2016-09-06 Services & Organisation Committee Agenda

SERVICES & ORGANISATION COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDA                                              6 SEPTEMBER 2016



5                        COOROY BUTTER FACTORY - UPDATE ON FIRST SIX MONTHS OF OPERATIONS
                         UNDER MANAGEMENT BY THE COOROY FUTURE GROUP
DOCUMENT INFORM AT ION




Author                              Manager Libraries & Galleries, Kerri Contini
                                    Community Services Department

Index                               ECM/ Subject/ 72.04 Butter Factory Arts Centre

Attachments                         Nil


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Not applicable.

RECOMMENDATION
That Council note the report by the Manager Libraries & Galleries to the Services & Organisation
Committee Meeting dated 6 September 2016 and:
A.                       Authorise the CEO to enter into an agreement with the Cooroy Future Group Inc to operate
                         the Butter Factory Arts Centre for a three-year period with a three-year option, commencing
                         1 January 2017. This agreement to be in accordance with Council’s Community Leasing
                         Policy and subject to continued satisfactory performance by the Group in the second half of
                         2016 calendar year;
B.                       Provide funding of $61,042 (ex GST) to the Cooroy Future Group Inc to support operations
                         to the six-month period to June 2017; and
C.                       Refer future funding arrangements to the 2017/18 budget process pending the final
                         outcome of the twelve-month trial.



REPORT
The purpose of this report is to provide Council with an update on the twelve-month trial of the
operation of the Cooroy Butter Factory under a community managed model and to recommend
appropriate longer term arrangements.

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 and, since
2004 when TAFE left the site, the studio has been utilised by local ceramic artists as a workshop
space and pottery studio.




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