Statement on behalf of Eastern Angles regarding Chauffeur's Cottage

Statement from Jake Smith, Artistic Director / CEO of Eastern Angles:

"Eastern Angles has received the sad news that Peterborough City Council is terminating Metal Peterborough's building lease at Chauffeur's Cottage. This building is Eastern Angles home in Peterborough. The building is an important community hub and home to other cultural organisations and freelancers who have produced some of  Peterborough's most-loved events including Eye Lantern parade, Millfield Festival, and productions of our community plays River Lane and Dark Earth.

Eastern Angles advocates with our colleagues at the Peterborough Cultural Alliance that "culture is an essential resource that binds the people of Peterborough together as a growing, diverse city." Collectively, the organisations based at Metal have brought over £5.6 million into the local economy, worked with nearly 25,000 young people and communities, and created festivals, events and exhibitions enjoyed by nearly 1.4 million residents. 

The decision to displace Eastern Angles, Metal, Peterborough Presents and the creative freelancers at Chauffeur's Cottage puts the future economic and wellbeing benefits of Peterborough's cultural offer at risk.

Eastern Angles remains committed to working alongside Metal and our partners to resolve the challenges faced by the City Council and through collaboration find a positive outcome for all involved."

Statement from Sughra Ahmed, Managing Director of Peterborough Cultural Alliance:

"The Peterborough Cultural Alliance (PCA) were saddened and disappointed to hear of Peterborough City Council's decision to terminate the lease on Chauffeur’s Cottage held by National Portfolio Arts Organisation, Metal Culture, for over 12 years. This important, and only, cultural hub sits in the heart of the city centre and provides a base for Peterborough's creative community. The cottage is also home to Peterborough Presents, Eastern Angles, and multiple freelance artists who are key to our cultural vibrancy. These people and organisations currently face the impossible and urgent task of finding a way to keep delivering their important community based work, with the prospect of having no safe space in which to do so.

The decision to displace the beating heart of Peterborough's creative community is a stand out example of the Council’s consistent dismissal of culture as a fundamental priority for the city - culture is an essential resource that binds us together as a growing, diverse city and helps keep our city safe and well through challenging times. In recent years, culture (and therefore, it's economic benefit, too) has been shown little regard, including threats to the Key Theatre, broken promises of cultural spaces in The Vine, the Whitworth Mill. 

The PCA disagrees. We believe that culture is the lifeblood of a city. It lifts our economy, attracts great people, companies and builds strength and cohesion in volatile times. Culture provides comfort and safety, builds connections between communities, provides safe spaces for the most vulnerable and amplifies our voices. We strongly urge the council to reconsider their commitment to culture and to be in conversation with us.

Culture, alongside tourism, is a significant contributor to the local economy. The work of the PCA and our creative colleagues brings significant inward investment to the city. We draw into the city millions of pounds, each year and reach millions of lives from across Peterborough and the region. In fact, through culture, we reach parts of Peterborough that many sectors struggle with.

We welcome any opportunity to discuss this with the council to safeguard the sector and its impact on our citizens for the future. While we understand, respect and support our city providing high quality children's services for our young people, we urge the Council to be in conversation with us so that we can be mindful of mutual priorities and explore innovative ways in which we can deal with today's challenges. We want to work together to build a vibrant cultural offer, draw in greater economic investment from outside the city and build civic pride, making Peterborough a smart choice for people to live, work and play. We want to do this with the council and to ignore us is not good for our city."