Page 5 Agenda Item 4
MUNICIPAL YEAR 2007/2008 REPORT NO.
Agenda – Part: Item: MEETING TITLE AND DATE: EPL Scrutiny Panel Subject: Millfield Arts Centre
REPORT OF: Director of Wards: Education Children’s Services & Leisure Department Cabinet Member consulted:
Contact officer and telephone number: Simon Gardner –Leisure and Culture Manager 0208 379 3783 E mail: Simon. [email protected]
1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
1.1 Millfield Arts Centre is a campus of four buildings in a small park, including
Millfield Theatre and Millfield House. 1.2 The venue is a significant collection of heritage and cultural value in Edmonton. 1.3 The facility made a financial lose in the last two years but this significantly improve last year. 1.4 With Weir Hall Library moving to Fore Street further developments in the space vacated by the library will be possible 1.5 Development and capital investment in the House is currently the subject of a Cabinet Report. 1.6 Development of the buildings and the park coupled with the realignment of services will reposition Millfield Arts Centre regionally, sub-regionally, and locally in time to take advantage of the Olympics in 2012 and the associated tourism and visitor markets.
BACKGROUND
Millfield Arts Centre is named after Millfield House, a private house built in Georgian times it was later a care facility for children before coming into Council ownership.
Millfield Arts Centre composes of four buildings – the theatre, the house, the mews block, and the riverside studio – all within a small park setting that includes two car parking areas. Millfield Arts Centre is in fact a cultural campus and is often referred to by local people as ‘an oasis’ in Edmonton. The park is an important piece of green space in the southern part of the Borough and provides a counterpoint to the dense housing and busy North Circular Road.
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Millfield Arts Centre (the Centre) is very well positioned in terms of transport links. It is adjacent to the North Circular and A10 however it is not really visible from the roads increasing the feeling of being an oasis. Whilst visibility would increase the profile of the Centre it would reduce the essential feel of the site.
The A10 is a major artery into London and the North Circular is one of the busiest routes in London. In 2012 London will host the Olympics, in the 4 years building up to the games London will host a Cultural Olympiad. In the build up to the games people will travel from across the UK into London and from abroad coming in from Stanstead, Luton, Gatwick and Heathrow airports. Millfield Arts Centre is well positioned to benefit from the increased tourism and visitors. The ‘Friends and Family’ market and the international visitor market is likely to receive a significant boost. Visitors will be looking for recreation and cultural experiences in London and Millfield Arts Centre will be part of the London regional offer.
The Theatre
Millfield Theatre is a 362 seat proscenium arch purpose built theatre. The theatre was built in 1987 but is now starting to look dated and a period of refurbishment for the has begun. Front of House customer facilities for refreshments, ticket sales, and toilets are planned to be updated this year. The backstage areas and dressing rooms need upgrading and as resources are available this work will be initiated. The theatrical technical equipment and safety equipment is original and coming to the end of its life this will be replaced as part of a rolling replacement scheme. The air conditioning chiller unit has recently become obsolete, replacement is likely to be a relatively modest cost. The truss and chain hoists that hold the rig of lights is also coming to the end of its life. Whilst replacement is costly the theatre can operate as normal with these permanently in place, changes to operating procedures will be required.
Audiences to the theatre have increased by more than 30% over the last two years.
Competitors The nearest other similar venues are the Bernie Grant Centre in Tottenham, and the Depot in Barnet. Neither venue is close enough to cause serious competition. The Chicken Shed Theatre in Southgate although a similar scale is however completely different in style and outlook it focus’s on a different audience with its inclusive theatre for children and a programme of drama courses linked to Middlesex University.
Programme Millfield Theatre’s programme is aimed at all the family an eclectic mix for all ages and tastes. The programme includes: drama, comedy, music, dance, one-person shows, talent shows, and pantomime; it includes both amateur, and professional performances, hires, commissions, community plays, and visiting companies. The Centre produces its own pantomime each year. It is common for actors to say that they got started in panto, that it was local panto that set the touch paper of their career, Millfield has provided this opportunity for many people. The hard work, personal achievement, and pride of performing in panto for your home crowd is also
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enough to bring many young people renewed confidence which in turn has a positive effect on their attainment and attendance at school. This year we are running another panto – Cinderella over the Christmas period.
