IF ONLY ALL OF SCOTLAND WAS LIKE THIS

In the midst of Saturday’s political maelstrom, I can’t tell you how uplifting it was to experience a world that could just exist in every community if public money was more focused on reclaiming and revitalising lives. I had entered a world in which people and music take centre stage. In a converted factory unit in Kilmarnock, Centrestage, that’s its name, is the most uplifting and life affirming place I have yet to come across and on Saturday night I attended a celebration and call to action event that left me truly buzzing and rejuvenated.

Sitting with the likes of Sir Tom Hunter (long-term backer and navigator to Centrestage) and Scottish composer, James McMillan, I experienced the full gamut of emotions as tears turned to laughter and joy turned to awe. We were all treated to performances that would lift even the most leaden heart.

 Big ambitions beget big achievements

Centrestage really is that extraordinary and in April 2020 they will take charge of the old Kilmarnock Academy and its outbuildings in what has been billed as the largest asset transfer ever completed in the UK. I have had the tour of their imminent new home and seen the plans. Just wait. It is an astonishing leap forward and testimony to the vision, ambition and sheer determination of founders Fiona McKenzie and Paul Mathieson who left the security of their music teaching jobs to pursue an impossible dream.

 Fun, folk and food

A community of thousands of all ages, abilities and backgrounds have found purpose, unleashed talents they didn’t know they had and then performed on a stage. The lives of ex-prisoners, the excluded, the isolated, the addicted, the disabled and the interested and curious have been repurposed – the social and economic impacts are sizeable. At Centrestage these labels are forgotten. It makes you wonder how different our society might be if there was a Centrestage in every community. You see it is not just the performance arts that are learned and honed at Centrestage. Prop-making, lighting, stage management, reception, hospitality outreach and, catering- the list is endless. And, because there was too much hunger in the community, they have extensive kitchens turning excess food into proper and nutritious meals – feeding a community that now doesn’t have to queue at a foodbank and eats with dignity and companionship. They may have a base, but they are also out and about in prisons, in care homes and in harder to reach areas. “I got involved when the Centrestage double-decker bus appeared in my area. Since then my life has been transformed” says one excited participant.

 Big thinkers, big impacts

I am a huge backer of people whose ambitions are big and bold. Because, it is those big dreamers who breach the boundary walls and help the human cause make giant leaps forward. When I first met Fiona, I felt I had met a long-lost friend. I had returned home. Walk through the doors at Centrestage and you find home. You are warmly embraced. Everyone smiles and everyone is enthused by your arrival. Many corporates would give their right arm to develop a culture like that. They have done it, because they, their staff and their volunteers believe passionately in what they do.

Fiona, who I have met three times, is non-stop and oozes a passion for people and music through every pore. Fun, Folk and Food is the Centrestage signature and that surely speaks to everyone in the community. It is also quintessentially Scottish and echoes our communitarian values. Centrestage is on a roll and when they move to their new village, they will raise the volume in every sense. They need our backing too. Everything they do yields gains in human and financial capital. When people reach and stretch their potential, find new purpose and meet like-minds they contribute to the wealth of the community. But it is in the savings to public service costs that Centrestage comes into its own. The NHS, Scottish Prison Service, the Police, Social Services and welfare will all see their local costs reduced. That is the way forward. To prevent human descent and empower them instead to achieve things beyond their dreams.

After receiving his first applause one young prisoner described the sensation as a ‘Legal High.’

The final word goes to Fiona McKenzie: “It started with one big dream. We just wanted to build a place where absolutely anyone of any age could come at any time and be part of a place that was just built around music and people.”

 Who, apart from Fiona and Paul could have envisaged the extraordinary success story that is Centrestage? Now it’s about to move to even bigger things. I can’t wait. A Centrestage in every community? Why not?