all of this has been developed in just five years. It’s a great Scottish cultural story The Herald
ANNUAL REVIEW
• • • Introduction • • •
The city, its people, our artists and our staff can be justly proud of a year of celebration which has seen Horsecross Arts come of age as a mature and flourishing creative organisation for Scotland. Iain Halliday, MBE, Chairman, Horsecross Arts
2010/11 was a truly exceptional year for Horsecross Arts. We celebrated three anniversaries - the 5th anniversary of the launch of Perth Concert Hall, the 75th birthday of Perth Theatre Company and the 800th anniversary of the Royal Burgh of Perth. Throughout the year our Inspiring Communities projects put the people of Perthshire right at the heart of our celebrations and they responded in record numbers. The festive flavour continued as we played host to eight more festival events in the year: Southern Fried, Schubertiad, A National Treasure, Perth Festival of the Arts, Perth Film Society Festival, the Scottish Brass Band Festival, as well as being a new venue for both the Tay Jazz Festival and Perthshire Amber. In all, our activities attracted over 142,000 attendances to our cultural programmes, over 22,000 conference delegates and we achieved a staggering 35,300 community participations across all ages, throughout the region. In our five years so far, Horsecross Arts has sold over 650,000 tickets to our cultural programmes, over 65,000 people have participated in our creative learning activities and we’ve welcomed over 100,000 conference delegates to Perth Concert Hall. As we have prospered, we have changed the centre of gravity of the arts in Scotland; making an acclaimed contribution to the nation’s music, drama and visual arts, bringing a new verve to community education and outreach in the region and giving a huge boost to Perth’s tourist industry. Five years ago Perth invested in a new organisation and a new concert hall. That investment has yielded extraordinary returns for the arts, for communities and for local businesses. We look ahead to the next five years with confidence and believe that with the continued enthusiasm of our audiences and many supporters, the best is yet to come!
pic: carnival participant
Jane Spiers Chief Executive, Horsecross Arts
• • • Classical Music • • •
a fantastic line-up with phenomenal programmes Michael Tumelty, The Herald, Jan 2011
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This year’s classical concert programme placed Perth Concert Hall firmly in the first rank of Europe’s classical music venues. For the fifth year, the Scottish orchestras presented a specially selected programme of some of the world’s great musical masterpieces in the annual Perth Concert Series. We also welcomed the world class Hallé Orchestra with Sir Mark Elder, one of the great musical partnerships of the day, bringing our 2010/11 orchestral season to a stunning climax. Scotland’s foremost contemporary music group, the Hebrides Ensemble, gave us three breathtaking concerts which included Birtwistle’s contemporary masterpiece Pulse Shadows, Colin Currie and Michael Popper presenting Maxwell-Davies’ music-performance art piece, Vesalii Icones and Das Lied von der Erde arranged by Schoenberg. Other highlights included three significant investigations of major composers which drew large audiences and extraordinary critical acclaim. Llŷr Williams’ survey of the entire Beethoven piano sonata cycle in eight concerts started the flow of five star reviews from the nation’s critics: “near miraculous… a towering success” The Herald.
the real thing… magical… finesse of the highest order
Rising Scottish sensation Philip Higham - the first British cellist in generations to have won top prizes at three major international competitions came to Perth to perform all Bach’s Cello Suites over three lunchtime concerts. His interpretation was praised in The Herald as “Breathtakingly accomplished and moving.” This acclaim continued with five star reviews of performances from Paul Lewis for his series of Schubert’s mature piano music: “A spellbinding recital producing something brand new, completely revitalised and pulsating with energy” The Herald. Elsewhere in the programme, performances from Steven Osborne, Angela Hewitt and Alasdair Beatson received five star reviews in the Guardian, Scotsman, Herald and The Times. In January the world’s press and a large audience gathered in Perth to hear history in the making as the acclaimed La Serenissima gave the first performance in 300 years of a rediscovered Vivaldi flute concerto. This was not our only premiere of the year as Perth concert-goers were treated to a world premiere of a new commission from Iain Grandage, gifted along with a visit from the Australian String Quartet to perform it, from our sister concert hall in Perth, Australia. The Scottish Ensemble and Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama also premiered works by Aulis Sallinen and Joe Cutler.
