Handbook February 2012 Section 3 – Revenue Funded Organisations Monitoring
Annual Review Report 2011/12
Theatr Felinfach
Arts Council of Wales February 2012
Handbook February 2012 Section 3 – Revenue Funded Organisations Monitoring
About the Annual Review Meeting
Venue: Arts Council of Wales Office, Carmarthen
Date of meeting: 7 February 2012
Present Theatr Felinfach: Dwynwen Lloyd-Evans (Head of Theatre and Felinfach Campus)
Present Arts Council: Siri Wigdel (Senior Dance Officer); Lowri Clement (Senior Business Support Officer); Suzanne Griffiths-Rees (Arts Development Officer)
Date of draft report: 15 March 2012
Date of final report:
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1. Programme of activity
Theatr Felinfach was established in 1972 by Cardiganshire County Council's Education Department, and is now a base for access and life-long pathway to the arts in Welsh, and from Wales and beyond. The theatre has long been recognised for the strength of its community and participatory arts activity. It also provides help and advice to educational and third sector organisations in Ceredigion, a county that the Welsh Index of Deprivation shows as the second most deprived county in Wales for access to services.
The level of participatory work that the organisation provides is extensive, and includes participatory arts programmes using drama, theatre, dance and general media for community productions; a diverse programme of drama, theatre, dance and technical workshops; programmes of participatory art for children and young people including eight drama clubs, two youth theatre companies and three dance companies; informal training opportunities in technical theatre, studio, radio and broadcasting; informal training opportunities in production and directing in the field of drama/theatre; creative writing programmes; community radio projects; local Culture Programme working with schools and rural communities; a programme of dance in the community; advice, training and support for individuals and advice and professional support for community groups and the third sector. The Theatre employs three Officers to deliver its activity, a Youth Officer, a Dance Officer and a Local Culture Officer. The Head of Theatre and Felinfach Campus is also a practitioner who leads on various programmes.
Highlights for 2011/12 included Ceredigion Youth Theatre – CIC! Winning a Robina Memorial Prize for its work promoting bilingualism through the arts. Theatr Felinfach has also been developing a growing dance programme, including Tic! Toc!, a session of dance, stories and songs for children aged 0-3 and their parents; Youth Fun Festival – developing a week's arts festival for young people aged 11-18 to get a taste of different media with artists from various fields, and Celtic Neighbours which promotes the arts, culture and languages of the Celtic countries. A grant of £12,000 was awarded from The Esmee Fairbairn Foundation to develop a multi-media, multi-lingual production between youth theatre groups in Wales, Scotland and Ireland which will take place in April 2012.
Theatr Felinfach enjoys a unique status in west Wales as a Community Arts venue, providing a vast quantity of activity for all members of the catchment area, predominantly in the Welsh Language.
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2. The creation of artistic work
Core to the theatre’s participatory programme is the principle that everyone can contribute to the arts and develop their skills and potential as individuals, and as members of their community. To enable this, Felinfach operates a core programme of arts participation within the community, an arts education programme, support for the voluntary and the third sector, and a programme of high quality, professional performances.
In 2010/11 Theatr Felinfach provided arts opportunities for almost 44,000 people, and the survey for the first half of 2011/12 shows that they have provided opportunities for over 18,000 people during this period.
The theatre is an important artistic and education centre and has a number of themes running through its activity that drives its unique approach to arts development. These include the participatory arts programme under professional leadership; developing individual and group skills through the performing arts and multi-media; ensuring an expressive medium for indigenous culture; promotion of community development; focussing on innovative, creative youth work and providing a means for social assimilation, cultural and linguistic integration.
Artistic direction and decisions are continually based on audience and participation feedback, funders’ and partners’ opinions, project de-briefs and artistic team meetings. Guest artists, tutors and trainers are recruited to ensure artistic excellence.
3. Public engagement
Theatr Felinfach makes it clear that open access, community provision and new opportunities run across its entire provision. It is clear that the organisation’s activity has public engagement and inclusion at its heart, and it aims to deliver a far-reaching, ambitious programme that targets all areas of the community, especially children and young people.
Ceredigion is one of the strongholds of the Welsh Language and Felinfach’s work supports the language strategy of the Local Authority’s Education Department by offering a social and creative context to the county’s
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bilingualism. The theatre plays a part in making sure that children, young people and families are integrated into the Welsh Language culture in a creative and social way.
The majority of work is delivered through the medium of Welsh, with a strong emphasis on developing and promoting bilingualism, and encouraging participants from non Welsh-speaking backgrounds to engage with the Welsh language and its culture through the arts. In planning the programme, Felinfach continues to consult with a cross-section of organisations, schools, youth groups and clubs, special education centres and other departments within the Local Authority.
Theatr Felinfach has concerns regarding the participatory and audience pattern among 26-45 year olds. This demographic is the subject of a Local Authority Investment Programme project that the Arts Council of Wales has just funded. It is hoped that as part of the project, many of this age group in the vicinity, who used to be participants at the theatre in their youth, will be encouraged to take part again in arts activity along with the younger generation.
