The artistic director of one of North London's most important arts venues, the Hackney Empire, has spoken out against Camden Council's current legal assault against fly posting. As reported at length, Camden and Westminster councils are hoping they can force arts, media and entertainment companies to stop flyposting by targeting individuals at those businesses with anti-social behaviour orders. Most of the companies targeted so far have agreed to stop flyposting in order to avoid legal action. However the whole definition of flyposting as 'anti-social behaviour' is likely to be tested later this month because ambient marketing firm Diabolical Liberties - who have been targeted for their role in coordinating flyposting campaigns - are likely to take on Camden Council in court.
It is against that backdrop that Roland Muldoon, boss of the Hackney Empire, has joined the debate, arguing a complete ban on flyposting will be bad for the capital's cultural community. He has told The Stage newspaper: "Political fly-posting will never be stopped, so all that will happen is that arts venues will suffer. Fly-posting is the most immediately effective way of letting local people know about local events. When the Hackney Empire first opened it was a vital way for us to attract an audience. Camden just wants to knock down free fly-posting sites and replace them with big and expensive advertising hoardings for multinational corporations. I agree an area has to be kept tidy, but this has gone too far."
Camden stand by their campaign against flyposting. A spokesman for the council said: "It is incorrect to say that fly-posting does not hurt people, because if you live in a road covered in illegal posters it can be very unpleasant. It is also a myth to say that fly-posting is only carried out by struggling artists. The vast majority of fly-posting in Camden in carried out by big businesses who can well afford to advertise legally. There is certainly no intention to target live venues or theatres in Camden. We are incredibly proud of our cultural life here."
But one theatre publicist, Paul Savident, disagrees. Also speaking to the Stage he said: "The only way we can increase numbers going to the theatre is to increase awareness of what is going on at the theatre. New audiences aren't necessarily going to see adverts in newspapers or listings, they need to be targeted through a different medium."
A spokesman for Diabolical Liberties yesterday told CMU that support for flyposting in the North London arts community demonstrates why Camden Council should be opting for their proposed legitimate street poster scheme - something of a middle ground in the flyposting debate: "For the past six years Diabolical Liberties has been actively supporting the development of authorised street poster schemes around the UK, providing space to local cultural, arts, music and charity events at hugely subsidised rates. It's so important that the smaller creative venues and projects can have advertising space they can both afford and have easy access too. It's great that someone like Roland Muldoon understands the issues and the importance of posters for theatre."