The Herald on Paul Lewis’ Schubert cycle at Perth Concert Hall
pic: Paul Lewis
Classical figures 2010/11
70 30 14 10 4
classical concerts award winning soloists national five star reviews different Scottish youth orchestras and choirs world premieres
• • • Creative Learning
• • •
The inspiring programme reaches far and wide across the city, from schools and community groups to individuals, spreading both the joy and the benefits that arrive hand in hand with creative experiences. Andrew Dixon, Chief Executive, Creative Scotland
2010/11 was an outstanding year for creative learning. Horsecross Arts was one of a handful of Scottish arts organisations to secure significant support from Creative Scotland to bring inspiration to local communities. Under the banner of Home and Away we created three adventurous community festivals which saw the people of Perthshire share the stage with the cream of Scottish and international artists and performers. These three projects engaged every school in Perthshire and thousands more participants besides.
pic: pupils from Perth Schools at Perth Concert Hall for Home and Away
Samaagam, which in Sanskrit means “a flowing together”, brought master sarod player Amjad Ali Khan together with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Dance Ihayami to create drama and dance residencies with school and community partners. Carnival took over the streets of Perth with Afro-Brazilian flavours given a Scottish twist and was enjoyed by over 10,000 people both in the preparation and the traffic stopping, city-filling procession.
Lightnight in November was the conclusion of Home and Away. It was a spectacular celebration starting with the Battle of the Clans enacted by 1000 boys. It gave voice to Scottish, Gaelic and Mandarin culture with an all night concert of mixed professional and amateur voices under the giant, spectacular Artificial Moon from Chinese artist Wang YuYang. This big bang of activity created new forms of engagement and participation and new connections across the region. Our regular groups and participatory activities for drama and music, Perth Youth Theatre, Horsecross Voices and Horsecross Players, continued to flourish. We were also able to establish the new Horsecross Glee choir and a new Perthshire Celtic big band for young people, The Gordon Duncan Experience. We ran Mini Music Makers classes for babies and toddlers and started new woodwind workshops for adults rediscovering their instruments, Blow and Blast.
Creative Learning impacts 2010/11
5 300 3 11 402 354 151 114
total community participations under 18s participation over 40s participation artists engaged in projects different schools engaged
• • • Theatre
• • •
sheer controlled discipline… Perth Theatre’s back stage team did a brilliant job.
“undeniably compelling... the good people of Perth should turn out in force for this intelligent, sparky and at time surprising production” The Times on Death of a Salesman
CATS Award jury on Jane Eyre, July 2010
“This outstanding production brings Miller’s play back to life and is a stunning achievement from Perth Theatre” Press and Journal on Death of a Salesman
We were delighted to bring Perth audiences a truly theatrical year, bookended with award winning shows to mark the 75th anniversary of Perth Theatre Company. In July, Perth Theatre’s own production of Jane Eyre won a Critics Award for Theatre in Scotland for best technical production and we had another award winner, Communicado and the Tron Theatre’s production of The Government Inspector, to complete our 2010/11 season. In between there was plenty to please with theatre subscriptions increasing for the second year running. Our first show of the year was 2 Pianos 4 Hands, a co-production with the King’s Theatre, Edinburgh, designed to appeal to our drama and concert hall audiences. For the final Perth Theatre production of the season we produced Arthur Miller’s great American tragedy Death of a Salesman. Well received by critics and audiences in Perth, it subsequently toured to be enjoyed by large audiences at His Majesty’s Theatre in Aberdeen and Eden Court in Inverness.
pic: Ron Emslie as Willy Loman, Death of a Salesman
Our successful traditional family pantomime Aladdin saw audiences increase despite severe weather conditions over the Christmas period, with staff and cast going the extra mile to make sure we did not have to cancel a single performance.
Our burgeoning 156 strong Perth Youth Theatre welcomed audiences of 1600 to its six festival productions. Our youth theatre seniors went on to participate in the National Festival of Youth Theatre in Glenrothes in July performing alongside 16 other Scottish and international youth theatre companies. We also welcomed young people from Théâtre du Sycomore in France who paid a return visit to Perth to perform Shakespeare in the culmination of our Bard Without Boundaries project. In 2009 we set ourselves a huge challenge to raise £13m for a capital investment to ensure Perth Theatre remains at the heart of community and cultural life for generations to come. In 2010/11 we made fantastic headway: we raised £6.5m, we launched the public fundraising campaign with an open day in September, we set up a £1 ticket donation scheme, we built a Transform Perth Theatre website and in November we achieved another milestone when we were granted planning permission for the scheme. Members of Perth Youth Theatre also got behind the project raising nearly £1000 towards their new home.
