Annual Report 2016 April 2015 – March 2016 Theatres Trust. 39th Annual Report. Period ended 31 March 2016 Chair’s report 3 Theatres Trust promotes the better protection of theatres. Director’s review of the year We are pleased to present 4 our 39th Annual Report which highlights our work and Our purposes achievements in 2015–16. & activities 5 We provide advice and support to secure a better and more Our achievements sustainable future for the & performance nations’ valued theatres. 6–13 We champion all theatres and Financial review provide expert knowledge and 14–15 an authoritative voice on the Friends & Corporate significance and value of theatres. Supporters 16–17 Trustees 18–19 Incorporating the Annual Report of The Theatres Trust Charitable Fund Registered Charity No: 274697 The Theatres Trust The National Advisory Public Body for Theatres Protecting theatres for everyone Dudley Hippodrome Credit: Flickr Kola1965 3 Our new vision. We believe that current and future generations should have access to good quality theatre buildings, where they can be inspired by, and enjoy, live theatre. Our new mission. We champion the past present and future of live theatre, by protecting the buildings and what goes on inside. We do this by providing Chair’s. advice on planning and development, supplying resources and advice to make theatres sustainable and offering financial assistance through grants. We help people discover more about theatres and campaign for theatres at risk. report. year, and I would like to express my gratitude to them for all that they have done for the Trust. Tim Foster sat as the architect trustee, and I was delighted Tim. to welcome Paddy Dillon, Director of Allies & Morrison Architects, in his stead. We also welcomed Richard Baldwin to the Trust. Richard is Head of Development at Derwent London, and fulfils the property developer Eyles. role on the Trust. I’d like to express my huge thanks and gratitude This year marked my first full year as Chair of the to the staff team, led by Mhora Samuel, who have Theatres Trust, and has been one of considerable worked incredibly hard over the year. Following activity. As well as continuing with our full the end of the year, Mhora Samuel, our Director programme of work, detailed below in the Director’s for the past ten years, decided to stand down. Review, we took the opportunity to review the Her contribution to the Trust’s affairs has been role of the Trust and the way in which we fulfil our enormous over that period - and she will be much remit. The trustees and staff collaborated in the missed. In the meantime I’d like to thank Rebecca creation of an exciting new strategy to guide the Morland for stepping in as Acting Director pending Trust’s activities in the next 3 years. our recruitment of Mhora’s replacement. We also reviewed our brand and visual identity Fundraising is increasingly important to us, and leading to the launch of our new logo and a new the work of the Theatres Protection Fund is key approach to our print material. to this. In last year’s Report, I was able to report that the London Theatres Small Grants Scheme This has all meant that we start our 40th year with had been launched, with generous support from a refreshed vision and mission, to ensure everyone the Mackintosh Foundation. is clear about our focus, namely to provide access to good quality theatre buildings and champion the This year, we were also thrilled to receive a most future of live theatre through protecting its buildings. generous donation from Fawn James, Director of Soho Estates. This donation of £125,000 will enable We aim to ensure that live theatre has a place in us to offer support to small theatres in London everyone’s lives and we are committed to delivering over a five year period. This continuity is incredibly a more powerful campaigning voice, being more important to us, and to the many theatres that visible with our expert advice and influence in the we support, and I would like to thank Fawn for planning system, creating new opportunities to her terrific support. discover theatres, and increasing the levels of capital related grants and funding we can provide I would also like to pay tribute to and thank very to support theatres. much all our Friends, Corporate Supporters, and Sponsors for their ongoing contributions. It really I have very much enjoyed working with our does make a significant difference to our ability knowledgeable and committed trustees, who freely to deliver our mission. give up their valuable time to support the work of the Trust. Sadly, Matthew Rooke and Tim Foster came to the end of their terms of office during the 4 study to see if a future can be found for this important, but sadly neglected, building. The model for this was the viability study for Brighton Hippodrome, which ran from July to October 2015. We led a stakeholder group with partners Brighton Hippodrome CIC, Our Brighton Hippodrome, Historic England, Frank Matcham Society and AMG/Live Nation, and agreed a brief to identify an optimum beneficial use for the Hippodrome. The viability study that emerged did identify a way forward for this Grade II* theatre, and has been taken forward by Brighton Hippodrome CIC who have subsequently secured funding from the Coastal Revival Fund and Heritage Lottery Fund to develop their plans. Our work with many of the supporters groups, not only for Theatre Buildings at Risk but others, has made us aware of the support that they need, especially in the early years of their projects. We therefore expanded our workshop programme with a workshop specifically aimed at groups in the early stages of developing projects with Director’s. heritage theatres – a New Life for Heritage Theatres. This year also marked the 7th and 8th rounds of our UK Theatres Small Grants Scheme. The relatively review of. small sums of money that the scheme provides have proved very important for the theatres concerned, since building repairs are not often a priority for funding, the year. and the challenges that smaller theatres in particular face are growing. Extreme weather is increasingly one of those challenges, and all of the theatres supported in Round 8 had suffered some sort of water ingress, including the Friargate Theatre in York which had been affected by the winter Rebecca. floods and the Marina Theatre Lyme Regis where storm damage had affected the exterior. In 2013, The London Assembly’s report on small theatres in London, Centre Morland. Stage, identified that 75% of those theatres were in need of capital intervention. Our London Theatres Small Grants Scheme was developed in response to this, and As Tim Eyles states, this has been a year where we 2015 marked its first round of funding. The theatres we started to review our role and remit, and agreed supported ranged from the New Diorama in Camden, a new vision and mission, the delivery of which who converted a storage container into accessible offices will effectively begin in 2016/17. The process of and outreach space, to SPID Theatre who carried out review has been incredibly helpful in assessing our essential repairs to doors and windows at Kensal House achievements to date, and also in enabling us to plan Community Rooms. ahead, to ensure that the Trust can continue to make Summer 2015 marked our first archive project, led a difference to theatres now, and in the future. and devised by Stephanie Rolt, our Records Officer, Our Conference 2015: Valuing Theatres was a who had become increasingly aware that we had useful illustration of this, focussing as it did on the accumulated a large number of theatre plans which were relationship between developers and theatres, and not catalogued. We recruited 5 paid interns from 270 exploring issues such as valuation of theatres. As applicants and set them to work over a 3 week period. we increasingly move into a world where the old Over 6,800 plans were catalogued, but this only took us certainties of capital funding no longer apply this part of the way through the plans and the project will conference offered a range of ideas and potential continue in summer 2016. routes for those wanting to develop their theatres. At the heart of what we do is the work of our small Our work with theatres on our Theatre Buildings staff team. In June 2015, we welcomed Claire Appleby at Risk Register continued to bear fruit. The launch to the team as Architecture Adviser, thereby enhancing of the 2015 Register attracted considerable press the range of advice that we could offer. Claire’s attention, which was particularly notable this year as responsibilities include Theatres at Risk, but also our it attracted attention to two theatres on the Register Advisory Review service – an increasingly important which had previously lacked supporters. Most notably, part of our advice provision. Advisory Reviews and our community support emerged for Burnley Empire. workshop programme in particular would not be possible We met with the group that developed (now known without the involvement of others who freely give up as Burnley Empire Theatre Trust) and with Burnley their time to support us. As well as our fantastic trustees, Council, and have now formed a stakeholder group, we have been able to call on other practitioners, with together with the representatives of other local a vast range of skills and experience, and we are organisations. The overall aim is to pursue a viability incredibly grateful for their support. 5 Review of 2015/16.