2020 Review of Ipswich's Cultural Manifesto

2020 REVIEW OF IPSWICH’S CULTURAL MANIFESTO

Delivering cultural, social and economic growth in Ipswich

In November 2017, We Are Ipswich (the collective of theatres and arts organisations in Ipswich), released their cultural manifesto for the town; setting out their mission to make Ipswich a great place to live, work, visit and invest.

Here we report on how we are delivering on our promises We Are Ipswich is: • DanceEast • Eastern Angles • Gecko • New Wolsey Theatre • Pacitti Company (including SPILL Festival) • Red Rose Chain • Ipswich Borough Council Theatres (Ipswich Regent Theatre and Corn Exchange, and Ipswich Entertains) Over the last two years the group has expanded to embrace Suffolk Libraries, and Colchester and Ipswich Museums Service (Ipswich Museum, Ipswich Art Gallery and Christchurch Mansion).

WORKING TOGETHER

Culture is working in Ipswich

A priority place for the New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership, Ipswich is home to passionate arts makers, participants and audiences. It has more nationally funded cultural organisations than any town or city in the East of England and their impact is felt.

We Are Ipswich … is passionate about making Ipswich a great place to live, work, visit and invest. … works with and alongside festivals such as PhotoEast, outdoors celebrations, commercial and independent cinemas, numerous local choirs and orchestras and other arts, crafts, drama and photographic societies. … collaborates with civic, creative, educational and business partners to promote inward investment, economic growth, regeneration, tourism, well-being and community connections.

BETWEEN 2017-19 WE ARE IPSWICH DELIVERED: • Over 5,000 performances and exhibitions – the equivalent of over 7 cultural opportunities every day.

• Over 1 million attendances – the equivalent of every person in Ipswich attending 4 times a year.

• 128 commissions of new work and 50 premieres in Ipswich.

• Over 18,000 active sessions for almost a quarter of a million children and young people and 10,000 active sessions for over 230,000 adults.

• 50,000 hours of volunteering by over 1,800 volunteers.

• Over 250 jobs and income of over £25million.

CREATING

great art

NEW CREATIONS • Gecko’s The Wedding.

• New Wolsey Theatre’s production of Once undertaking an extensive UK National tour during 2020.

• Eastern Angles’ new play Polstead, touring nationally in 2020 as The Ballad of Maria Marten.

• Red Rose Chain presented 20 premieres including their annual Theatre in the Forest production • DanceEast presented new works Ballo Arthur Pita’s Ten Sorry Tales and Luca Silvestrini’s Protein, The Little Prince. “ Faultless all round and just goes to show that regional theatre is an important part of local culture. Such a welcoming, friendly venue with staff who completed the whole experience. ” AUDIENCE FACEBOOK REVIEW OF ONCE AT NEW WOLSEY THEATRE

LOCALLY INSPIRED WORK • New Wolsey Theatre’s premier production of Our Blue Heaven, celebrating the 40th anniversary of Ipswich Town’s FA cup win.

• Eastern Angles’ Everything Must Go was based on memories of shops and shopping and performed in care homes, dementia cafés and schools across East Anglia. The company developed a new script by local writer Shamser Sinha based on interviews with British Asian taxi drivers from Ipswich.

• Red Rose Chain produced a new play by Joanna Carrick about Suffolk martyr Alice Driver, and a 1940’s adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing for the Theatre in the Forest. “ The most thought-provoking and hard-hitting piece of drama I’ve ever seen. It was so beautifully crafted, I’m speechless! “ AUDIENCE COMMENT ON EASTERN ANGLES’ POLSTEAD

PIONEERING DIGITAL EXPERIENCES • SPILL TV achieves over 50,000 plays of its archive of 300 performances from past SPILL festivals.

• New Wolsey Theatre live-streamed productions into care homes and hospices.

• DanceEast pioneered live streaming classes, Q&As, and performances from the National Youth Dance Festival, U.Dance 2018 and used digital technology to enable audiences to interact with Tim Casson’s show Choreocracy.

THE NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL STAGE •

In 2018 Ipswich Museums attracted over 56,000 visitors to a portrait by Gainsborough loaned from Princeton Art Gallery, USA.

• Gecko’s The Wedding was performed across the UK including a sell-out season at the Barbican and Missing re-opened London’s Battersea Arts Centre in 2018 after a major fire halted its run there in 2015.

•

Christchurch Mansion’s Kiss and Tell centred on The Kiss by Auguste Rodin and attracted over 33,000 visitors. Made in Suffolk, coincides with Ed Sheeran’s “coming home” concerts in the town and features his portrait by Colin Davidson, images by photographer Mark Surridge and original artwork for the Divide album, created by Ed Sheeran in Damien Hirst’s studio. “ Amazing collection in a fascinating building. “

VISITOR COMMENT, CHRISTCHURCH MANSION

VIBRANT FESTIVALS • SPILL 2018 featured 120 events over 11 days, including Clarion Call, the international co-commission with 14-18NOW commemorating 100 years since the end of WW1, with daily performances relayed by 488 speakers situated across Ipswich Waterfront.