An area of concern for the theatre is the lack of bilingual leaders and tutors in the arts, but especially in dance. This is something the theatre would like to research and, in time, address. There is a wider issue with young people from rural areas not returning after university, and therefore this leaves a gap within the community. Theatr Felinfach would like to find ways of making sure this doesn’t happen, or finding ways of attracting at least some of these people back to the area.
In 2011 Theatr Felinfach and Cwmni Theatr Arad Goch worked together with the Education Department of Ceredigion County Council on a Reach the Heights project in Ceredigion. Three bilingual Participation Officers were appointed to work in various art forms with young people not in education, employment or training (NEET). This was very successful and another joint project has been funded for 2012/13 this time including Aberystwyth Arts Centre.
4. Business development
Theatr Felinfach has noted three areas to be strengthened in 2012/13. One is to establish a sub-committee with the Programme/Marketing Officer to enable them to review professional outputs. Another is to make the theatre’s professional programme stronger. A part-time Programming and Marketing
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Officer was appointed in 2010 and has consulted with audiences and the Friends of the Theatre to help with this. The third is to review membership packages. Felinfach would like to attract younger members, increase and promote the value of the membership and to generally expand the membership.
The Friends of Theatr Felinfach exist to assist the Theatre with fundraising. The group is a registered charity with an executive committee. The Committee is representative of the membership and aims to promote and support voluntary arts activities in Ceredigion and its surrounds. In the next year the theatre director would like to look at strengthening the role of the Friends.
Other developments for the coming year include the launch of campws.org, a website to promote and market the resources of the theatre site and campus; becoming a member of Media Consortia and the Phoenix groups under the auspices of Creu Cymru.
Theatr Felinfach is playing a major part in the welcoming of the Olympic Torch relay to Aberystwyth in May 2012 and Dwynwen is writing and producing a piece of work to be performed by young people to help celebrate this.
Felinfach is also developing a European contact with Akkrum in Friesland to initiate a project celebrating culture, theatre, language and leisure.
5. Governance, management and finance
Theatr Felinfach is an integrated part of the Education and Community Services Department of Ceredigion County Council. The Head of the Theatre and Felinfach Campus is accountable to the Deputy Director of Education and Cultural Services, Dr Rhodri Llwyd Morgan. The theatre contributes towards the Departmental Business Plan. According to the Department's evaluation, Theatr Felinfach is held up as a model of good practice and excellence with regards to partnership work and being a community arts provider.
The theatre does not have a contingency fund, although the Department as a whole does. Ceredigion County Council’s Finance Director, the Director of Education and Community Services, the Deputy Director of Education and Cultural Services and the Finance Manager take responsibility for administering the contingency fund. Quarterly meetings are also held with The Head of Theatre and Felinfach Campus, the Administration Officer and Financial Officer.
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In the past, administering the organisation’s Arts Council revenue payments had been a problem. This was mainly due to a lack of administrative support for the Head of Theatre and Felinfach Campus at the time. The situation has now been resolved due to an increase in staff and Arts Council revenue payments are now issued on time in response to the receipt of financial information as requested. We are very keen that problems do not occur, and would appreciate being kept informed if there are any changes to the situation.
Challenges facing Theatr Felinfach will be standstill funding or cutbacks within the Local Authority. This will inevitably affect the theatre’s ability to continue to deliver its current programme of activity, as there are restrictions on what external funding the theatre can apply for as part of the Local Authority. However, the Friends of Theatr Felinfach fundraise as much as they can by applying to foundations and other trusts.
In 2011/12 Theatr Felinfach’s turnover was £468,859. It received £60,000 from the Arts Council of Wales as Annual Revenue and £34,815 from other sources. Income from theatre charges was £33,591 and other income came to £27,835. It received £312,618 as core income from Ceredigion County Council.
6. Partnerships and relationships
Partnerships and relationships are fundamental to the ongoing success of Felinfach. The theatre works with many departments within the local authority in the delivery of Community, Welsh language and Schools strategies.
In addition to the partnerships and relationships that have been forged in the last year, Theatr Felinfach continues to work closely with other venues within the County. The Arts Council convened meetings with the three Ceredigion venues last year which proved to be positive.
Some of the other organisations that work with Theatr Felinfach include Cwmni Theatr Arad Goch, Ceredigion Young Farmers, Creu Cymru, primary and secondary schools in the county through the Education Department, Urdd Gobaith Cymru, a new partnership with Golwg360 and the Pony and Cobs Festival in Aberaeron.
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Everyday contact with Arts Council staff in the Carmarthen office is felt by the organisation to be positive, and staff appreciate the support and input from the officers.
7. Concluding comments
This year has been a busy, challenging and successful year for Theatr Felinfach. There is no doubt that the organisation continues to deliver a diverse community participation and professional presentation programme in Ceredigion, mostly through the Welsh language.
Theatr Felinfach stands as an example of good practice in the community arts. It is very much supported by the Local Authority both financially and via a good relationship with the Deputy Director of Education and Cultural Services. The staff at the Theatre are committed individuals and help to deliver a phenomenal amount of participatory work throughout Ceredigion.
We look forward to seeing more work being programmed at the Theatre in 2012/13 and to visit the theatre and other venues to monitor some of the participatory activity that Theatr Felinfach delivers.
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