ANNUAL REVIEW 2014/15
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Annie
Photography: Pamela Raith
WELCOME I am delighted to report that once again Curve had a very successful year, with increases to audience and visitor numbers. The year saw another Curve first – our home commissioned and produced musical Sue Townsend’s The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 ¾ The Musical. This adaptation of Sue Townsend’s beloved book won the hearts of its audience and helped cement Curve’s position as a place to create and see new British musicals. This was the last year for Curve’s Artistic Director of 23 years, Paul Kerryson, and we were delighted when Paul was awarded the UK Theatre Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Theatre and an MBE in the New Year’s Honours List. This is also the final complete year for Chief Executive Fiona Allan. In her four years here, Fiona has led Curve to be recognised as a major producing theatre with real and powerful connections into its local community, a loyal and supportive audience base and a strong financial position.
It’s been another terrific year. We have grown both audiences and visitors, and again been awarded the Gold Award for Large Visitor Attraction at the Leicester and Leicestershire Excellence in Tourism Awards. Throughout the year we sold almost 190,000 tickets, of which nearly half were to Curve’s own produced work. Indeed, our 12 Curve productions had an average attendance of 82%. Demand for seats is now so high that we added another 99 to the theatre over summer 2015. January saw Nikolai Foster, Curve’s new Artistic Director, commence in post and immediately begin engaging with our local community, notably leading our community company in making a memorable contribution to the Service of Reveal and Celebration for King Richard III at Leicester Cathedral. As ever, we remain grateful for the ongoing support of Leicester City Council and the Arts Council of England, who enable us to produce work of the highest quality and ensure it is accessible to those from all backgrounds.
My thanks go to Fiona and the whole Curve team for the hard work that has produced another year of excellent results.
Front cover:
The Sound Of Music
Photography: Pamela Raith
CONTENTS 2 3 5 7
Welcome A Year In Performance Produced & Visiting Work Artist Development
9 11 13 15
Community Engagement Learning & Participation Visitor Experience Partnerships
17 Our Audiences 19 Financial Information 20 Curve Supporters 21 Our People
Prof. Philip Tasker Chair
Fiona Allan Chief Executive
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A YEAR IN PERFORMANCE
HAIRSPRAY
Curve Production FRI 28 FEB – SAT 5 APR 2014 Directed by Paul Kerryson
MOTHER CLAP’S MOLLY HOUSE
Curve Production FRI 18 – SAT 19 APR 2014 Directed by Suba Das
RENT
ABIGAIL’S PARTY
DIWALI HANGAMA
SHAKESPEARE’S OTHELLO
MURMUR & INKED
Curve Community Production SAT 26 JUL – SUN 10 AUG 2014 Directed by Paul Kerryson
INSIDE OUT FESTIVAL
THE PEREIRA’S BAKERY AT 76 CHAPEL ROAD
THU 10 – SAT 19 APR 2014
Curve and De Montfort University WED 12 – SAT 15 MAR 2014 Directed by Suba Das
OK TATA BYE BYE
ANNIE
Curve in association with Sabras Radio SAT 25 OCT 2014
Curve Production THU 17 & SAT 19 APR 2014 Directed by Suba Das
WHAT ARE THEY LIKE? Curve Young Company THU 1 – SAT 3 MAY 2014 Directed by Tim Ford
HONK!
THE SOUND OF MUSIC
Curve Young Company FRI 27 JUN – SAT 5 JUL 2014 Directed by Tim Ford
Curve Production FRI 28 NOV 2014 – SAT 17 JAN 2015 Directed by Paul Kerryson
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Curve Community Production THU 31 JUL – THU 7 AUG 2014 Directed by Paul Kerryson
Curve in association with Frantic Assembly and Theatre Royal Plymouth TUE 28 OCT – SAT 1 NOV 2014 Directed by Scott Graham
Curve Production FRI 17 OCT – SAT 8 NOV 2014 Directed by Suba Das
Curve, Aakash Odedra Company and Sky Academy Arts Scholarship MON 10 – TUE 11 NOV 2014
SUE TOWNSEND’S THE SECRET DIARY OF ADRIAN MOLE AGED 13¾ THE MUSICAL Curve Production SAT 7 MAR – SAT 4 APR 2015 Directed by Luke Sheppard
The calibre of performances that I have seen at Curve is above and beyond an excellent standard. I feel incredibly lucky to have it on my doorstep. Audience member, Birdsong
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This was Curve’s most successful year yet, seeing us grow our reputation for producing and presenting musical theatre. The greatest triumphs were Paul Kerryson’s final production as Artistic Director, The Sound of Music, and Curve’s first home-grown, new musical, Sue Townsend’s The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 ¾ The Musical. Curve also hosted two openings of visiting musicals: the world première of new title Water Babies and the Cameron Mackintosh tour of Barnum. It was also a very strong year for drama at Curve. In autumn, audiences were seated in the round for a new Curve production of Abigail’s Party, directed by Suba Das. Visiting programme drama highlights included To Kill a Mockingbird, The Woman in Black, One Man, Two Guvnors and Frantic Assembly’s Othello, developed in association with Curve.
