Olympics sucks our cultural cash.
Ex Urbis curator Andy Brydon has exclusively revealed that the London Olympics in 2012 may be directly linked to the City Centre Museum’s closure. |
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 His reasons why they had to shut their doors are frank and honest: “Money, pure and simple,” says Andy “the 2012 Olympics has drawn all the public money down to the South East and particularly East London. Many established institutions are closing around the country.”
Despite a record breaking number of people through the doors in 2009, and being “exactly where we want to be financially” according to ex-Urbis boss Vaughan Allen in an interview with the BBC earlier this year, Urbis had ultimately failed to attract enough visitors over its 6 year tenure.
Urbis was not making money, and despite that not being the goal of the institution, this was ultimately what saw it close, confirmed by Mr Allen when he spoke to the BBC: “If you're a high up member of the council in Manchester, a city associated with football globally, and someone offers you the National Football Museum, you've only got one sort of decision! The commercial and sponsorship opportunities are just on a different level.”
“I think that the ability to turn around what was initially a bit of a white elephant has been a remarkable effort,” says Andy Brydon proudly. Andy has been part of the Urbis team since 2006, and is one of the lucky ones being kept on to help with the arrival of Urbis’ new guise.
“In 4 years I have seen massive changes in the building. It’s a massive blow to be told that it’s all being taken away when actually I think we are just hitting our stride.” Manchester City Council refused to comment on whether money was the sole factor in the museum’s closure.
Article written by Tim Walker |
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