Raising Money and Changing Plans

It is unlikely that Trinidad & Tobago has ever – neither before nor since – seen such an aggressive and nationwide fund-raising drive as was conceived of in 1952 by the Steering Committee for the Theatre Concert Hall.  In its “Memorandum on a Cultural Centre for Trinidad”, the Trinidad Music Association was adamant that the project should not be solely funded by Government: “For any real good to accrue,” it said, “the people must be asked to contribute to the building of this hall themselves; through the efforts of indigenous organisations and through public subscriptions, they may learn to be proud of their own achievement.”  As such, a broad and ambitious fund-raising campaign was developed – one which would capture the imagination of the nation, and hopefully encourage everyone to contribute as generously as their pockets would allow.  The Committee had no choice but to be optimistic, the amount of money required to build the hall was intimidating in the least!

Breakdown of Estimated costs:

TOTAL   $450,000

The Appeal for funds was launched June 29th, 1952 to immense coverage in the newspapers as well as on the radio.  The publicity arm of the Steering Committee wrote impassioned pleas exhorting the general public to contribute.  During that first week of fund-raising, one could scarcely open the papers without being assailed by a barrage of articles about the Theatre-Concert Hall Fund.  It was unrelenting and aggressive, and that was exactly what the Steering Committee was hoping for:
“The Most Important Citizen”
“Now having your support, we want you to spread the doctrine, preach the Gospel as it were, yes, this means that each one of us must go forth and discuss the project.  We know you gossip, you love it, then why not commence the crusade for Trinidad’s Theatre Concert Hall now.  Please assist the Committee by talking to your friends, your neighbours, your business associates, ask them first of all for their promise to join this admirable crusade, for once we have everyone interested, we feel the donations will come in.”10

Johnstone herself – who was to become the face of the campaign - appeared on a number of radio programmes, and the Governor threw his full support behind the project:

Letter from His Excellency, The Acting Governor
“…the possession of a first-class Theatre-Concert Hall will mean much, not only to the many present enthusiasts for art and music and drama but to the future chances of all the people of this country to get the best out of life by the happiest and healthiest use of their leisure time.  It is the concern of everybody who cares how he lives and how his children will live.”11

In addition to the press coverage, hundreds of fund-raising pamphlets were distributed around the country, schools were circularized, posters were displayed in shop windows and collection lists were sent to any organisation that expressed an interest in helping to rally support. 
The pamphlet, entitled, “Proposed Theatre-Concert Hall Trinidad & Tobago”, warned the public that it was their responsibility to show that Trinidad was the centre of achievement in the Arts by building the Theatre-Concert Hall.  “The success of the project is your responsibility,” it said, “and that responsibility amounts to four hundred and fifty thousand dollars.”  It had a detachable section for those who wished to make a contribution, the idea being that donors would write on it their name, address and amount contributed, and once received, the Steering Committee would publish a thorough list of contributors in the newspapers.  Everyone who gave money to the fund, whether it was 6 cents or 6000 dollars, was listed in the papers.  The scheme proved to be quite a coup, for not only did it give contributors something to keep for posterity, it also gave the fund-raising process transparency and accountability.

The leaflet stated the original intentions of the Committee as being:

It is important to note these intentions, because within a few months an important element would be ruled out and the Steering Committee’s laudable plans threatened with mutiny.
It seems that May Johnstone was a stickler for procedure and detail.  She kept comprehensive lists of all donations, and any proposal for a fund-raising event in the name of the Theatre-Concert Hall had first to be approved by her and the Steering Committee.  This would have amounted to reams of paperwork, for hundreds of community groups, individuals and organisations wrote in with proposals for hosting a variety of fund-raising events.  The population was inspired: from Penal to Scarborough, everyone was holding some sort of event.  The Trinidad All Steel Percussion Orchestra (TASPO) arranged concerts, full proceeds of which went to the fund.  There were numerous dances at town halls, there were school concerts, flag days, music competitions, cinema shows and balls at the Governor’s residence.

