The Irish Club of WA – Community Forum - 10 February 2019
Please be advised that a community forum will be held at the Irish Club of WA on Sunday 10 February 2019 at 1100hrs.
The forum will be facilitated by Mr Marty Kavanagh (Ireland’s Honorary Consul in Western Australia) at the request of the management committee of the Irish Club of WA.
The purpose of the forum is to give the committee an opportunity to present the current challenges facing the Club and to explore and discuss opportunities for the future with those in attendance.
Since August 2018 the management committee has been engaging with various stakeholders to seek their input and ideas on developing a plan for a sustainable future for the Club.
Please note that this is not a forum for looking back but an opportunity to look to the future and shape the Club into what our members and the community want. As part of this we will discuss a number of initiatives and seek to develop these further and anticipate that, by the end of the forum, we will have a list of specific actions that can be explored further by the committee with the help of key stakeholders.
The agenda will include a presentation from the committee that will cover the following topics:
You are cordially invited to attend and participate in a respectful and constructive way.
This forum will also be an opportunity for you to think about how you can help the Club in a specific area based on your skills and experience.
Please note that this forum is not intended as a substitute for a Special General Meeting and as such the constitutional requirements for meetings will not apply.
If you have any questions in relation to this forum, please feel free to contact me at [email protected] or 0408 172 691.
We look forward to your attendance and to working with you all to shape the future of the Irish Club of WA.
Yours sincerely
Damien Cronin (Secretary)
On Behalf of the Management Committee of the Irish Club of WA
Please be advised that a community forum will be held at the Irish Club of WA on Sunday 10 February 2019 at 1100hrs.
The forum will be facilitated by Mr Marty Kavanagh (Ireland’s Honorary Consul in Western Australia) at the request of the management committee of the Irish Club of WA.
The purpose of the forum is to give the committee an opportunity to present the current challenges facing the Club and to explore and discuss opportunities for the future with those in attendance.
Since August 2018 the management committee has been engaging with various stakeholders to seek their input and ideas on developing a plan for a sustainable future for the Club.
Please note that this is not a forum for looking back but an opportunity to look to the future and shape the Club into what our members and the community want. As part of this we will discuss a number of initiatives and seek to develop these further and anticipate that, by the end of the forum, we will have a list of specific actions that can be explored further by the committee with the help of key stakeholders.
The agenda will include a presentation from the committee that will cover the following topics:
- Finance
- Analysis of recent online survey on future of the club
- Governance
- Membership
- Publicity
- Strategy for the future
- Any other business
You are cordially invited to attend and participate in a respectful and constructive way.
This forum will also be an opportunity for you to think about how you can help the Club in a specific area based on your skills and experience.
Please note that this forum is not intended as a substitute for a Special General Meeting and as such the constitutional requirements for meetings will not apply.
If you have any questions in relation to this forum, please feel free to contact me at [email protected] or 0408 172 691.
We look forward to your attendance and to working with you all to shape the future of the Irish Club of WA.
Yours sincerely
Damien Cronin (Secretary)
On Behalf of the Management Committee of the Irish Club of WA
Member Update - 01 February 2019
Dear Members & Friends
Many concerned members have contacted us seeking clarification in regard to a communication, distributed by the President of the Irish Theatre Players (ITP) on 25 January 2019, announcing that the ITP would no longer operate from the Irish Club of WA. We really appreciate members making us aware of this communication as we had no prior knowledge of it and would therefore not have been in a position to comment.
Your committee has now had the ability to digest the content of the ITP’s communication and feel obliged to clarify a number of inaccuracies which we believe unfairly impact on the reputation of the Irish Club of WA and the current management committee.
The secretaries of the Irish Club of WA and the ITP have always communicated with each other and the Club was not made aware of any specific issues in relation to communication channels during our discussions. In fact, following a request by the ITP for dates in 2019, our secretary personally populated the Club’s calendar with every rehearsal and performance date for all ITP productions (five) during 2019.
