A festival which brought 50,000 visitors to Paisley was yesterday branded a “colossal waste of money”.
About Us – which enjoyed a six-night run at Paisley Abbey – saw the 850-year-old landmark building lit up alongside live music and poetry.
Held in March, the showcase was part of a UK-wide festival called UnBoxed – a £120 million initiative which aimed to celebrate UK creativity with a series of events held throughout the year.
But MP Julian Knight, chair of the UK Parliament’s digital, culture, media and sport (DCMS) Committee, said it has proven to be a “colossal waste of money”.
Renfrewshire Council told the Express yesterday afternoon that the Paisley event had been “well attended” and “well received”.
The MP was speaking out as the total audience figures for the nationwide Unboxed showed just 2.8m people attended live events.
A further 13.5m engaged with the project’s online and on TV programmes but it had a target of reaching 66m people.
Mr Knight said: “These final figures only confirm the committee in its view that UnBoxed has been a failure and, rightly, the National Audit Office is investigating. The design and delivery of UnBoxed has been an unadulterated shambles from the very start.
“The paltry numbers attracted to the festival despite such a hefty investment highlight just what an excessive waste of money the whole project has been.
“At a time of financial pain for so many during the cost-of-living crisis, there are serious questions that need answering as to how such a vast amount of tax payers’ cash has been allowed to be squandered on something that we warned months ago risked turning in to a fiasco.”
The public spending watchdog, the National Audit Office, confirmed last month that it was investigating the festival over value for money concerns.
Phil Batty, executive director of UnBoxed, said it was right for the Audit Office to review the spend but said the government had been supportive of its work since plans for the festival were first announced by former Prime Minister Theresa May in 2018.
He said: “We’ve had really good feedback from all four governments – they’re really pleased to see the results but they’re also excited with the way we’ve used innovative approaches to commissioning to bring out the very best of our science tech engineering and arts sector and put on a programme that the whole of the UK could enjoy.”
The Paisley event featured a nightly 25-minute show featured live choral performances by the Paisley Philharmonic Choir, The City of Glasgow Chorus and Strathclyde University Chamber Choir put together by acclaimed composer and musician Nitin Sawhney CBE.
There were also multimedia installations on screens along Gauze Street to celebrate the entire history of the universe, from the Big Bang to the present day.
It also included winning entries from the About Us nationwide poetry and Scratch animation competition for children, on the theme of ‘connectivity and the universe’.
A Renfrewshire Council spokesperson added: “About Us was well attended and well received by audiences in Paisley and included engagement with local groups and school children.
“We are expecting an economic impact assessment from the event organiser, which will confirm the social and economic benefits for Renfrewshire.”
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