• New Wolsey Theatre’s Pulse Festival celebrated its 20th year • Ipswich Music Day features a diverse range of local and visiting musicians, attracting some 30,000 people each year.

CONNECTING

and empowering diverse communities Culture makes diverse communities visible and connected.

• New Wolsey leads a consortium of producing theatres, Ramps on the Moon, that was awarded two grants from Arts Council England of over £2m each, to create sustainable change to normalise the inclusion and contribution of disabled people in the mainstream theatre ecosystem. New Wolsey’s production of Pete Townshend’s Tommy gave 78 performances nationally reaching almost 28,500 people, 11% of whom selfidentified as D/deaf or disabled and 61% reported having their perceptions of disability challenged by the production.

• Pacitti Company’s Imagined Touch created by deaf blind artists in Australia had its UK premiere at DanceEast before selling out at the Barbican in London.

• Gecko is working with the leading learning disability company, Mind the Gap, on a new production and taking part in residencies in care homes across Essex with Magic Me. • Red Rose Chain’s community companies presented Just a Girl and Dread Zeppelin, new work based on local heritage. Red Rose Chain’s community programme provides disabled and disadvantaged young people and adults with volunteering opportunities and a creative platform that challenges the negative ways in which they are viewed by society.

“ When I heard the there was a new planned production of Tommy, I was pleased of course.

But when I heard they planned to do a production featuring actors with disabilities of various kinds, that will actually throw new light on the original story, I became very excited. “

PETE TOWNSHEND

Communities connect through a wide-ranging cultural offer.

• St Helen’s Primary School led Vocile Noastre, a celebration of and for our Roma children. This cocollaboration involved 5 schools and arts organisations including: Eastern Angles, Gecko, DanceEast and New Wolsey Theatre; it was supported by BBC Radio Suffolk.

• Ipswich Corn Exchange hosted Ipswich Remembers led by Ipswich Choral Society with project funding from Arts Council England and involving DanceEast community performance companies, East Suffolk Morris Men, Suffolk Poetry Society, professional singers and musicians in a cast of some 160.

• Annual festivals in Christchurch Park celebrate Diwali and the Indian Summer Mela.

• DanceEast hosted a Diwali children’s disco and enabled Companies for adults with additional needs, Spin Off and Stopgap Dance Company to collaborate on creating a dance film. “ Great to see all types of people performing, having the opportunity to express themselves through dance. You are a great organisation and I am pleased my son is part of DanceEast.

Keep up the good work. “ AUDIENCE MEMBER, SUMMER CELEBRATION 2018

Culture engages people with each other and with wider issues. It prompts debate and sparks ideas through, for example, question and answer sessions with artists, Pacitti Company’s Think Tank talks and practical workshops in association with exhibitions and performances.

RAISING

educational aspiration and achievement We Are Ipswich organisations all engage children and young people in their programmes.

• Pacitti Company worked with play specialists to create Block Magic to enable young people to create their own landscapes digitally, which were then created physically.

• New Wolsey Theatre’s school’s touring production of Who to Follow reached some 8,000 students across Suffolk.

• Suffolk Libraries place the voice of young people at the heart of its creative direction through its Youth Council. IP365 focused on the identity of Ipswich and involved free in-school workshops across 9 schools engaging over 500 young people.

• Red Rose Chain was commissioned by Suffolk County Council to produce Some Place Better, working with a young care leaver to adapt her diary into a new play that went on to be performed in London.

• Eastern Angles worked with primary schools to deliver Kindertransport, a series of performances on station platforms from Ipswich to London Liverpool Street marking the 80th anniversary of the arrival of the first Kindertransport.

• Ipswich Art Gallery’s Women 100 marked the 100th anniversary of the Representation of the People Act that first gave some women the vote and was funded by the Government Equalities Office Women’s Vote Centenary Grant Scheme. It was seen by 3,000 visitors, and included a series of artist-led workshops, and a play entitled A Sort of Revolution. “ Seeing and being allowed to touch real artefacts was a source of fascination which brought all their learning to life. “ SCHOOL VISIT COMMENT, CHRISTCHURCH MANSION

Young people deserve opportunities to progress and pursue their talent.

• In partnership with the Department for Education, DanceEast manages the largest Centre for Advanced training for young people with exceptional potential in dance. Young people have the opportunity to take part in local dance performance companies. In some instances young people have gone on to join the National Youth Dance Company that presented its last premiere outside London for the first time at the Jerwood DanceHouse. Some of the young dancers progress to professional training or the pioneering 2-year BA (Hons) dance course provided by the University of Suffolk in partnership with DanceEast. “ As ever, our time at Dance East was a wonderful joy … DanceEast was a wonderfully creative space to call our home for 10 days. “ NATIONAL YOUTH DANCE COMPANY, FEEDBACK ON THEIR CREATION RESIDENCY

PROMOTING

health and wellbeing All We Are Ipswich organisations engage in initiatives to promote health and wellbeing.

