Agenda item

            (Mrs. H. Francey, Good Relations Manager, attended in connection with this item.)

 

            Memorabilia in the City Hall

 

            The Chief Executive referred to the minutes of the memorabilia Working Group of 15th September and the report of the Good Relations Manager contained therein which is set out below:

 

            ‘Relevant Background Information

 

            Members will be aware that the issue of memorabilia in the City Hall was raised at last month’s Strategic Policy & Resources Committee meeting and at the September Council meeting.  This report seeks to set out the relevant background information and clarify key points in relation to this subject so that current concerns are met and our move back to the City Hall can be carried out in a harmonious manner.

 

            Advisory Panel

 

            Members may be aware that in 2002 the Council established an independent Advisory Panel of external experts who provided an informed view on the issue of displays in the City Hall.

 

            All of the Council’s work around memorabilia since that time has been based on the recommendations of that Advisory Panel, which were adopted by the previous Policy & Resources Committee in February 2003. The opening paragraph of this report stated clearly that ‘the items which form part of the fabric of the City Hall – stained glass windows, plaques, sculptures and war memorials – have important historical overtones and should be retained’.  The report went on to state that ‘As the principal public building in Belfast, it is important that the City Hall is as welcoming, appealing and interesting as possible.  Symbolism is extremely important and the current display could be augmented to achieve a better balance and more inclusive representation of the history and heritage of the City.  The contributions of the working class, women and minority communities to life in Belfast should be more adequately represented in future displays’.

 

            Principles

 

            In summary, the principles that have guided our approach in working towards a more balanced and inclusive display are that the City Hall should be:

 

·         welcoming

·         attractive

·         interesting

·         representative of the history and heritage of Belfast

·         representative of the diversity of the city.

 

            It follows also that the displays should be of good quality and in accordance with the status of the City Hall setting.

 

            Progress made

 

            Many of the short-term recommendations of the Advisory Panel have been implemented. The displaying of all the Lord Mayors’ portraits, the re-naming of the Committee Rooms, the installation of works by Conor and Lavery, the commissioning of the Mary Ann McCracken bust, the No Mean City photographic exhibition and the installation of the Dockers’ Strike stained glass window all represent actions taken to ‘balance up’ the current displays.

 

            Following the closure of the City Hall for refurbishment in 2007, a large number of artworks and artefacts were removed from the City Hall and put into storage.  Members should note that not all items were removed i.e. stained glass windows, plaques, large statues and the biggest artworks/portraits were left in situ and cased in for protection.

 

            Report to Committee November 2008

 

            The first report referring to the replacement of the artworks was submitted to the Strategic Policy & Resources Committee in November 2008 (copy attached Appendix A).  This pointed out that since the City Hall was now a major tourist attraction with over 56,000 visitors taking public tours annually, we should capitalise on our success and use the closure of the City Hall to our best advantage by rationalising the tours and introducing a number of themed areas. 

 

            These were:

 

1	History of the City Hall	Marble area
2	‘Freedom of the City’ recipients	Rotunda
3	Belfast in the 2 World Wars	Rotunda
4	Notable Belfast citizens	Reception Hall
5	Titanic & Belfast’s Lord Mayors	Banqueting Hall
6	Civic regalia	Robing Room
7	Display of gifts received by the city	East Entrance

 

            This report explained that some artefacts and pieces of artwork would have to be relocated to optimise the tour themes and identified and listed the most significant of these.  It specifically referred to the recommendations of the Advisory Panel, stating that “the re-displaying of items will give an opportunity to work towards the achievement of a more balanced and inclusive display which represents all aspects of former and contemporary life in Belfast”.  

 

            The report pointed out that over 1300 art and artefact items had been removed from the City Hall and the closure provided an opportunity to clean and restore these where necessary, collating an updated inventory.  It was not considered necessary for the report to list all items individually along with their future location.

 

            The report also proposed that ‘the six elected Members of the Good Relations Partnership act as a cross-party reference group in any future discussions regarding the display of City Hall memorabilia in the longer term.  This will ensure that the City Hall is as welcoming and as representative of our community as possible, in line with previous Council decisions’.  (This Group was known as the Memorabilia Working Group).

 

            The recommendations in this report were adopted without amendment.  Following this, the Head of Facilities Management proceeded to develop the plans for the 7 themed areas as described above.

