New chairman wants to widen Pavilion's appeal

Lawyer Steve Williams wants the pavilion to offer a broad range of experience so that the public can "tune in" to the activity they like.

The new chairman and his equally new-look board were welcomed at a celebration at the pavilion on Monday at which outgoing chairman Dr Richard Sykes spoke of his satisfaction at the progress the pavilion has made in his six years of office.

Dr Sykes told the Observer: "I think the greatest satisfaction for me is the fact that between the Bexhill and Rother community and the team here at the pavilion and the Arts Council we have now got a pavilion that is vibrant and financially secure and a self-sustaining business, partly private and partly public."

Asked if there was a defining moment that he would treasure, he said: "I think it was a Saturday early this year when the opening of the Grayson Perry exhibition was at lunch-time and there was a queue waiting to get in and we had a big crowd for the public opening.

"The pavilion, without getting any less busy, saw a sudden morphing of people as others came into the building for the musical group The Fall.

"The place was packed from 11am until 11pm."

Dr Sykes said the pavilion had taken a day a week of his time and he had told the board at the last annual meeting that he intended to stand down in 2008.

"We have reached the point where the capital raised has been well spent and the pavilion is on a financially stable footing. I thought it was a good time to move on and let a new band of players take the lead."

Dr Sykes told Monday's audience that the pavilion was like an aircraft which had reached cruising altitude.

He said the new board had a good mix of national, regional and local players.

Steve Williams told his fellow trustees and guests that London, San Francisco or Berlin would be proud to have the De La Warr Pavilion as an asset.

He told the Observer he believed the new board was a band of people with a cross-section of background and skills.

"I am not a Bexhillian. I am a Londoner. I don't know Bexhill at all well but I believe the objective of the trustees is the regeneration of Bexhill '“ not to turn Bexhill into something that it does not want but to make this place somewhere that people want to come to .more often and for the enrichment of those who live in Bexhill."

He said that with Rother and Arts Council funding secured, he saw the trustees' role as "going out with the bowl" and seeking a third funding stream from sponsors.

Two thirds of those using the pavilion were over 45. He would like to see the pavilion's appeal widened to include younger people.

Using the radio analogy, he said that broadening the pavilion's appeal would enable users not only to tune-in to the attraction of their choice but to broaden their own perspectives.

Monday's celebration followed the trust board's annual meeting at which the new appointments had been made.

Steve Williams is General Counsel and Chief Legal Officer to Unilever and holds a number of advisory roles including the CBI and the Law Society.

He has overseen the recent redevelopment of Unilever House, the development of the Unilever art collection and the major sponsorship of Tate Modern. He is a Board member of Arts and Business.