‘St James will close next year without more funding’

That was the stark message from the director of the island’s leading cultural hub, Jon Bisson, after a bid for additional funding was rejected.

‘The uplift was just £152,000, basically the cost of one top-level civil servant,’ he said. ‘We are now in the last chance saloon.’

It is understood that the Education, Sport & Culture Committee, which has blamed the Policy & Resources Committee for turning the application down, will now try to amend the Budget to secure funding next month.

‘If ESC are not successful we will say to staff to enjoy 2025, because that will be it,’ said Mr Bisson.

‘We have enough reserves to last a year if we cut all the community stuff. Ironically it is the 40th anniversary of St James being saved next year. We had 40 events planned but now half will have to go. We can run till the end of 2025, but it will be “St James lite”.’

The venue is now starting a campaign to keep its doors open, and highlighting the contribution it makes not just to the arts but to the wider economy.

‘Take St James out of the mix and Guernsey will just have Jim Davidson and some cover bands,’ he said.

‘We have tried to massively up our game this year, with top comedians and bands coming over.

‘And in fact I have had [comedians] Dom Joly and Ed Byrne on the phone this week asking if they can come back.

‘Even though we don’t pay top rates, they love coming here and know we will look after them.’

He added that the venue spent nearly £400,000 every year in Guernsey with local providers, Aurigny, and the hospitality trade, and all of that would be lost.

‘We will have 1,000 people through the doors over the weekend and most of them will go for drinks or meals in town in what is the off season,’ he said.

‘You have all that economic enablement for just a couple of hundred thousand pounds a year.’

The centre currently receives £63,000 a year in States funding and said it needed that to be increased to £215,000 to keep the lights on.

‘That’s just £3.30 per islander,’ Mr Bisson said.

He said that 35 years ago the States agreed to support the cost of full-time staff at St James. The initial grant of £45,000 was meant to keep pace with inflation, and was increased to £57,500 until 2002 and up again in 2021 to its current level. Since then it has stalled.

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If it had continue to be inflated it would now be worth more than £100,000 a year.

Funding uncertainty meant the venue had lost two full-time members of staff and was now run by four people.

‘We can’t recruit due to the uncertainty,’ said Mr Bisson. ‘Those staff are working 60 hours a week and being paid for 36.’

Mr Bisson said he recognised the massive pressure Education Sport & Culture were under, but it was evident the arts were at the bottom of the pile again.

‘Having arts in the same budget, people were always going to put money into education. Perhaps that funding needs to be separated,’ he said. ‘It is telling that in the budget the words art and culture are each mentioned just once. I think we need as a community to recognise just what St James brings the island.’

More details on the St James fundraising campaign are at www.stjames.gg/save-stj.