A Company Limited by Guarantee)
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Company Registration No: 3320538 Registered Charity No: 1061012 BIRMINGHAM ROYAL BALLET (A Company Limited by Guarantee) Report and Financial Statements 31 March 2015 BIRMINGHAM ROYAL BALLET (A Company Limited by Guarantee) REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2015 OFFICERS AND PROFESSIONAL ADVISERS Officers and professional advisers 1 Strategic report 2 Directors’ report 15 Directors' responsibilities statement 18 Independent auditor's report 19 Statement of financial activities 21 Balance sheet 22 Cash flow statement 23 Notes to the accounts 24 BIRMINGHAM ROYAL BALLET (A Company Limited by Guarantee) REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2015 OFFICERS AND PROFESSIONAL ADVISERS DIRECTORS Professor Michael Clarke CBE DL (Chair) Mr Timothy Clarke (resigned 16 October 2014) Mr Charles Glanville (resigned 15 June 2015) Mr Charles Parker Mrs Susan Harrison Dame Jenny Abramsky Mrs Rebecca Jones (resigned 16 October 2014) Mr Ross MacGibbon Councillor Des Hughes Councillor James Hutchings (resigned 15 June 2015) Ms Louise Halliday Mrs Jan Teo (appointed 16 June 2014) SECRETARY Mrs Anna Williams FCA, DChA Registered in England & Wales Company Number: 3320538 Registered Charity Number: 1061012 REGISTERED OFFICE Thorp Street Birmingham B5 4AU BANKERS HSBC Bank plc 130 New Street Birmingham B2 4JU SOLICITORS Pinsent Mason LLP 3 Colmore Circus Birmingham B4 6BH Martineau No 1 Colmore Square Birmingham B4 6AA INVESTMENT MANAGERS Smith and Williamson 9 Colmore Row Birmingham B3 2BJ AUDITOR Deloitte LLP Chartered Accountants & Statutory Auditor Four Brindleyplace Birmingham B1 2HZ 1 BIRMINGHAM ROYAL BALLET (A Company Limited by Guarantee) STRATEGIC REPORT STATUS, OBJECTS AND POLICIES Birmingham Royal Ballet (BRB), a registered charity, is incorporated as a company limited by guarantee, not having a share capital. The objects of the company are to advance the education of the public in the arts and sciences of ballet, dance, music and drama. Birmingham Royal Ballet seeks to be the UK’s foremost international touring ballet company, enriching people’s lives through dance, and aspiring to excellence in all that it does. The achievements of Birmingham Royal Ballets strategic aims and objectives for the 2014 - 15 financial year are set out in the Strategic Report below. CREATIVITY AND PERFORMANCES Birmingham Royal Ballet tours the widest range of ballet repertory of any large-scale ballet ensuring access to world class performances to audiences throughout the United Kingdom with more than 90% of performances being given outside of London. The specific artistic objectives for the 2014-15 period were: Create two new, one act ballets by young choreographers to be premiered at the Crescent Theatre, Birmingham as part of International Dance Festival Birmingham (IDFB). Re-create of Miracle in the Gorbals (originally created in 1944 by Robert Helpman) as part of the Shadows of War programme in autumn 2014. These objectives were fully realised and contributed to our artistic highlights below: Two new works by young choreographers; Kin by former BRB dancer Alexander Whitley and Quatrain by BRB dancer Kit Holder. Both works received their world premiere at the Crescent Theatre as part of International Dance Festival Birmingham 2014 and were then performed across eight venues as part of BRB’s 2014 midscale tour. Miracle in the Gorbals - a pioneering work originally created in 1944 by Robert Helpman, an example of ‘dirty ballet’ in which real people were represented in a real environment through both design and movement. BRB commissioned Dame Gillian Lynne (a member of the original cast) to re-create the choreography for the ballet, using the original set designs by Edward Burra, a leading 20th-century British artist. Two other surviving members of the cast Pauline Clayden and Julia Farron assisted with the recreation. Carmina Burana - the first work that David Bintley created for BRB as Director, was revived with a run of four outstanding performances at the London Coliseum. The performances were enthusiastically received by audiences, critically acclaimed and were noteworthy both for the strength of the dance performances and the outstanding musical presentation by the Royal Ballet Sinfonia (BRB’s orchestra) and Ex Cathedra one of the UK’s leading vocal consorts, based in Birmingham. The complete repertory performed during the year was: Ballet Choreography Music Kin. Alexander Whitley Phil Kline Quatrain Kit Holder Astor Piazolla Elite Syncopations Kenneth MacMillan Scott Joplin Facade Frederick Ashton William Walton Les Rendezvous Frederick Ashton Daniel Auber arr. Constant Lambert Dante Sonata Frederick Ashton Franz Liszt La Fille mal Gardee Frederick Ashton Ferdinand Herold arr. John Lanchbery Beauty and the Beast David Bintley Glen Buhr 2 BIRMINGHAM