• Gecko works in partnership with Suffolk Mind • DanceEast provides its Dance for Parkinson’s programme in partnership with English National Ballet and provides Hospice Dance Days to provide positive and happy memories for young hospice users, their siblings and families. Their range of initiatives that address social isolation have engaged over 1,800 people in over 50,000 volunteering hours across 2017-19.

• At the other end of the age spectrum, DanceEast in partnership with its over 55’s performance group EncoreEast, welcomed over 200 dancers and practitioners from across the country to Host, to celebrate and champion the voice of older community dancers through talks, workshops and performances in 2019.

• Eastern Angles carried out reminiscence workshops in care homes and dementia cafés. The stories recorded formed the basis of Everything Must Go (2017, 2018) which toured into care homes and schools. “ We … found it very enjoyable and stimulating. It helped open a different world for Dementia sufferers and the whole team understood the condition. Their attitude and ways of treating those with Dementia is very comforting, even for the people who care for them. “ CARER PARTICIPANT IN DANCEEAST’S DANCE FOR DEMENTIA

• Christchurch Mansion held a Baby Takeover in 2019, a day of free activities for 0-2 year olds and their grownups. They were welcomed by local Early Years practitioners, including Wellington Children’s Centre, Ipswich Baby Sensory and the New Wolsey Theatre hosting sensory spaces, interactive storytelling and baby salsa taster sessions.

• SPILL 2018 engaged two artists to act as wellbeing liaison officers for artists appearing in the festival • Suffolk Libraries launched its Culture Lab in 2018, inviting ten local artists to take over Ipswich County Library for a week. “ We wanted our first artist residency to explore the role of arts in the community and how being creative can be used as a catalyst for bringing communities together and to support wellbeing. “ MELISSA MATTHEWS, CREATIVE PROGRAMMES MANAGER SUFFOLK LIBRARIES

DRIVING

regeneration We Are Ipswich addresses key issues facing the town, driving regeneration through providing new purposes for empty buildings and creating new, purpose designed ones.

• Pacitti Company inhabits part of the old Ipswich School of Art and took over a disused shop, The Wharf, during SPILL 2018.

• Gecko is working with Ipswich Borough Council on developing a new Creation Space in an abandoned industrial building on the Waterfront adjacent to DanceEast’s home the Jerwood DanceHouse – an iconic building which celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2019.

• New Wolsey Theatre is involved in the refurbishment of the Western gateway to the town and the building of a new community facility.

• Suffolk Libraries are working with Metal to develop its network of 44 libraries into creative hubs.

• Ipswich Museum is refurbishing and redeveloping its 1881 Victorian building • Ipswich Borough Council’s work on the Cornhill has provided a flexible space for a range of cultural events.

• In 2020, Eastern Angles will take over the former Suffolk Record Office to create The Gatacre Centre combining arts, heritage, community, business and education projects.

Ipswich can be proud that the success of its cultural organisations enhances the town’s profile.

• SPILL Festival won Best Marketing Award and New Wolsey Theatre won Customers at the Centre of Everything Award at the 2018 Norfolk and Suffolk Tourism Awards. The same year, Russell Maliphant received the Southbank / Sky Arts Award and relocated to become DanceEast’s Company in Residence.

• Ipswich Museum has developed a strong partnership with Ipswich Job Centre to support people back into work. Colchester & Ipswich Museums Service is leading the Skills for the Future Trainee development scheme with £570,000 investment from the National Lottery Heritage Fund to diversify the regional arts and heritage workforce.

CONTRIBUTING

to economic buoyancy

With over 250 full time jobs and a combined total income of over £25 million, We Are Ipswich is a significant force in the local economy.

The quality and innovation of Ipswich’s cultural organisation is forging partnerships with the wider creative industries well beyond the town, attracting funding to the area, and attracting visitors.

• Arts Council England invests over £3 million each year in Ipswich’s cultural organisations.

• Gecko provided movement direction for the visuals for Chemical Brothers’ world tour and Eve of Destruction video and for the BBC documentary Egon Schiele Dangerous Desires, that explores the life of the controversial artist.

• In addition, Arts Council England provided funding for Red Rose Chain projects. Ipswich Museums was offered a development grant of over £460k from the Heritage Lottery Fund and Pacitti Company secured new inward investment for SPILL 2018’s Clarion Call from 14-18 NOW and Arts Council England’s Ambition for Excellence fund.

• Festivals and major exhibitions such as Kiss and Tell provide a reason for people to come to the town, to spend in local shops and cafés and create a buzz of excitement. Specialist events also attract key influencers and policy makers.

We Are Ipswich intends to build further on these achievements in the coming years

For further information visit

www.we-are-ipswich.co.uk

Photo credits: Mike Kwasniak Tom Woollard Bill Jackson Lucy Taylor Phil Conrad Rachel Cherry Jane Hobson Guido Mencari EDRM Architects/Daniel Fisher Architectural Visualisation