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A truly classic play, staged absolutely perfectly. Audience member, Abigail’s Party
STUDIO & THEATRE Children’s
13.5%
Comedy
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Audience member, The Sound of Music
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Mum would have loved it.
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Danny Townsend, Sue Townsend’s The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13¾ The Musical
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Physical Theatre / Dance 10.5%
3%
GENRE Drama
40%
33%
We continued our commitment to dance and physical theatre, with highlights including Associate Artist Aakash Odedra’s exquisite double bill Murmur and Inked, developed at Curve and performed at venues nationally. In addition, Curve brought two acclaimed international companies to Leicester for the first time: Australia’s Circa with Wunderkammer and French Compagnie Kafig with Boxe Boxe.
Our first visit as a family, and found it quite superb. Awesomely good. Better than the West End, quite frankly.
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Musical / Music
KEY FACT
95%
of customers rank Curve’s produced work as good or excellent
Photography: Sue Townsend’s The Secret Diary Of Adrian Mole Aged 13¾ The Musical – Pamela Raith
PRODUCED & VISITING WORK
PRODUCED & VISITING WORK
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ARTIST DEVELOPMENT
ARTIST DEVELOPMENT
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The Breakthrough programme has given us mentorship from leading artists, regular access to Curve’s incredible team and facilities, and funding to tour new work nationally.
The year began with the launch of Curve’s first Inside Out Festival, curated by Associate Director Suba Das. Over 10 days more than 150 local artists were showcased, across multiple genres and performance spaces, both at Curve and offsite, including the CEO’s sitting room! The festival included the premières of five new Curve commissions, and three installations commissioned for our public spaces. Almost 2,000 tickets were sold, 51% of which were to first time Curve attenders.
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Off the Fence Theatre Company
Our Associate Companies continued to develop new projects with Curve advocacy, including MetroBoulot-Dodo’s Safe House, a major new outdoor aerial show funded by Without Walls and Leicester City Council; and New Art Club’s “dance cabaret” Hercules, which received a Strategic Touring Award to engage young people with contemporary dance. In addition to the presentation of Murmur and Inked, we were also pleased to welcome Aakash Odedra back to begin development of new Curve commission Echoes, a collaboration with internationally renowned kathak icon Aditi Mangaldas.
KEY FACT
11
companies
supported through Curve’s Associate and Breakthrough Companies programmes
21
number of artists residencies
13
commissions of new work
50
free foyer performances and workshops as part of Inside Out Festival
2014/15 was the final year of Curve’s Young Arts Entrepreneurs programme. Over three years, Curve succeeded in helping young people set up their own creative enterprises locally.
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1,000
Inside Out Festival attracted almost
first time visitors to Curve to see new work
Photography: Inside Out Festival 2014 – Pamela Raith
Alongside this new festival, we announced our first Playwright-in-Residence, Ben Weatherill, whose debut full-length play, Chicken Dust, went on to secure a sell-out run at London’s Finborough Theatre. We also commenced the Breakthrough Companies training and residency programme, helping eight local companies secure over £100,000 of Arts Council England funding.
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COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
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Well I was astounded, it was awesome. The cast were beyond brilliant and totally professional.
Over the year we grew our engagement and access programmes – both at Curve and in the community – ensuring Curve remains a place welcoming and available to all people in Leicester and the region. Curve’s commitment to giving local talent access to the UK’s leading professional artists saw Curve producing two community musicals in rep, Annie and Rent, both directed by Paul Kerryson. In addition two new plays from India were directed by Suba Das and supported by the Royal Court Theatre and practitioners from the RSC and The Globe.