The House
Millfield House(the House) is a Grade II* Listed building that has served the Borough well over the years (Grade II* is higher than Grade II signifying the degree of importance in terms of heritage value). It has a large number of rooms spread over more than 3 floors that range from relatively small and intimate spaces to large open spaces used for large group events. It complements the Theatre and provides the educational facilities for the theatre programme as well as open access booking by the community groups and individuals, Council staff meetings and partner groups.
The House is used by local people for a wide range of educational, lifelong learning, cultural, family, and community uses. The list of uses includes, but is not limited to, parties and special occasions hire, dance school classes, conferences and educational meetings, school examinations eg music exams, rehearsals, clubs and societies, recreational dance classes, arts and crafts courses, chess, photography, drama workshops, professional performances of music or drama, family events and school events.
The house also has two important tenants. The Arts Council of England – Creative Partnerships North London office is based in the House. Creative Partnerships are working with many schools in Enfield, Haringey, and Waltham Forest to deliver creative thinking and creative learning in partnership with schools, arts and creative organisations, and community sector organisations. This work aims to deliver ‘whole school’ cultural change so that creative learning approaches both influence, effect, and deliver curriculum outcomes and independent thinking children and young people. The second tenant is Guy Masterson Tours International, a highly respected Producer, Director, and Actor. His company produces and tours shows all over the world and at the Edinburgh Festival each year. Millfield is his base and we develop partnerships working with him to provide high quality drama for Enfield audiences.
Staffing and organisational development.
From April 2000 until 1 st February 2005 Millfield Arts Centre was managed by an independent trust called the Millfield Arts Trust.
Following Members Voluntary Liquidation by the Trust, the Council took over full management control of the Arts Centre, liabilities, assets, and staff on the 1 st February 2005.
The Council inherited the staff structure managed by the Trust. Following a review of the organisation and staff structure a reorganisation was undertaken to bring Millfield in line with Council objectives and management.
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The Centre has 15 F/T staff. The key posts are Millfield Arts Centre Manager, Operations Manager, Marketing Officer, Education Manager. The Centre also boasts more than 70 volunteers on regular rotas.
Since 2007 due to natural staff migration more than half the staff team is new in post. The new Centre Manager will start in July 2008. This gives a management opportunity to develop the culture to better fit the Council’s corporate direction and strategic objectives. For example the Edmonton Review may consider a repositioning of Millfield to better serve the needs of young people through the performing arts including music, drama, and production skills.
Opening hours –
The house is open 8.30am – 10/10.30pm six days a week and closes a couple of hours earlier on a Sunday.
The theatre opens 3-5 days a week for matinees and evening shows. There are opportunities to make more of the theatre during the day.
Total number of events period 1/04/2007-31/03/2008 = 2,996.
Education and community classes 764 events 12000 users
Music & concerts 78 events 3200 users
Community hires 1,468 events 37,000 users
Commercial hires 586 events 14,500 users
Rehearsals 23 events 250 users
Private functions 6 events 450 users
Internal 71 events 75 users
Totals 2,996 events 67,475 users. The Café Bar attracts people not involved in an event but waiting for someone involved in an event such as mothers collecting children, estimates suggest around another 17,000 users over the same period, making a total use of 84,500 users of Millfield House.
Financial Overview
2006/07 2007/08 Overview Plan Outturn Variance Plan Outturn Variance Expenditure £1,101,400 £1,379,238 £277,838 £1,176,980 £1,521,447 £344,467 Income -£733,970 -£748,632 -£14,662 -£854,650 -£1,135,014 -£280,364 £263,175 £64,102
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Future opportunities
Proposed improvements to the buildings and capital investment are the subject of a recent report by the Director ECSL to Cabinet. This section is a summary of that summary.
The House
Most of the rooms now need some refurbishment and improvement. The quality of the fit-out (furniture and equipment), whilst once entirely satisfactory, now needs improvement. The House also needs some repair to the fabric. Rooms range from small spaces used for art classes/groups to large spaces (some with a sprung floor) that accommodate dance groups/classes and rehearsal space for the theatre. The associated stable block provides workshop accommodation and a disabled toilet.