ROYAL BALLET (A Company Limited by Guarantee) STRATEGIC REPORT Fin du Jour Kenneth MacMillan Maurice Ravel Miracle in the Gorbals Gillian Lynne after Robert Arthur Bliss Helpmann Flowers of the Forest David Bintley Malcolm Arnold, Benjamin Britten The Nutcracker Peter Wright, Lev Ivanov, Vincent Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Redmon Coppelia Peter Wright, Marius Petipa, Leo Delibes Enrico Cecchetti Serenade George Balanchine Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Lyric Pieces Jessica Lang Edvard Grieg In the Upper Room Twyla Tharp Philip Glass Carmina Burana David Bintley Carl Orff In 2014 - 15 the company gave: 142 performances - 61 in Birmingham, 81 on tour in the UK (2013 - 14: 145 performances – 63 in Birmingham, 74 on tour in the UK and 8 overseas). Audiences of approximately 130,000 in the UK (2013 -14: 150,000 comprising 140,000 in the UK and 10,000 overseas). Full repertory by venue was as follows: VENUE (S) DATE PROGRAMME Crescent Theatre, Birmingham as May 2014 Kin., Quatrain, Les Rendezvous, part of IDFB Facade Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury May 2014 Quatrain, Ballet Diverts, Facade Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham The Lighthouse, Poole May 2014 Les Rendezvous, Kin., Elite Syncopations Gala, Durham Hall For Cornwall, Truro Wycombe Swan, High Wycombe Birmingham Hippodrome June 2014 Les Rendezvous, Dante Sonata, Facade Birmingham Hippdrome June 2014 La Fille Mal Gardee Theatre Royal, Nottingham The Lowry, Salford September and October 2014 Beauty and the Beast Birmingham Hippodrome Sadlers Wells, London Theatre Royal, Plymouth Empire Theatre, Sunderland Birmingham Hippdrome September and October 2014 Fin du Jour, Miracle in the Gorbals, Flowers of the Forest 3 BIRMINGHAM ROYAL BALLET (A Company Limited by Guarantee) STRATEGIC REPORT Sadlers Wells, London Theatre Royal, Plymouth Birmingham Hippodrome November and December 2014 The Nutcracker Festival Theatre, Edinburgh February and March 2015 Coppelia Birmingham Hippodrome The Lowry, Salford Empire Theatre, Sunderland Theatre Royal, Plymouth Birmingham Hippodrome February and March 2015 Serenade, Lyric Pieces, In the Upper Room Theatre Royal, Plymouth The Coliseum, London March 2015 Serenade, Carmina Burana Live music of the highest quality is critical to delivering world class ballet performances Our orchestra, The Royal Ballet Sinfonia, is the UK’s only specialist ballet orchestra which continues to thrive under the directorship of Koen Kessels with many critically acclaimed performances throughout the year. In addition to performances with Birmingham Royal Ballet, the Royal Ballet Sinfonia undertook the following performance work Fabulous Beast Dance Company at Sadlers Wells Theatre – April 2014 Music and Dance Concert at Symphony Hall, Birmingham – January 2015 A second conducting fellow, Jonathan Lo, joined the company in January 2015, funded through a BBC Performing Arts Fund Fellowship Award to support individuals in the early stages of a professional career. The placement is being shared between Birmingham Royal Ballet and Rambert Dance Company to give a broad range of experience and opportunity and the appointment demonstrates BRB’s commitment to developing a new generation of conductors with the necessary skills and knowledge to conduct for dance performances. AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT Encouraging new audiences to experience, share and enjoy the work of the company is important and audience research and development programmes are critical to building and diversifying our audience base. Our main audience development objectives were to: Continue to offer low cost entries to ensure that price is not a barrier to access and develop pricing plans and offers to attract new audiences and consumers looking for an ‘introductory’ experience of ballet Work with other cultural organisations both in Birmingham and nationally to develop audience understanding and intelligence, cross art form marketing programmes and access opportunities Increase access to Birmingham Royal Ballet through the website including provision of information in digital format and increasing the use of video and music on the website and in e-marketing strategies Pricing and audience intelligence objectives have been achieved through: Using demand analysis to influence change in Triple Bill pricing based on similar successful models from UK and abroad to attract a more contemporary ‘risk taking’ audience and consumers looking for an ‘introductory’ experience. Audience and pricing research undertaken London (2013) leading to more focused and sequential campaigns for the 2015 London Coliseum resulting in 13% growth in paid attendees and 79% new attendees. The learning from this campaign is now being shared across other venue campaigns in order to replicate similar success. New marketing and awareness