24 Hrs with Theatre Porto

A brief overview of your role and company

I’m Caz Brader, the Executive Director of Theatre Porto. We are a theatre company and Venue in Ellesmere Port and we specialise in theatre and other creative opportunities for children, young people and families.

Theatre Porto (formerly Action Transport Theatre) has been making theatre for children, young people and the communities of Ellesmere Port for over 35 years.

We are inspired by the child-centred qualities of curiosity, play, fairness and aim to make new work which both challenges and delights.

We provide opportunities for local children and young people to work with us throughout the year through our free, inclusive engagement programme which includes groups such as Drama Drop in, Young Writers and Young Creatives. These activities are inclusive and support well-being.

Our professional theatre productions are made collaboratively with children, schools and other companies/artists touring locally, regionally and nationally.

We are part of Arts Council England’s National Portfolio.

Can you tell us a short overview of an average day at work?

The variety of my working life is what I love the most. Today we’ve been planning a Eurovision screening party and fundraiser in partnership with Refugee Assist.

In our theatre today we have students from Cheshire College – South & West creating a new production alongside our associate director and later we have our ‘family hangout’ when we will welcome local families to spend time together, benefit from free food and make some brilliant creations with our associate artist.

Whilst all this is happening, I’m back-of-house writing funding bids, balancing the books, helping the team to programme outdoor events for our summer extravaganza ‘Topsy Turvy’

How has the company grown in recent years?

The last year has been a momentous time for us as a charity. We opened our new state-ofthe-art theatre in August 2022.

The capital investment from CWAC and ACE allowed to introduce: n A new 150 seat flexible auditorium for performances and events n New film screening technology n New rehearsal spaces n New workshop and meeting rooms n A café with an outdoor terrace

And we have now made the transition to a public venue, with a wonderful cafe managed by social care charity 1st Enable. We’re open 6 days a week and bringing joy to 1000’s of families each year.

Have you faced any particular challenges recently?

It’s a tough time for the arts sector - there is steep competition for the public funding we rely on as a charity and costs associated with running a venue are rising all the time. But we are determined to maintain our provision as free or highly subsidised so that local families who cannot afford trips to bigger cities and larger venues have something of real quality, on their doorstep and accessible to all. We operate a ‘pay what you like’ scheme for a large majority of our performances of events.

The new venue provides us with ways to increase our revenue through space hires and catering and we rely on businesses and organisations using us. And why wouldn’t you want to come to our beautiful unique venue in the middle of the lovely green spaces of Whitby Park.

What are your plans for the future?

We need to expand our activities for children and young people to meet growing demand - there is huge benefit to children’s wellbeing from our inclusive approach and we have more families wanting to take part than we can currently accommodate.

Artistically we’re planning for an amazing outdoor mini-festival in August and we have two Christmas productions taking shapethese will run for 4 weeks here at Theatre Porto as well as visiting other venues such as Unity Theatre Liverpool and HomeMCR. Our business plan includes increasing support from local business and community organisations- through space hires or sponsorship. And increasing support from these residents who can afford to buy a ticket and use our cafe. So that those who can’t afford it - continue to benefit from this amazing asset.

If there was an extra hour in the day, how would you spend it?

I’d give our incredibly hard-working team a chance to kick back and relax together! Find out more at https://linktr.ee/TheatrePorto