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Fewer concerts, but bigger crowds
Kenwood House bids for 10,000-capacity events
ORGANISERS of the Kenwood House summer concert season want to increase the size of audiences by 20 per cent.
The concerts were cancelled this summer after Camden Council told organisers to cut the series from 10 events to eight – making it unviable, according to English Heritage, which runs the house, and concert organiser IMG.
English Heritage is now finalising its licence application for next summer and the New Journal can reveal that it will settle for an eight-concert series, in response to numerous complaints from Hampstead and Highgate residents about noise.
But it will ask for capacity to be increased from 8,000 to 10,000 a night.
Event operations director Rebecca Kane said: “We plan to apply to sell extra tickets. We do not think we will have 10,000 people each week, but it means we can hopefully recover revenues lost by a shorter season.”
A public meeting is to be held in September to discuss the plans before the application is submitted in October.
Ms Kane said money raised from ticket sales was crucial to maintaining free access to Kenwood House and its grounds.
Costing £1.8 million a year to run, the house makes about £700,000 from concerts, catering, corporate events and the gift shop, leaving English Heritage to pick up the bill for the rest.
The house needs to be painted this year, and major roof work is due to take place in October – adding a further burden to the squeezed budget.
Because of commercial sensitivity, English Heritage will not disclose how much it receives from IMG for the concerts, but Ms Kane admitted that, without the concerts this year, Kenwood’s £1.1 million deficit has risen significantly.
She added: “Kenwood House is the most expensive property English Heritage runs in the country and to keep access free we have to look at ways of raising revenue.”
She said that English Heritage was allowed to charge for entry to the house two days a week but did not want to do so.
The logistics of increasing the size of the concert audiences have been considered, said Ms Kane.
She added: “We have moved the stage to improve the experience and to deal with problems with noise complaints. IMG are talking to Transport for London and hope to put in a park-and-ride scheme.”
English Heritage believes many of the concerts will not sell out. In the past, more popular shows, such as Art Garfunkel and the Buena Vista Social Club, have subsidised classical music events.
Ms Kane added: ”We hope the concerts will return next year.”
Highgate Green Party councillor Maya de Souza is wary of the plans. She said: “This is a public open space and should be open to all. We are concerned that more and more of Kenwood will be taken out of use during the summer.
“In terms of the extra capacity, we are concerned about the traffic. When this is considered by the licensing committee, proper arrangements must be made to get people there by walking, cycling and public transport.”
Conservative councillor Mike Greene said: “I am delighted they want to put concerts on – it is a Hampstead institution. I will look at the application to make sure it is OK for concert-goers and the people who live nearby.” |
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