2015-03-03 Infrastructure & Services Committee Agenda

INFRASTRUCTURE & SERVICES COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                  3 MARCH 2015


RECOMMENDATION
That Council note the report by the Director of Community Services to the Infrastructure &
Services Committee Meeting dated 3 March 2015 and agree to:
A.    Adopt Option 3 as its preferred option and enter into a Memorandum of Understanding
      (MOU) with the Cooroy Lower Mill Board to manage the operations of the Cooroy Butter
      Factory for an initial period of three years;
B.    Include in the MOU that U3A Noosa and the Ceramic Centre of Excellence be anchor
      tenants in the Butter Factory for this period;
C.    Consider as part of the 2015/16 budget process, the allocation of $80,000 to the Cooroy
      Lower Mill Board to allow them to meet start-up expenses and employ suitably qualified
      staff to support the operations of the Butter Factory. This amount to be reviewed annually
      thereafter with a view to the subsidy being reduced to $55,000 in the third year; and
D.    Continue to maintain the Butter Factory and Pottery Shed buildings.



REPORT
The purpose of this report is to provide Council with an overview of the review into the operations
and management of the Cooroy Butter Factory and a recommendation for a future management
model.

1.    Background

The Butter Factory at Cooroy is a local heritage building purchased by Noosa Council in the early
1990s.

Since then, the Butter Factory has fulfilled a variety of community functions as a creative hub, an
art gallery, a workshop space, an education provider, a performing arts venue and an office
space for Council’s creative and heritage staff. Groups and organisations that have used the
Butter Factory include TAFE, Permaculture Noosa, the Butter Factory Arts Inc., the Queensland
Museum Regional Development Officer and Creative Noosa.

A ceramics studio was built on the site when TAFE was based at the Butter Factory site and,
since 2004 when TAFE left the site, the studio has been utilised by local ceramic artists as a
workshop space and pottery studio.

Under the Sunshine Coast Council the Butter Factory operated as a Council-run gallery space for
local and visiting artists with an exhibition program, associated public programs and workshops
as well as being an occasional venue for performing arts and professional development
workshops for teachers in the region.

In 2010 the Cooroy Library, a state of the art facility, was built close to the Butter Factory on the
Lower Mill site further expanding the community facilities on the precinct.

The Butter Factory attracts on average 11,000 visitors annually, made up of local residents,
schools, community groups, practicing artists and interstate visitors.

Over the years, both the former Noosa Council and Sunshine Coast Regional Council have tried
different management models for this facility but none has proven to be sustainable in the long
term.




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