THE partnership between Jazz en TJèrri and the Jersey Opera House is good news for the many who revel in the local arts scene.

The jazz trio performing at Jersey College for Girls on Saturday week adds a further event to the March calendar, and also highlights the Opera House’s intention to programme more such events at temporary venues while the Gloucester Street theatre undergoes restoration.

That there is earlier on the same day – Saturday 16 March – a performance by the Jersey Chamber Choir of Bach’s St John Passion, while a local dance school appears on the stage of the Jersey Arts Centre, illustrates just how lively the arts scene is at the moment, notwithstanding the period of darkness that set in at the Opera House shortly after the start of the pandemic.

It reflects, of course, the support given to the cultural sector by the government, using the additional resources secured by tying in that budget to a fixed 1% of the government’s spending.There has been no more important development for the sector, and the responsible government ministry led by Deputy Kirsten Morel deserves much credit as the reopening of the Opera House approaches.

However, the very absence of that venue also provides a timely reminder of the need to hold in balance revenue support for the organisations making up the sector, and resources to sustain buildings like the Opera House and the Jersey Arts Centre. Historically the issue has been fudged.

There was no agreement between the Opera House and the government over who was responsible for maintaining that building, so it was not properly cared for. In the case of the Arts Centre, there is an agreement – making the Arts Centre responsible – but it means little because, without additional money from the government, the Arts Centre cannot fulfil those responsibilities from its annual grant.

So how does the 1% of government funding relate to looking after those buildings and, for that matter, to sustaining the Island’s public heritage organisation, Jersey Heritage, with its manifold responsibilities?

Sustainability is the key word. While delighting in the range of activity and opportunity currently existing, we should also expect clarity on how longer-term commitments – on which the stability of the sector depend – will be fulfilled.

What would a prudent department set aside for business as usual – including building maintenance – and what does this leave to support additional activity? That question has yet to been answered; perhaps it has yet to be posed.But it will soon need to be.