A recent Cabinet report proposes a review of the use of the building and, on the basis of that review, sets out a programme of refurbishment that will see the building(s) better fit for use over the next 20 years. The timing of that proposal is propitious given that the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) has recently signalled greater interest in the Borough and the possibility of some investment. It is therefore timely to bring forward some proposals that can be shared with HLF with the prospect of external funding to support them.
The Theatre
Usage of the theatre is growing. Conversion of the Weir Hall library space, once vacated, into better bar and eatery facilities will make a substantial contribution to the attractiveness of coming to the theatre. However, more improvement is needed to the wider range of facilities needed to complement that.
It is proposed that the existing toilets and current bar space be re-developed to provide toilet facilities that match better the numbers attending the theatre. Notwithstanding that the fabric of the existing toilets now needs work, increasing the quantity of provision will bring greater customer satisfaction. A separate Portfolio Report to the Cabinet member will progress this item.
The Park
The Parks structure and design is as originally set out and there is the opportunity to improve this area alongside the buildings. Maintenance levels have been inconsistent but improvements are being made.
The Mews block
The Mews block needs basic improvements to bring it up to a standard where we could hire this facility to generate income. This possibility will be looked at along with the updating of the house. One part of the mews block is rented out to a small woodworking business.
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Crime
Periodically there are crime incidents. The latest in June 08 were two burglaries resulting in theft of staff property and cash from the bar.
The Met Police and Community Police have a very good close working relationship with the staff team at the Centre.
IT and CCTV
IT services are not as consistent as they could be. This in it worst case has meant failure causing a loss of income and disappointed customers. The Centre has recently been linked to the Council system via a radio link. The ECSL IT Board is aware of the issues and Millfield is being transferred to the Serco contract to streamline relationships and ensure accountability for problem solving.
The CCTV systems are not linked between the buildings. Meaning that operationally consistent monitoring of the CCTV is difficult to achieve
Service development opportunities
Weir Hall Library Relocation : When the library relocates to Fore Street, the space remaining will make an excellent flexible room for – café and bar, new box office/reception, flexible space with pack away tables and chairs for meetings, workshops, rehearsals, over 50s group, Early Years and family groups, after-school youth café, early afternoon or early evening bar and bistro (lunch, afternoon tea, and dinner) for theatre goers, and potential for breakout space for conferencing. The space should be programmed with a busy mix of multi-uses throughout the day and evening.
New tenants: if the Mews is refurbished, new tenants able to pay rent and add to the cultural offer at the Centre would add greatly to the venues sustainability as well as providing a better mix of services to local people. The House and the Theatre could also hire out two or three rooms to tenants without reducing public access provided that the new tenants were adding to the educational and creative mix of this campus of buildings. In addition the Riverside studio has potential to be used for creative organisations who need exclusive use of a space such as those in music production and recording.
Theatre comes of age: the Theatre will be 21yrs old next year. This will provide an important opportunity to develop new services, reposition the venue in the regional, sub-regional and local markets, and develop new partnerships and income strands towards a more sustainable future. The new Arts Centre Manager has already been set the task of planning the birthday year and is committed to mark the year with a greater openness to the communities of Enfield and Edmonton, with a emphasis on learning and access for all.
PUTTING ENFIELD FIRST
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Aim 2 High Quality Education and Life Long Learning.
Obj (2a) Work with schools and colleges to deliver high quality education and raise educational achievement to, at and above national standards.
Obj (2b) Work with partners to fully include under-achieving and challenging pupils.
Obj (2c) Support and encourage children to attend and enjoy school.
Obj (2f) Increase opportunities to learn throughout life.
Obj (2g) Provide positive activities for young people.
Aim 6 Economically successful and socially inclusive.
Obj (6a) Work to develop a prosperous local economy with our partners.
Obj (6b) Promote opportunities for employment by encouraging business growth, skills, training and by reducing barriers to work.
Obj (6c) Improve deprived neighbourhoods by working with our partners and the local community.
Obj (6d) Tackle discrimination, promote equality of access and good relations between all groups in the community.
Obj (6f) Promote healthier communities through effective partnership working.
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