Audience member, Rent
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Locally, Curve supported five Affiliate Community Companies – Nupur Arts, Kainé Choir, Moving Together, Next Wave and 2Funky Arts – providing free space for rehearsals and workshops and opportunities to perform on all Curve stages. We continued our commitment to Leicester’s many community festivals and celebrations, hosting free events for Everybody’s Reading and Indian Summer festivals and the city’s Diwali programme. In autumn Curve commenced a trial programme of regular Saturday Family Days, offering free and low cost access to arts activities, linked to programmes on our stages. These proved so popular, they have now become a regular feature of Curve’s community offer.
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Denise Randall, participant Service of Reveal and Celebration for King Richard III
170
people took part in one of our professionally produced community productions
KEY FACT
We supported
281
rehearsal sessions for our five Affiliate Community Companies
More than
11,300
people saw our community musicals Annie and Rent
RICHARD III
The year culminated in new Artistic Director Nikolai Foster working with a 70-strong community company, aged 8 to nearly 80, to create the Service of Reveal and Celebration for King Richard III at Leicester Cathedral
Our Diwali festoon lighting was
511.5 1,160
metres long,
with
lightbulbs
Photography: Rent – Pamela Raith
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I think this project has made us believe that when you retire life is really just the beginning.
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LEARNING & PARTICIPATION
LEARNING & PARTICIPATION
We are passionate about ensuring that people of all backgrounds can access the arts. Our learning and participation programme extends to people of all ages, this year seeing our most extensive programme of free activities yet. This included seven visual art exhibitions, installations on the foyer digital screen, regular performances on our free foyer stage, plus talks and workshops on offer throughout the year. Curve’s Young Company continued to grow, with Associate Director Tim Ford directing two productions: What Are They Like? by Lucinda Coxon, and Stiles’ and Drew’s whimsical musical Honk!. We were delighted when Curve’s Young Dance Company were asked to mark the opening of Leicester’s Cathedral Gardens in July, with a site-specific piece devised by Tim Ford and choreographer Mel Knott. This year we commenced a partnership with the RSC’s Learning Performance Network, working with teachers and students from eight local schools to bring Shakespeare’s words to life. Our schools’ programmes included regular Behind-the-Scenes days, teachers’ networking events, tours and bespoke workshops, both at Curve and in-school.
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Adam Wilby – City of Leicester College
KEY FACT
190
performances made by, for or with young people
164
schools engaged with from Leicester and Leicestershire
105
members of Curve Young Company took part in public performances
185
free activities and performances held in our public spaces
18,500 participants of all ages took part in our learning and participation programmes
” Photography: Inside Out Festival 2014 – Pamela Raith
We and the students found the day tremendously useful and there is now a great possibility of some really excellent GCSE work that can be produced that will directly contribute to the students’ exam grades.
Curve continued to programme high quality and accessible work for young people, made by leading artists and companies including Tim Crouch, Hiccup Theatre, Bamboozle, Propeller and Birmingham Rep. This has whet our appetite for producing more work for young people ourselves. We continued our partnership with The Spark Children’s Arts Festival, and our Little Curve and Little Movers programmes were regular sell-outs.
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VISITOR EXPERIENCE
VISITOR EXPERIENCE
CONFERENCES, EVENTS, HOSPITALITY & TOURISM 2014/15 was an outstanding year for Curve both on and off-stage, with nearly 200,000 people buying tickets to shows and a similar number of people attending a conference, event, graduation or simply just visiting to have a coffee. Curve once again won the Large Visitor Attraction category at the Leicester and Leicestershire Excellence in Tourism Awards, in recognition of the role we play in attracting visitors to the region. We are now successfully challenging the London events market, with many big brands seeing the advantages of our centrality, not to mention the creativity of our inhouse teams. Our reputation for creating extraordinary events – from awards dinners on the theatre stages to national conferences – has recently resulted in shortlisting for two prestigious national events awards. A new Executive Chef team emphasised a focus on fresh, healthy food that is locally sourced. This has added to the success of our events offer, pre-show dining service on the Mezzanine and new café menu which has proved popular. Curve is delighted to be partnering with local brewery Everards, who have helped refresh our bar offer.
Curve customer
2,200
people enjoyed a home-made burger in our café
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11,500 Americano coffees were sold at the Café
KEY FACT
200
bottles of Pimms were consumed during the DMU summer graduations
26,000 people attended a conference or event at Curve
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I am pleased that Curve has evolved into a venue where people from all walks of life can feel comfortable – even if just for a coffee and to soak up the atmosphere. Curve customer
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Photography: Tom Wren
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The bistro menu is great value – the fish and chips especially good, or check out the mezzanine dining.