 

            Memorabilia Working Group

 

            This Working Group has met monthly since Christmas 2008 and has considered various options but, despite much discussion, received very few proposals.

 

            It agreed to invite suggestions from the general public (through City Matters, Interlink, our website and a media release, Feb 2009).  This resulted in a number of proposals, some of these were impractical, e.g. to use the City Hall as an art gallery. Some related to items already underway e.g. display the original Charter in a more prominent position; establish a café/coffee shop; set up a display showing Belfast’s industrial past and its famous citizens.

     

            The Working Group considered recent Equality Commission guidance on Promoting a Good and Harmonious Working Environment and agreed that in the return to the City Hall, as general principles, the major public areas – the marble, Great Hall, Banqueting Hall, Reception Hall and Rotunda etc - should be kept free of any permanent memorabilia that could be construed as being partisan in nature.  However, temporary exhibitions or installations in these public areas and function rooms should be permitted, to allow for diversity of expression e.g. emblems, flags or banners which are expressions of cultural identity and form key elements in a particular event/exhibition; such objects are to be removed immediately after the event/exhibition.

 

            The Working Group received regular up-dates from Civic Headquarters staff on the progress being made in relation to the City Hall refurbishment, the tour themes and the new interactive No Mean City exhibition.

 

            Moving of artefacts

 

            At its meeting on 29 May 2009, the Head of Facilities Management reminded the Group that the Council had agreed to the rationalisation of the City Hall displays into 7 main themes and stated that work was now at the stage of designing and installing relevant furniture and display cases etc.  He said that although the vast majority of the artefacts would be replaced in their original position or moved to a more appropriate location to fit in with the themes, a small number of items did not ‘fit’ easily within the themes.  Since the acquisition and/or commissioning of new items and disposal of existing items was a matter for Members, he referred these to the Memorabilia Working Group.

 

            The Memorabilia Working Group agreed that 2 items could be made available on long-term loan to other organisations, rather than be put into storage.  These were:

 

·         a large flag in the Banqueting Hall which had been presented to Sir Crawford and Lady McCullough, who had a close association with the Guide movement; this is to be offered to the Girl Guide Association.

·         the Accounts of the Paymasters General of 1690, being offered on a long-term loan basis to the Grand Orange Lodge.

 

            Irish language suggestions

 

            The Memorabilia Working Group also had a lengthy discussion at this meeting on a range of requests from the Irish language community. The Working Group noted that some suggestions made were already in place:

 

·         tour information is already available in Irish and will be up-dated and reprinted on return to the City Hall; the Group acknowledged that there was a need for wider publication of the fact of its availability

·         tours for Irish medium schools have been and can be facilitated

·         the Welcome Guide has already been translated into Irish and can be downloaded from the Council’s website.

 

            The Working Group also agreed to proceed with the following new proposals:

 

·         Irish will be included in the multi-lingual Welcome Sign at Reception

·         Irish will be included in the No MeanCity exhibition information

·         a 16th century Irish manuscript presented to Cllr. Alex Maskey, as Lord Mayor, can be displayed in the ‘Gifts to the Lord Mayor’ section as an illustration of Irish heritage

·         an Irish language event can be included in the official City Hall re-opening programme, to be designed in association with Pobal.

 

            The Working Group considered the request for bi-lingual signage but, after discussion, re-affirmed its current policy on language and signage.  The Group rejected the suggestion that the ability to speak Irish should be included as an essential recruitment criterion for tour guides and reception staff, given current employment legislation.

 

            These Working Group recommendations were reported to the Strategic Policy & Resources Committee on 19 June.

 

            Discussions with groups from the Irish language community in Belfast around a possible artwork to represent the contribution of that community are continuing. 

 

            At its meeting on 14 August, the Memorabilia Working Group agreed a final list of 68 names to be included in the newly up-dated interactive No Mean City exhibition.

 

            New artwork agreed

 

            The Working Group also agreed that the Council should commission 2 pieces of artwork, on the themes of boxing and young people, to improve the overall balance within the City Hall, to be located in the newly re-furbished East Entrance area.   This was agreed by the Strategic Policy & Resources Committee on 21 August and will be commissioned in line with standard procurement guidelines.  Also at that meeting, the Head of Facilities Management submitted another report on Memorabilia (Appendix B) which gave further information regarding the 7 themes and locations of art and artefacts. 

