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ClimateNE & Climate Change Schools Project support the move to a low-carbon, resilient economy and help businesses avoid risk and realise commercial opportunities. Posts by Jen Atkinson, Krista McKinzey and Harriet Thew » Recently I have had two very different experiences of service at cultural venues in Newcastle, one excellent, the other dismal. What was the most surprising was that in previous experiences of the very same venues the polar opposite had been true. In the current climate that's great news for one and worrying news for the other.
Both experiences involved my organisation, The Sponsors Club for Arts & Business, hosting important groups of our partners, supporters, clients and friends. One was a seminar / networking session, one a celebratory dinner.
As we work to build partnerships between business and the cultural sector we always use cultural settings for our events. Cultural venues are vibrant, exciting, creative and not the run of the mill conferencing / hospitality / training / networking venues most business people are used to. We bring business people to cultural venues to let them see for themselves somewhere different to engage with customers and employees.
The relationship benefits all of us. We educate our contacts and bring revenue to cultural venues. We strengthen our place as advocates for culture and our promotion of partnerships between commerce and culture and the interesting creative cultural opportunities they can forge. Cultural venues benefit from the income but also the opportunity to engage with the business in question and potentially develop the relationship further. The business benefits because they can fulfil a whole range of business needs be it a corporate responsibility agenda, training or hospitality and help the cultural sector at the same time. No more fear of the sterile room with serried ranks of desks and the dreaded flip chart or uninspiring sandwiches in a generic banqueting suite with terrible carpet (you know who you are...). Ultimately the region benefits, as research has shown, from organisations bringing conferences and meetings here and using our wealth of cultural venues to their advantage.
With all that in mind I found my experience of customer service at two cultural venues over a 48 hour period in early July both thrilling and depressing.
At one venue we had excellent service before, during and after our event. Excellent food, and great value for money. They had turned around a previously patchy reputation, much to my and my parties delight as evidenced over the following days when they all sent me thank you's and congratulations for the choice of venue.
At the other venue we had awful service, disappointing and hugely overpriced food and a follow up that implied many of the problems were our fault as opposed to theirs. A shame as previously my experience had been top notch. I'm sure we will go back to both venues, we want to promote cultural venues, we just won't be buying any catering from one of them and neither will any of our guests.
I'm thrilled one venue has turned itself around and worried that the other has fallen down. I hope and am sure it's just a blip but had they been a business in the current climate I wonder how much longer they could survive. Reputation is all, especially in this age of blogging, tweeting and social media. A bad message can spread even quicker than it used to.
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