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PARTNERSHIPS
PARTNERSHIPS
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Whilst we have been growing our revenue streams year on year to offset reductions in public funding, Curve is still reliant on the support from organisations and individuals who value having a world-class theatre in the city and see the benefits it brings to the region. For several years we have held a strategic partnership with De Montfort University. This has encompassed co-producing an annual theatre production, hosting their graduations, presenting exhibitions of students’ work, accessing professional development training for Curve staff and much more. This year the partnership extended into a production sponsorship of Sue Townsend’s The Secret Diary Of Adrian Mole Aged 13¾ The Musical.
Sarah Thomson De Montfort University, Partner and sponsor Sue Townsend’s The Secret Diary Of Adrian Mole Aged 13¾ The Musical
Our Business Associate membership continued to grow and the business-to-business networking events, all based around culture and business themes, proved increasingly popular. This year also saw the introduction of our higher level individual supporters scheme, Curve Partners. These donors have an active interest in Curve’s development and, in return, have access to a range of behind-the-scenes experiences.
I have found working with Curve to offer a refreshing alternative to many of the other options open to businesses when considering hospitality and B2B events. Scott Charlish Divisional Director – Financial Planning, Brewin Dolphin Ltd
KEY FACT
Over
14,700 56 DMU students benefited from our Partnership
business people did the conga in our seminar rooms for our Fawlty Towers B2B networking event
169
isolated elders visited Curve for a social cultural experience
50
of our customers have enjoyed a complimentary First Class upgrade courtesy of our East Midlands Trains partnership
” Photography: Curve Cares event – Pamela Raith
donors, members and sponsors helped us bring more theatre to more people
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Curve also worked in close partnership with several charities in the region. As a charity ourselves, we recognise the value and effectiveness of strategically supporting each other in these difficult economic times and also widening the benefit to our community members. Through our Curve Cares programme, we partnered with Age UK Leicestershire and Rutland, Rutland Community Spirit and Leicester City Council to provide socially isolated older members of our community, and fostered or looked-after children, with the opportunity to attend the theatre, be served lunch by our dedicated volunteers or participate in workshop activities.
4,302
We are keen to continue to support Curve further grow and develop and work together to improve the experience of Leicester for all our students and visitors.
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32% %
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OUR AUDIENCES TICKETS SOLD
AVERAGE THEATRE ATTENDANCE
196,969 500 100
followers have increased by
78%
64%
performances
67%
71%
SOCIAL MEDIA
TICKETS SOLD ONLINE
29% in 2014/15, to:
49%
72%
11,593
OF SALES WERE MADE ONLINE
55%
25,447
different titles
42% 42%
32% 32%
49% 49% 2009/10
of audiences were first time attenders to Curve
49% 49%
of ticket purchasers bought 2 tickets
of audiences had been to Curve 4+ times since we opened
30% 30% 2010/11
2011/12
57,337 2012/13
2013/14
5,173
Access customers purchased tickets in 2014/15
39,215
18%
90%
FOLLOWERS
SUBSCRIBERS
120,995
NEW USERS ON OUR WEBSITE
of total ticket sales were issued to groups of 10 or more
2013/14
46%
of ticket purchasers bought 4+ tickets
2014/15
Over ⅓ of ticketed performances exceeded capacity across all performance spaces
BME AUDIENCES make up of total audiences for Curve produced work
30% 30%
605
GROUP SALES
USERS
2014/15
GEOGRAPHIC REACH
16% 47% 37%
Beyond the region Leicestershire Leicester
Since opening, tickets have been purchased via our website from different countries... that’s over half the countries in the world
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FINANCIAL INFORMATION
CURVE SUPPORTERS
2014/15 saw growth across most activities, helping to produce our highest turnover to date of £7.8m. Successful in-house productions and a popular visiting programme generated an impressive income total of £3.9m, whilst commercial operations contributed a further £0.9m. Despite reductions in grant and fundraising income, tight cost controls in overheads and operational activity led to a healthy surplus at the year end of £80,000.
