[spectre] Lux Staff Message to Artists

[Former Lux Staff]

Please circulate this mail to anyone you feel we may be unable to reach.
Apologies for any multiple postings.


=46ORMER LUX STAFF ANNOUNCEMENT TO ARTISTS


At a recent meeting of former Lux Staff it was decided to send an
announcement to artists, film-makers, and any other practitioners who have
dealings with Lux Centre Ltd either in it present form or as a newly
constituted company.

On Tuesday 2nd October 2001 an emergency staff meeting was convened by
representatives of the Lux Board of Directors (Mik Flood, Pauline van
Mourik Broekman, and Roland Denning) and a representative from
PriceWaterHouseCoopers.

At this meeting, it was announced that Lux Centre Ltd was discontinuing
all forms of expenditure including wages and staff would be suspended
without pay with immediate effect. Staff were then asked to leave the
building and the locks were changed.

At the end of last year, the Lux Centre was submitted to the Arts Council
Recovery Programme. A part-time consultant (paid for by the recovery
process) was seconded to the Lux to oversee a process led by Amanda King
at the Arts Council of England. Staff were repeatedly informed that the
Lux had the full support of the funders.

The Lux Board of Directors hope to put together a new business plan with
the help of PriceWaterHouseCoopers which they intend to resubmit in the
near future. In the immediate aftermath of the closure, upbeat discussion
emanating from the Board and the funders regarding a possible future for
the organisation, be it in a different form, has added to the staff=EDs
sense of alarm.

At the present time there is much talk of the Lux as a "resource". The
official press release emphasises the Lux as having consisted of editing
facilities and an archive which it hopes to reconstitute within a new
organisation. This appears to be the direction now being taken by
advocates of a new Lux.

The Lux Board of Directors continues to discuss the future of the
organisation and the =EBLux brand=ED, negotiating with other venues, and
effectively rendering the organisation operational having dismissed the
entire workforce. The Arts Council have also circulated information about
a future organisation without any discussion with the artists whose work
is held in the collection.

As many of you will no doubt be aware, Lux Centre Ltd has not been unable
to honour those artists whose work is held in its archive and whose work
it distributes. Fees and royalty payment have been frozen throughout the
year despite reassurances from the Board and the funders that artists
will eventually be paid. Taking into the account the number of outstanding
creditors, those of you who are owed money may wish to seek guidelines
>from the Lux Board of Directors regarding payment.

Our present understanding is that royalties owed to filmmakers will join
the list of creditors without preferential treatment. As the owners of
your own material you do have a say in the future of the archive and how
it is managed. As instructed in the official press release, please contact
Mik Flood, Chairman 0207 736 8668, Pauline van Mourik Broekman, Vice Chair

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