The ITP were advised accordingly and a meeting was arranged for January 2019. To state that dates were not confirmed is simply not true, as to this day, all those dates are reserved in the calendar pending cancellation. At the meeting on 09 January 2019, the club informed the ITP about the serious financial crisis the Club finds itself in, making it clear that without the support of all the groups that currently use the Club for free, we would be forced to close the doors. The ITP were advised that their first production in April should not be affected and that the Club was doing everything possible to ensure the Club had a viable future.
At this point we should address the issue of charges. Contrary to what the ITP has stated, when the new management committee of the Irish Club came on board in August 2018 the ITP were not paying a hire fee but were instead covering the cost of having one member of bar staff serve drinks at their performances – this amounted to a total of $105 per night. It did not help the Club cover any other running costs. The only other fees incurred by the ITP are fees associated with the provision of sandwiches for patrons at the intermission which was paid directly to the caterer without any benefit to the Club. The final fee which was incurred by the ITP was associated with the erection and dismantling of tiered seating (if required) which again covered the cost of paying club staff for the approx. 8 hours of work involved.
The Club openly acknowledges that charging individual groups for their use of the Club may not, in isolation, change the fortunes of the Club but collectively it will provide the Club with a financial buffer to cover the operating costs which groups like the ITP have historically not contributed to such as electricity, cleaning and maintenance of the building. The ITP have also historically had the opportunity to store their props and equipment at the Club which saved them paying external storage costs. There has been a lot of goodwill extended to the ITP by the Club over their 30 years of existence and it is indeed very sad that they have chosen to leave us in our hour of need. For the record we did not price them out of the Club, they chose to promptly leave us, their home of 30 years.
During our discussions, the Club proposed two venue hire models to the ITP, the first of which was based on the Club receiving a portion of ticket sales. Following feedback from the ITP the Club proposed an alternative model which would result in them paying an hourly rate for their use of the Club as follows:
As part of our due diligence, we contacted other theatre groups to discuss their costs and finalised our model based on what we believed was fair and equitable for the ITP and mutually beneficial for both parties. The implementation of those charges would be the same for other groups using the venue, so the ITP were not singled out in relation to charges.
Historically, the ITP was a subgroup of the Club until they became incorporated in late 2016. Under our constitution as a subgroup, all monies and equipment raised or acquired by the subgroup is deemed to be the property of the Club. If the specific amounts of money highlighted in their communication were acquired when the ITP was a subgroup, then they were effectively the Club’s money in the first instance and were therefore not a donation. Also, it is our understanding that the ‘GoFundMe’ campaign referenced in the ITP communication was an Irish Club committee initiative.
Whilst the ITP did bring patrons to the Irish Club over the years, it didn’t always result in the Club making enough money to cover costs. As a result of the reduction in prices of drinks at the Club over the years, the profit margin on alcohol sales is not what it used to be which does not further help our finances. This is the reason the Club needs to find other revenue streams to ensure it can continue to operate.
For the record, there is nothing within the constitution of the Irish Club of WA Inc which specifically references venue hire being free to members, this was a policy decision made by management committees over the years.
Finally, the Club remains proud of our association with the ITP who called the Club home for so many years and we wish them the very best for the future. We will keep the door open for the ITP and would happily welcome them back on terms that are mutually beneficial.
We appreciate that this correspondence is detailed but we felt transparency was important and the detail is unavoidable when stating the facts.
Damien Cronin (Secretary)
On Behalf of the Management Committee of the Irish Club of WA
Dear Members & Friends
Many concerned members have contacted us seeking clarification in regard to a communication, distributed by the President of the Irish Theatre Players (ITP) on 25 January 2019, announcing that the ITP would no longer operate from the Irish Club of WA. We really appreciate members making us aware of this communication as we had no prior knowledge of it and would therefore not have been in a position to comment.
Your committee has now had the ability to digest the content of the ITP’s communication and feel obliged to clarify a number of inaccuracies which we believe unfairly impact on the reputation of the Irish Club of WA and the current management committee.
