In the summer of 1997 Tamworth Borough Council caught a whirlwind of change, and the Leisure Department was broken up. The line management that had supported me retired or left, and I too jumped ship, while the going was good, and found myself Director of Portsmouth Arts Centre. This rather shabby old school building in the backstreets of a heavily residential area of Southsea had recently been inherited from Hampshire County Council by the newly unitary Portsmouth City Council. It was in a hopeless state.
- I developed Arts Policy for the Centre, including programming and especially refurbishment.
- I won a £6000 grant from Southern Arts towards Programming.
- I worked on a Lottery Funded Feasibility Study for an independent Film Theatre and related media facilities in Portsmouth
Disatisfaction with Portsmouth City Council, with Portsmouth Arts Centre, with Portsmouth, with local government, and with Venue Management as a whole, compounded by personal differences with the City Arts Officer, persuaded me to instigate a career change towards more academic pursuits, and I went off to Salford University.