CURVE APPRECIATES THE ONGOING SUPPORT OF
CHARITY PARTNERS
PARTNERS
SUMMARY BREAKDOWN OF INCOME 2009/10 & 2014/15
2% 1%
2% 1% 25%
4% 2%
25%
2009/10
2009/10 £6,277,557 58% 7%
7%
33%
4% 2%
TRUSTS AND FOUNDATIONS YOUNG ARTS ENTREPRENEURS
33% 50% 2014/15 2014/15 £7,852,424
CURVE CARES – SUPPORTING ISOLATED ELDERS The Austin and Hope Pilkington Trust Kirby and West Charitable Trust Leicester Indigent Old Age Society WG Edwards Charitable Foundation
50% SPONSORS PRODUCTION SPONSORS Sue Townsend’s The Secret Diary Of Adrian Mole Aged 13¾ The Musical
12%
PERFORMANCE SPONSORS
MEMBER EVENTS SPONSOR
12% BUSINESS ASSOCIATES
Ticket sales
1%
Commercial
Grants
1% 2%
1%
35% 35% 2009/10 2009/10 56% 4%
Sponsorship and fundraising
4%
Ancillary
1% 2%
2014/15 52% 52% 4%
ECY
42% 2014/15 4%
42%
Edward Cooper Young Chartered Surveyors
EXPERIENCE PARTNERS Richard and Diana Brooks Geoffrey Hardcastle Hotel Maiyango David and Diane Statham Alan Tuckett OBE
CREATE PARTNERS
Fiona Allan Annabel Bannister Anthony and Lisa Clare David and Lynda Hill Jean Roberts AM and ME Rodgers – Langton Studios
SUSTAIN PARTNERS Jonathan Kerry
CURVE B2B NETWORKING EVENTS
22 Photography: Hairspray – Pamela Raith
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OUR PEOPLE This year we introduced many new initiatives for staff, including a weekly informal get-together in the Green Room and drop-in sessions with the CEO. In addition, quarterly Company meetings, regular meet-and-greets with artists and creative teams, an increasingly ambitious Curve Council and excellent staff discounts and ticket schemes mean that Curve staff are more involved than ever. There are increased opportunities for our staff to access a vast range of training and development courses with the introduction of our in-house training programme, as well as access to training through our partnership with De Montfort University and close links with Leicester College. This year we continued to offer apprenticeships to young people training in our technical and artistic departments and hope to expand our offer in future years. TRUSTEES Philip Tasker Chair David Hill Vice Chair Liz Blyth Gautam Bodiwala CBE (from Oct 2014) Anthony Clare Bobby Dhanjal Gary Dixon (from Oct 2014) Sam Javid Peter Lewis Azam Mamujee John Nicholls Vijay Sharma Piara Singh Clair Lesley Strachan (until Jun 2014) Alan Tuckett (until Oct 2014) Peter Wilson MBE
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SENIOR MANAGEMENT TEAM Chief Executive Fiona Allan Head of Human Resources Julia Bates (from Nov 2014) Commercial Director Alister de Ternant (from Apr 2014) Artistic Director Nikolai Foster (from Jan 2015) Head of Development Hannah Hallam Head of Finance Abi Jevons (from Oct 2014) Artistic Director Paul Kerryson (until Dec 2014) Technical Director Paul Moore Finance and Resource Director Chris Newell (until Oct 2014) Executive Producer Chris Stafford Head of Communications Claire Ward (from Nov 2014)
Winning Curve’s star performer award back in January was a huge honour and it felt fantastic. I am proud to be working at Curve as part of an amazing Hospitality and HR team and the organisation as a whole. To get star performer was a great feeling of being acknowledged for the hard work I do. Emma Bee HR Administrative Coordinator
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CURVE COUNCIL Christian Bawtree Emma Bee Alex Bliss Yasmin Canessa-Fenton Tom Davis Whitney Flint Sophie Hayward Lee Hunt Narendra Lad Elizabeth Malloy Thomas Preston Chetna Ratan Lee Samuels John Skellett Elizabeth Smith Sarah Spott STAR PERFORMERS Elizabeth Smith Ticket Office Ed Szwed Facilities Manager Tom Davis Technician Emma Bee HR Administrator Coordinator
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young people completed apprenticeships at Curve
44
people gave their time as Curve volunteers
18
The staff at Curve are just brilliant, from the ushers, bar and café staff, everyone is so happy and clearly enjoy working there.
work placements at Curve
Curve customer
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CURVE THEATRE 60 RUTLAND STREET LEICESTER LE1 1SB
WWW.CURVEONLINE.CO.UK Curve is run by Leicester Theatre Trust Limited, a registered charity (no. 230708). We gratefully acknowledge and welcome the continued support of and partnership with the organisations listed below.