It is clear that the Committee envisioned a quick fundraising drive.  They were operating to a tight schedule – Government was only reserving the hangar at Piarco until April 1953.  But soon, everyone had to face up to the sobering fact that despite their best efforts, meeting their targets would take far longer than anyone had imagined – there even began to emerge doubts about the probability of raising anything near the requisite amount.
At a meeting of the Steering Committee held in October 1952, one of the committee members, Mr. Burgess, told those gathered, that up to September 30th, they had only managed to collect about $14,500.  “It seemed pretty obvious to me,” he said dejectedly, “that it is the small man in the main who is at the moment coming forth.  The business community as a whole is definitely holding off for various reasons… If that is the case I feel we have no hope of getting $450,000.  In fact at the rate we are going now, at the end of the year we shall have $18,000.”
Determined that the scheme should succeed, yet recognising that the figure of $450,000 was likely unreachable, May Johnstone pointed out that in the original “Memorandum on a Cultural Centre for Trinidad”, it was suggested that using the hangar and putting in the necessary equipment could cost as little as $150,000.  As a result, a sub-committee was formed to explore the possibility of downscaling the project so that construction and fitting costs would be more in the region of $120,000.
Early in 1953, the sub-committee presented its findings to the Steering Committee.

“…our first main objective was to design a building at the lowest cost which would be used on the largest number of occasions by the largest number of people. It is regrettable that the new scheme does not take care of the requirements of pure drama, and it is realised that it will also not be suitable for some types of concerts.  The special committee did in fact, at the beginning of its deliberations, give serious consideration to the possibility of erecting, as an alternative to the original scheme, a theatre seating 500 or 600 people, which would have been generally satisfactory to the dramatic, musical and dancing groups alike.  The experts, however, advised that such a building, with proper stage fittings and lighting, sloping floor, etc would cost little less than the $450,000 originally aimed at, and that even a smaller theatre would cost far more than one could hope to raise, and in any case could not be made self-supporting.
“The committee therefore concentrated on planning a building the cost of which would be within reasonable limits and which could be used by the largest number of people on the largest number of occasions, in other words a Community Hall, suitable for as wide a variety of uses as possible.  The activities for which such a hall could be used are:

1. Certain types of concerts
2. Certain types of dramatic presentations
3. Table tennis
4. Amateur Boxing
5. Dancing classes and displays
6. Keep-fit classes and displays
7. Roller skating
8. Netball
9. Basketball
10. Charity card games and bazaars
11. Flower shows
12. Art exhibitions
13. Carnival Ball and other similar large functions
14. Lectures, Debates and Conferences12

The Sub-Committee’s recommendations were not well received by members of the dramatic community (represented on the Steering Committee by Paul Butt).  None-the-less, the Steering Committee voted to abandon the original plan in favour of this new proposal, which would cost – it was projected – the substantially lower figure of $150,000. The “Theatre Concert Hall” was now the “Community Centre and Concert Hall”.  Paul Butt was furious.  He wrote an irate letter to Johnstone saying that all the monies raised in the name of the Theatre Concert Hall ought to be refunded, since, given the changes that had just taken place, the public would have been donating money under false pretenses.  He resigned his position on the Steering Committee, and, when invited to nominate a replacement, the Trinidad Dramatic Club said, “if it is the intention of your committee that the proposed building should have no theatrical function, they consider that no useful purpose would be served by our appointing a new representative.”13  In response, the Steering Committee tried its best to reassure the Dramatic Club: “…it is certainly not the intention of the Committee to exclude theatrical work.  It is true that when the original plan was revised recently, certain modifications had to be made which would not permit the presentation of drama in quite the ideal conditions envisaged at first.  At the same time however, it is still intended to make it possible for the rear portion of the hall to be cut off, leaving an auditorium of comfortable proportions for the production of plays…”14

Meanwhile, trouble was brewing elsewhere in the plan.  Although the City Council seemed quite gung-ho about the plans to build a concert hall at King George V Park, voices of dissent were starting to rumble among the residents of St. Clair. One newspaper article pointed out that three members of the city council committee, “opposed the granting of the lease because they felt that the erection of a concert hall there would deprive nearby residents of recreational facilities.”15 Alderman Aubrey James said there were other sites that could be considered as the one proposed was, “too aristocratic”16 in his view!  The City Council ignored comments such as these for several years, but by 1958, realising that the St. Clair community had still not come around to the idea of a Hall, and would, in all likelihood, continue to create problems for the Community Centre Concert Hall Board, Government provided land in St. Anns at the Government House playing field (formerly part of the Botanic Gardens) for the construction of Queen’s Hall.

The business community eventually came on board, contributing on average, $4,700 per company, but the overwhelming support for Queen’s Hall came from thousands of individuals in the society.  By the time the Hall was built in 1958, increases in the price of materials and labour would mean that it would end up costing a whole lot more than $150,000.  Government contributed an impressive $370,000 towards construction costs, but in her address at the sod-turning ceremony, May Johnstone gave the lion’s share of her praise to the public, saying Queen’s Hall would be, “a monument to the vision and courage of the people of Trinidad.”17