,” a team of foreign entertainment investors, who wanted to see the show in the setting of Trinidad roots. “We had in total, 52 of the best of Broadway and Hollywood, here in TT, including the producers of the well-known Broadway production, HairSpray and the Barber Shop,” she said. La Chapelle said people need to know the importance of marketing the country’s culture and this can be done through Queen’s Hall and local theatre. “We are moving on and when Carnival Messiah flies its flag in the first US theatre, we will all be proud and years from now TT will be reaping the long-term rewards,” both La Chapelle and De Silva argue. La Chapelle and De Silva said that the monies spent on producing Carnival Messiah was invested money and did not come from their Queen’s Hall funds.