DBS Equipment & Budget

Shortly after on the 19th May we received and email from Olly about the pricing of hiring the equipment:

Hi,

Hope plans your end are progressing well. I’ve had a chat with my boss about this. The hire of equipment for the install over a 6 week period will cost £500 + VAT. Additionally, if you require a small system for speeches, we can supply something separate with a lectern microphone for use at the launch event only.  The cost of this and an operator for the evening would be £135.00, bringing the total cost to £635.00 + VAT.

Let me know if that meets your budget.

All the best,

Olly.

After receiving the email, the curatorial team met to discuss how we could get around this money, we discussed using our own sound system and after speaking to Neil the possibility of hiring equipment form the College. Will started to look into MP3 players, in case we needed to use our own equipment, for about £25 we could get six units. However these were limited to 1GB capacity and we were unsure how big the file sizes for the sounds would end up being. Helanie also visited the ERC about hiring speakers, at first they said no, but after some convincing they said we would be able to hire them however it would only be till the 20th of June due to booking for the summer show. Edith said she would also visit them to confirm this, if this is the case and no further movement could be made with DBS we could possible move exhibition dates to fit with this. We decided to sit down and write Olly and email back about this being an issue with our budget (or lack of). We explained to him how we would ask the college about other options and get back to him shortly, we also ensured that if this was the case would he still be happy to go along with the collaboration. Olly replied with:

Hi,

Yes certainly. I’ll arrange with the students interested in helping with the audio composition to meet you at Saltram so that you can make a start on the recordings as soon as possible. Was the date I mentioned previously any good for you? (29th May)

I appreciate that the equipment cost may seem a little high, this is really due to the hire being for such a long period of time. There is an element of risk with it being there and largely unattended, for so long, so there will have to be a hire fee attached though we may be able to negotiate this price if there is an opportunity for us to gain some promotion from being involved? What level of press coverage do you intend to have for the event? Could our logo be printed on any promotional material used for the installation?

Have a think and let me know. We are keen to be involved so hopefully we can work something out.

All the best

After receiving this email we had another curatorial meeting with Edith involved to discuss how we could work this, Edith advised that we could allow the second years an opportunity to invigilate as a form of security, this would benefit the project and also be a good opportunity for the students to add to their professional artist CV. Both the curatorial team and Edith sent olly the following emails.Hi Olly,

Can you specify what material you use so that we can see whether we have similar options within the college. As Ellena indicates this figure is indeed out of our budget. Maybe something can be done through crowd sourcing, kickstarter etc and will discuss this option with the students this coming Thursday afternoon.

Best wishes and thanks for your help in realising this project,

Edith

Hi Olly,

DBS will be included in all promotional material produced for the exhibition along the side the possibility of future collaborations for between PCA and DBS. We will promote the show via the main college site, leaflets and amongst the art community in plymouth. Saltram will also provide promotion to their usual cliental and the herald etc.

We are also trying to get a team together to invigilate the show which would mean security for the equipment, if this accepted by the trust.

Bearing all this in mind and under the condition we can have invigilator at the site, could you please provide a new quote.

The other alternative is that we can hire Rokit RP5 speakers from the college for free.

Best,

All

We were pleased to receive the following email from Olly explaining how if we could insure the equipment we would be able to hire the equipment for free as part of the collaboration and due to the marketing of DBS being included.

Hi,

We are happy to hire you the equipment free of charge providing you can show us proof of insurance for the gear over the duration of the exhibition. The equipment has a total value of £3500.00.
We are very keen to build on this collaboration in the future so hopefully this is a better offer to you! I have liaised with the students who will be helping to record and compose the music. Can we meet at Saltram next Thursday (29th May)?
If this is good for you, I’ll confirm with the students our end and book out the recording equipment to get started on that bit!

FYI, the speakers we wcan supply are EV S40’s. They can be mounted on to microphone stands, which may be the best option of you wish to then cover them with fabric or suchlike. I can bring one along next week so you can have a better look at them if you like?

Any questions, please give me a call.

All the best

After receiving this email we then spoke to Edith about insurance and she explained how she would speak with the college about funding this insurance as a move to future collaborations with DBS and Plymouth College of Art. Thankfully the college agreed and we were able to inform Olly that the insurance would be covered by the college however we would need a full list of equipment that will be used asap for insurance cover, we are still awaiting this list.