Dramatic results 2010/11
45 000 167 164 75 20
attendances performances members of Perth Youth Theatre years of Perth Theatre company different productions on stage
• • • Music • • •
one of the best Biffy Clyro concerts I’ve ever been to and I’ve been to over 100. It was my first time at Perth Concert hall and I loved this place - I’d go as far as saying it is better than the Barrowlands and that’s saying something.
an impressive cultural oasis on a par with anything in Edinburgh and Glasgow and plays host to a star-filled roster of events and performers.
Audience member Biffy Clyro
Sunday Post on Perth Concert Hall
Our reputation as the nation’s premier traditional music venue remains unchallenged with a feast of Scotland’s most talented musicians on our stage. These included Capercaillie, Session A9, Lau, Dougie Maclean and Perthshire fiddler Patsy Reid’s Bridging the Gap which came with a hand-picked, dream team of Scottish musicians. We rounded off the year with Phil Cunningham’s Christmas Songbook, accompanied by two of Scotland’s finest singers Eddi Reader and Karen Matheson. We hosted the Scottish Traditional Music Awards in December and, despite the snow, Scotland’s music industry descended on Perth Concert Hall for an event so successful, that the organisers are bringing it back to Perth again in 2011. We presented another amazing line up for our third Southern Fried festival with over 50 artists including The Holmes Brothers, Carolina Chocolate Drops, Justin Currie, Craig Duncan and Elizabeth Cook creating a strong blues, country and bluegrass feel. Over the weekend we sold 4000 tickets, sales for our weekend festival pass were up by 20%, we added two new venues to the festival in the Twa Tams and the Salutation Hotel as well as new family events and master classes from visiting artists including Rachel Harrington and Tim Eriksen. Headliner Seasick Steve told us it was “all around one of the best gigs he’d ever done” and the festival felt like it had come of age bringing a real buzz to the city.
In 2010 A National Treasure reached its fourth anniversary becoming a truly international event of world class piping and Celtic music including master piper Willie McCallum and brilliant Galician gaita player Xose Manuel Budino. This year our very own Horsecross Celtic big band for young people, The Gordon Duncan Experience, took to the National Treasure stage for the first time to play newly commissioned pieces by Patsy Reid and Calum McCrimmon. On a completely different note, we were delighted to welcome Biffy Clyro to the Concert Hall in April. To have one of the world’s hottest rock bands in for a show when they are already headlining arenas of capital cities around the globe was a real coup. The big noise in music in Perthshire this year was undoubtedly made by the international artists who came to Perth from China, Brazil, India and Africa taking their music to schools, village halls and onto the streets of Perth to involve tens of thousands of residents in a year of extraordinary creativity. This intense participation ran year-round, from Samaagam to Lightnight, with the late summer highlight the unforgettable fusion of Brazilian and Gaelic beats that filled the streets of Perth for Carnival. Five years on we stay true to the Horsecross mission to “create a buzz.”
pic: Biffy Clyro at Perth Concert Hall
Music by numbers 2010/11
68 34 000 36% 100 6
concerts attendances ticket buyers from outwith Perthshire bands and artists Perth venues
• • • Visual Arts • • •
In a poetic way this work draws attention to the changing roles of technology and environment by highlighting the tension between the natural and the artificial. Transmediale award nomination of Artificial Moon for outstanding experimental artwork 2010. One of nine international artworks shortlisted from 1500 submissions.