 

            Equality implications

 

            Members are reminded of their equality obligations and of the advice of the Senior Counsel engaged in 2002-3; the QC stated that:

 

       ‘The City Hall was built in the Victorian era.  It is typical of civic buildings which were constructed …..at that time.  It is inevitable that the style and decoration of these buildings will reflect the social and cultural views and aspirations of those who built them……Over the years such buildings have inevitably become the repositories of various artefacts and memorabilia of local significance.  Thus they perform a function….similar to that performed by a museum or archive…with particular reference to the City’s own history.

 

       These items…placed in the City Hall over the years….are clearly part of the cultural history and heritage of the city.  However, no-one would claim that they are representative of all aspects of the cultural history or heritage of Belfast.’

 

            Although some progress has clearly been made in this area, more could be done and the re-opening of the City Hall provides an opportunity to move this forward and achieve a more favourable balance of artefacts with greater representation of all the communities in the city.

 

            KEY ISSUES

 

            The development of the Bobbin coffee bar and exhibition space, which focuses on the contribution of the workers of Belfast and its industrial past, is another example of the Council’s commitment to the principle of greater balance as it addresses directly the themes of the contribution of the working class, women and mill girls.

 

            Members will be aware that the portraits of Lord Mayors themselves provide an indication of the political spectrum in Belfast and reflect the change in the city’s political dynamic. There will shortly be 2 Sinn Fein, 3 SDLP and 3 Alliance Lord Mayors’ portraits on view in the re-opened City Hall (next year 4 Alliance).

 

            Possible short term actions

 

            To address current concerns, it appears that the Reception Hall, with its theme of Belfast Citizens, is the most promising location for any additional displays, although a significant amount of other wall space is currently unused in other areas within the City Hall and could be used to add balance.

 

            The portraits in the Reception Hall at present are not of former civic dignitaries but of former officers/Town Clerks; these could be re-located in less high profile areas.  This would allow future displays, when selected and commissioned, to be placed there. 

 

            As an immediate action, a wall-hanging of the ancient Irish poem, the Blackbird, currently hanging in the Lord Mayor’s offices, could be hung in a more central location. 

 

            In the meantime, we have been having recent discussions with a number of other organisations, including the UlsterMuseum and Linen Hall Library, regarding the possibility of borrowing items on short or long-term loan.   There is an abundance of material on Belfast within local archives. 

 

            Current suggestions include:

 

            ‘Ready-made’ exhibitions which have already been collated and which could be hired on a short term basis e.g. from the Linen Hall Library include those on the United Irishmen; Posters and Images of the NI Conflict, which reflect all sides in the conflict; A Cartoon History of Ulster in the Twentieth Century, which covers the home rule crisis, partition and the Troubles.

 

            Other possible exhibition themes, drawing on a range of archival material, which could be expanded over time, include:

 

            Caring and Sharing - looking at the tradition of charitable and voluntary work on the part of philanthropic individuals, churches and voluntary organisations, hospitals etc over the decades e.g. the RVH, the Mater, St Vincent de Paul, Salvation Army etc.

 

            Creating the Way – a celebration of Belfast’s artists, writers, painters and musicians.

 

            Famous Women of Belfast – from Ruby Murray, Mary O’Malley, Mary Peters, Sister Genevieve to Mary McAleese.

 

            The pictures on display in the Conor and Lavery Committee Rooms are high quality reproductions of originals and this method could be repeated for other artworks.  There are available many landmark and landscape paintings; portraits of e.g. United Irishmen, writers; extensive photographic collections; and images of old Belfast, reflecting all traditions and ways of life in Belfast across the decades.

 

            Possible future exhibitions

 

            The East Entrance area is to be reserved for temporary community exhibitions/displays.  These could be very varied, demonstrating the diversity of life in Belfast and assist in providing cultural balance.

 

            Applications already been received include the following proposed exhibitions:

 

·         160^th Anniversary of the School of Art & Design, from the University of Ulster, which would showcase the work of their students/young people; pencilled in for Oct/Nov 09

 

·         A Sports Museum, being collated by Brian Morrison, former Head of Leisure, which will feature a number of sports, with special features on the GAA (including football, hurling, handball and camogie), boxing, rugby and football; pencilled in for Dec 09

 

·         Shared History Interpretative Project (SHIP) photographic exhibition illustrating the history and heritage of the Dockers in Belfast.

