Venue's warmth attracted police chief to theatre

A police chief who has taken a senior role at an opera house says he has "no obvious background in the performing arts", but is committed to making the venue a success.

Robin Smith, who is Jersey's chief police officer, is now also the new chairman of the board of Jersey's Opera House.

He said his paid day job would still be his priority and his voluntary role at the Opera House "won't distract me from that".

He told BBC Radio Jersey he wanted to work with the team at the Opera House, and its new chief executive, to bring in more audiences and exciting performers.

The venue reopened in October after a five year closure - for a £12m refit subsidised by the government.

Smith said he would have no artistic influence but he hoped to capitalise on the passion of the venue's staff and volunteers.

He said when he visited while he considered the role "the first thing I was struck by was our staff, many of whom are volunteers and the warmth, and you could see it in their eyes and I thought 'this is a very special place'".

"What you do find there is an enormous ambition and I want to to be part of that."

He said "my job is to ensure the team provide an excellent opportunity for islanders" and it was important to have a mix "of interesting and enjoyable events".

The chief executive Sebastian Warrack said he wanted the venue to appeal to all kinds of audiences.

He said "we want to build the programme and make sure it's a mixed programme".

He said they were planning to "broaden the range of producers and promoters that we work with to bring a variety shows over from the UK".

Warrack said the theatre would always need some degree of subsidy from the government and would talk about "further investment" with the new ministers.

"We want to make sure the Jersey Opera House has something for everyone and we want for work with the government in order to achieve that."

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