During its fifth year of exclusive Horsecross Arts commissions, exhibitions and acquisitions, Threshold artspace continued to grow. We mounted ten new exhibitions and four brunch previews across artspace locations at Perth Theatre and Perth Concert Hall. In the spring we staged the culmination of a ten-month series of new commissions, acquisitions, exhibitions and events celebrating the vibrant Portuguese contemporary art culture. Curated by Iliyana Nedkova and Filipa Oliveira, Portuguese Waves featured works by Joana Bastos, Mauro Cerqueira and Susana Mendes Silva. This was accompanied by two guest-curated exhibitions celebrating Perth 800. The first, by Scottish artist Kyra Clegg, was an off-site show at Perth’s AK Bell Library; the second, entitled Perth and Kinross Today was a collaborative project by 33 members of the Perthshire Photographic Society.
pic: Artificial Moon from the exhibition Wormholes by Wang YuYang
In the summer we premiered two concurrent shows which ran from August until November: Thirst - the first solo show in the UK in ten years by the internationally acclaimed Colombian artist Fernando Arias - made a bold yet subtle
statement about the explosive nature of human relationships. Solo was the first solo exhibition in a UK public institution by emerging Perth-based artist Casey Campbell. In September we presented High Altitude - a group exhibition featuring international artists and scientists engaging with global climate change and the world’s mountains, the second in a series of collaborations with the Centre for Mountain Studies. In the winter we dared to dazzle and inspire our local communities and visitors from far and wide with Wormholes - the first solo exhibition in a UK public institution by emerging Beijing-based artist Wang YuYang. His signature artwork Artificial Moon arrived in Perth from Beijing, a gigantic bauble of lights suspended in midair which formed a brilliant centrepiece for both the exhibition and our Lightnight celebration and has now joined our collection. Finally this year, to mark our fifth birthday, we delved into the archives with the first of a series of Threshold artspace exhibitions drawn from the Horsecross collection.
Since Threshold opened in September 2005
10 2 1 18 84 115
Scottish artists have exhibited their work international artists have exhibited their work artists have been commissioned newly commissioned works have been added to our permanent public collection
• • • Creative Business • • •
The venue was spectacular and really inspired delegates for the duration of our conference... all the staff at the concert hall provided a first class service.
Ann Henderson, Assistant Secretary, Scottish Trades Union Congress, November 2010
Alongside ticket income, our conference business has also been growing for five years. We are proud to have weathered the downturn in the sector to deliver another increase in revenue this year. Exceptional rates of customer satisfaction underlie our continued impressive levels of business retention, with conference organisers and events returning to the hall for the facilities and the service they find here. As the recession bites and the market becomes increasingly competitive, our customers remain loyal and our reputation for first class service continues to bring in new business.
Conference, Scotland Food & Drink, Creative Ageing and Newbiz (Perth College Enterprise) to name but a few. Amongst our regular clients were the Royal British Legion Scotland, SNP, Liberal Democrats and NHS 24.
The Perth 800 celebration brought a number of special events to the conference team. Perthshire on a Plate, organised by the local Chamber of Commerce and officially opened by HRH Prince Edward, showcased the wide range of food and drink produced locally and created a huge buzz around the town. Perth & Kinross Heritage Trust organised a two day conference on the history of Perth which was attended by 450 delegates. The Global Change in Mountain Regions conference, hosted by Perth College, brought over 500 delegates from all over the world to Perth for the week.
With the commitment of staff we are working towards a Healthy Working Lives award and a Gold Award from the Green Tourism Business Scheme building on the successes of our 2008 Going Green drive. We have already reduced our electricity consumption by 15%, gas by 16%, water by 12% and landfill waste by 24%. Overall we have reduced our carbon footprint by 16% and increased our recycling by 14%. Staff also volunteered to participate in the Keep Scotland Tidy ‘Big Clean Up’ campaign.
pic: conference delegate at Perth Concert Hall
New clients included EventScotland, who brought their annual International Events
Horsecross is a creative business, always looking for opportunities to improve and develop and always ready for change. At the heart of our success is our exceptional staff team, so we were delighted to renew our Investors in People accreditation this year
Despite a trying economic climate, Horsecross Arts has delivered an ambitious, world beating, cultural and creative learning programme and a balanced budget for the fifth time in five years.
Counting on conferencing 2010/11
19 070 conference delegates 3 224 meeting delegates 54 conference days 56 countries sending delegates to Perth 97% clients grade facilities as good or extremely good.
thanks to our funders, sponsors and partners
The Horsecross Way Business culture + community + conferences Mission
to create a buzz – in our venues, in Perthshire, in Scotland and internationally
Vision
to keep raising the bar to inspire entertain and delight to help Perth prosper
audiences
east scotland