YOU get the strange feeling that even old Noah himself could not have steered this particular Arc to dry land.

This is the Arc sunk by a financial iceberg.

In almost three years to the day, the glass-fronted, £9.5m building in Stockton town centre, has gone from bauble to carbuncle in terms of Arts funding.

The pretentious idea that it was somehow far too futuristic to be considered in the same breath as its predecessor, the Dovecot, meant you were not allowed to call the ambitious project an arts centre.

So what was it?

In nearby Darlington, its Victorian arts centre has spent years slowly building a market for cult music, fringe theatre, real ale, exhibitions, events - and the audiences responded in their droves.

At night, The Arc's bright lights were dimmed by gloomy, threatening double yellow-lined streets.

By day, there just wasn't enough buzz about the place of thriving workshops, classes, exhibition viewers and people seeking tea and arts reverie.

There is a strong argument that the electronic-age Arc was always underfunded.

Over-spending by £1m on opening day and an early programme of pseuds' corner entertainers was a huge confidence-sapping obstacle to overcome for the current staff.

Closure seems unthinkable. It threatens the whole future of theatre on Teesside, and that does not bear thinking about.