 

            Financial Implications

 

            Appropriate artworks could be commissioned through existing budgets.

 

2.2      Recommendations

 

·         To note the information in this report

 

·         To agree that suitable wall space be made available in the Reception Hall and other areas and designated for appropriate artwork to represent the diversity of the city, to be agreed by the Memorabilia Working Group.

 

·         To agree that an Advisory Panel be established of appropriate external advisors, i.e. Maureen Mackin, already commissioned, plus 2 others (to be approached) who would provide expertise and guidance to the Council in this matter; this Panel to have both gender and community balance.

 

·         To consider the options outlined above and give direction on the short-term and longer-term proposals possible

 

·         To demonstrate the Council’s commitment to the principle of greater balance, to agree that a timetable be drawn up, with a detailed report back within 3 months, identifying short-term plans and longer-term proposals to address the issue of balance and better representation within the City Hall displays.”

 

            The Chief Executive further referred to the summary of the decisions of the Working Group set out below which were being recommended to the Strategic Policy and Resources Committee for acceptance:

 

 “•     To agree that suitable wall space be made available in the Reception Hall and other areas and designated for appropriate artwork to represent the diversity of the city, to be agreed by the Memorabilia Working Group.

 

·         To agree that an Advisory Panel be established of appropriate external advisors, i.e. Maureen Mackin, already commissioned, plus 3 others (to be approached) who would provide expertise and guidance to the Council in this matter; this Panel to have both gender and community balance.

 

·         To consider the options outlined above and give direction on the short-term and longer-term proposals possible

 

·         To demonstrate the Council’s commitment to the principle of greater balance, to agree that a timetable be drawn up, with a detailed report back within 3 months, identifying short-term plans and longer?term proposals to address the issue of balance and better representation within the City Hall displays.

 

      In addition, the Working Group agreed to recommend to the Strategic Policy & Resources Committee that:

 

·         The 100 year old Trade Union banner should be displayed as soon as available

 

·         The name of the individual from the Irish language community should be re-instated in the No Mean City interactive display

 

·         The Blackbird wall hanging should be displayed in the Reception Hall

 

·         Artwork, not to exceed £20,000, should be commissioned, to reflect Irish history and heritage in the city; this to be displayed in either the Reception Hall or East Entrance

 

·         Wall space should be made available in the Reception Hall by relocating portraits of former Town Clerks

 

·         The 16^th century Irish manuscript and presentation crystal bowl should be displayed in the East Entrance

 

·         That the primary role of the Advisory Panel, reporting through the Memorabilia Working Group, would be to bring back an expert report with specific proposals to introduce greater balance within the City Hall.

 

·         A meeting should be convened as soon as possible with the consultant to identify options and which items could be obtained most quickly

 

·         The Director of Legal Services to provide advice to the Strategic Policy & Resources Committee on the Council’s legal obligations under Section 75 of the NI Act on this matter.”

 

            A Member pointed out that there was no need for an Advisory Panel and that an expert report could be prepared for the Working Group by the Council’s retained adviser Maureen Mackin supported by the Heritage Officer and other specialist officers already employed by the Council.

 

            Accordingly, he requested that the Committee agreed to proceed on this basis without the establishment of an Advisory Panel.

 

            The Committee agreed to this course of action.

 

            During a lengthy discussion in the matter, the Good Relations Manager pointed out that suggestions had been sought from the general public through City Matters, Interlink, the Council’s website and a media release in relation to what type of artefacts, memorabilia or artworks they would like to see displayed in the City Hall.  She explained that there had been no suggestions received from the Chinese, Indian and other ethnic minority communities but submissions had been received from Irish Language groups, which was why these were being considered as part of the overall recommendations being made to the Committee.

 

Moved by Councillor D. Dodds,

Seconded by Councillor Campbell,

 

      That, with the exception of the decision taken earlier in the meeting in relation to the establishment of the Advisory Panel, the summary of decisions which had been taken by the Memorabilia Working Group and submitted to Committee for approval be referred back to that Group for further consideration.

 

            On a vote by show of hands eight Members voted for the proposal and eight against.  There being an equality of votes, the Chairman exercised his casting vote for the proposal and it was accordingly declared carried.