The UK’s National Audit Office (NAO) is set to examine whether the £120 million government-backed Unboxed arts festival has delivered value for taxpayers’ money.
Developed under Prime Minister Theresa May, “Unboxed: Creativity in the UK” runs from March to November this year and was billed as “the biggest and most ambitious creative programme ever presented”.
The festival backed ten projects across the country informed by science, technology, engineering, the arts and mathematics – including a scheme to transform a decommissioned gas platform into an interactive installation and arts space on the seafront at Weston-super-Mare, dubbed See Monster.
However, the UK’s independent public spending watchdog has now signalled it will examine the delivery and value for money of the £120m venture.
Its investigation follows a letter written by Conservative MP and parliamentary committee chairman Julian Knight, who called the scheme an “excessive waste of money during a cost of living crisis”.
In a letter seen by the BBC, NAO comptroller and auditor general Gareth Davies said he would prepare “a short, focused report” on Unboxed in the coming months, in which he said organisers should be expected to account for the costs and benefits of the festival, as well as management and planning work.
The scheme was funded and supported by the four governments of the UK, and co-commissioned with Belfast City Council, EventScotland and Creative Wales.
Visitor engagement will also be under scrutiny. An article published in parliament’s The House magazine in August suggested there had been fewer than 240,000 visitors to Unboxed attractions, despite a proposed target of 66 million.
Unboxed organisers have not yet released official visitor figures but told the BBC this week that these numbers “misrepresent” the engagement with the festival, and reflected attendance “at only eight of the 107 physical locations from within the programme.”
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) said more than 4 million people had engaged with the programme so far.
© Supplied by See MonsterSee Monster
Despite MPs’ concerns, attracting visitors does not appear to be a problem for the See Monster installation, which was recently opened to the public.
Local news reported that thousands of people endured queues of up to two hours last weekend to board the installation, which has been erected at the Tropicana, the town’s former 1930s lido.
Standing 35 metres tall, the structure extends over four levels and includes – among other features – a wild garden, kinetic wind sculptures, a curly slide, a seated amphitheatre, a broadcast studio and its own 10-metre high waterfall.
A further 6,000-piece sculpture forms the beast’s shiny scales, while the platform’s crane forms its head and neck.
However, the scheme has suffered from delays. Originally scheduled to open in July, the 450-tonne topsides did not arrive in the town until mid-month, pushing its opening back to August and again into late September.
It is then set be decommissioned following its closure in early November – an operation expected to last until Christmas.
The full cost of the project has not been released.
See Monster is open seven days a week from 9am until 9pm until 5 November and is free to visit. A 360-degree virtual tour is also available via the See Monster website.