The secretaries of the Irish Club of WA and the ITP have always communicated with each other and the Club was not made aware of any specific issues in relation to communication channels during our discussions. In fact, following a request by the ITP for dates in 2019, our secretary personally populated the Club’s calendar with every rehearsal and performance date for all ITP productions (five) during 2019.
The ITP were advised accordingly and a meeting was arranged for January 2019. To state that dates were not confirmed is simply not true, as to this day, all those dates are reserved in the calendar pending cancellation. At the meeting on 09 January 2019, the club informed the ITP about the serious financial crisis the Club finds itself in, making it clear that without the support of all the groups that currently use the Club for free, we would be forced to close the doors. The ITP were advised that their first production in April should not be affected and that the Club was doing everything possible to ensure the Club had a viable future.
At this point we should address the issue of charges. Contrary to what the ITP has stated, when the new management committee of the Irish Club came on board in August 2018 the ITP were not paying a hire fee but were instead covering the cost of having one member of bar staff serve drinks at their performances – this amounted to a total of $105 per night. It did not help the Club cover any other running costs. The only other fees incurred by the ITP are fees associated with the provision of sandwiches for patrons at the intermission which was paid directly to the caterer without any benefit to the Club. The final fee which was incurred by the ITP was associated with the erection and dismantling of tiered seating (if required) which again covered the cost of paying club staff for the approx. 8 hours of work involved.
The Club openly acknowledges that charging individual groups for their use of the Club may not, in isolation, change the fortunes of the Club but collectively it will provide the Club with a financial buffer to cover the operating costs which groups like the ITP have historically not contributed to such as electricity, cleaning and maintenance of the building. The ITP have also historically had the opportunity to store their props and equipment at the Club which saved them paying external storage costs. There has been a lot of goodwill extended to the ITP by the Club over their 30 years of existence and it is indeed very sad that they have chosen to leave us in our hour of need. For the record we did not price them out of the Club, they chose to promptly leave us, their home of 30 years.
During our discussions, the Club proposed two venue hire models to the ITP, the first of which was based on the Club receiving a portion of ticket sales. Following feedback from the ITP the Club proposed an alternative model which would result in them paying an hourly rate for their use of the Club as follows:
- $50 per hour for rehearsals capped at 2 hours meaning the most they would pay would be $100 per night
- $50 per hour for performances capped at 4 hours meaning the most they would pay would be $200 per night
- The cost of erecting and dismantling the tiered seating would be $400 in total which involves up to two persons and takes approx. 8 hours.
As part of our due diligence, we contacted other theatre groups to discuss their costs and finalised our model based on what we believed was fair and equitable for the ITP and mutually beneficial for both parties. The implementation of those charges would be the same for other groups using the venue, so the ITP were not singled out in relation to charges.
Historically, the ITP was a subgroup of the Club until they became incorporated in late 2016. Under our constitution as a subgroup, all monies and equipment raised or acquired by the subgroup is deemed to be the property of the Club. If the specific amounts of money highlighted in their communication were acquired when the ITP was a subgroup, then they were effectively the Club’s money in the first instance and were therefore not a donation. Also, it is our understanding that the ‘GoFundMe’ campaign referenced in the ITP communication was an Irish Club committee initiative.
Whilst the ITP did bring patrons to the Irish Club over the years, it didn’t always result in the Club making enough money to cover costs. As a result of the reduction in prices of drinks at the Club over the years, the profit margin on alcohol sales is not what it used to be which does not further help our finances. This is the reason the Club needs to find other revenue streams to ensure it can continue to operate.
For the record, there is nothing within the constitution of the Irish Club of WA Inc which specifically references venue hire being free to members, this was a policy decision made by management committees over the years.
Finally, the Club remains proud of our association with the ITP who called the Club home for so many years and we wish them the very best for the future. We will keep the door open for the ITP and would happily welcome them back on terms that are mutually beneficial.
We appreciate that this correspondence is detailed but we felt transparency was important and the detail is unavoidable when stating the facts.
Damien Cronin (Secretary)
On Behalf of the Management Committee of the Irish Club of WA
