ANNUAL REVIEW 2018/19
01202 280000 www.lighthousepoole.co.uk
THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG
‘A great looking, brilliantly performed piece.’ SUNDAY TELEGRAPH
‘Exquisitely choreographed mayhem.’ THE INDEPENDENT
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CONTENTS Introductions 4 A Home for the Arts and Artists to Flourish 6 The Year in Numbers 7 Supporting the Future 8 Cultural Leadership 10 Creative Engagement 11 Broadening our Audience 12 A World-Class Experience
14
Financial Summary: Key Facts 15 Thanks to Supporters and Partners 16 Our Plans for 2019/20 18 We need your support 19
‘Lighthouse has been central to the development and evolution of 15 Days In Clay. Giving us the opportunity to showcase our work at such a respected and highly acclaimed venue, has enabled us to be seen in a much more professional light and catapulted us to a wider audience. There was only ever one venue in Dorset that we felt could platform our work in such a professional way and that would be able to show the talents of the artists. That venue was always Lighthouse.’ JANNA EDWARDS, ARTIST
FRONT COVER: Circa Tsuica, Hamworthy Park BACK COVER: BalletBoyz
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INTRODUCTIONS FROM THE CHAIR
This has been a busy and productive year for the organisation, and I am grateful to the staff and trustees who have delivered a vibrant and diverse programme throughout a year that has seen audiences increase. The LH40 year has seen significant political changes that have given our audiences and artists an unknown and somewhat unsettling landscape. Locally, the Borough of Poole has been merged with those of Bournemouth and Christchurch to make a new large authority, BCP. Changes to officers and councillors have been significant and we look forward to developing new relationships and partnerships. In readiness for this change, leaders from the local authorities, higher education, the arts and Arts Council England have commissioned a new Cultural Enquiry for the newly united region. We anticipate that this will ensure culture develops further within this new authority. Nationally, we sense that the public as well as arts organisations and artists have been holding their breath while the government plans for delivering Brexit. The uncertainty about what will happen to the country, to funding, to border crossings, to employment of EU nationals, work permits and international travel for artists and audiences has been a real challenge. However, at home, our earned income continues to increase as public funding remains at a standstill and inflation continues to rise.
TRUSTEES Mike Jeffries, Chair Sally Crawford, Deputy Chair Spencer Clarke (appointed October 2018) Rowena Gaston
I am extremely grateful to my fellow trustees who give their time and expertise to Lighthouse within not only the main board, but the individual committees that they all take a role in.
Richard Hendry (appointed October 2018)
I am particularly grateful for the contributions of Professor Bob Reeve, Amir Sadeh and Ian Metcalfe who have each retired from the board during the year after many years of valued service. We welcome several new trustees this year and it is a pleasure to be able to introduce them to the exciting work undertaken by Poole Arts Trust.
Nicky Oliver
Ian Metcalfe (retired July 2018) Prof. Donald Nordberg (appointed October 2018) Mark Powell Prof. Bob Reeve (retired March 2019) Amir Sadeh (retired May 2019) Amanda Stainer Jane Webster (appointed March 2019)
Mike Jeffries, Chairman
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FROM THE CEO
As a cultural and architectural landmark in Poole, Lighthouse has enjoyed an exciting and positive year in which we celebrated 40 years of delivering a wide programme of arts and community engagement. We are proud to play a hugely important role in providing cultural opportunities for our local community and supporting the social health and wellbeing strategy for the region. April saw the start of a new four-year funding cycle for Lighthouse as one of 800 National Portfolio organisations funded by Arts Council England. This provides the bedrock on which we make our plans and acts as a stamp of quality. The public funding provided by our local authority BCP and Arts Council England is essential to delivering our work and we are grateful to them for their support, confidence and financial investment. We strive to balance the commercial activity to support an extensive arts programme, education and outreach projects as well as ensuring that use of the venue by local community groups for presenting their performance is financially accessible. We have earned and raised 84% of our total income and we remain entrepreneurial working collegiately with partners to deliver our programme. Our LH40 fundraising challenge achieved its target of £40k. Our Chairman Mike Jeffries took on an exemplary role, painting 90 watercolours that were sold to support Lighthouse and his chosen charity Diverse Abilities. Ex-Chair David Pratley performed a piano recital with all proceeds donated to the appeal and former Chair Lyn Glass provided significant match funding for our Christmas Appeal. Governance at its best. We have however had unexpected challenges. A flood in the theatre caused extensive damage to our stage and production equipment and meant the closure of the auditorium for 10 weeks. Amazingly we only cancelled 1 performance as we were able to relocate the other events. We are grateful to those companies affected who were so supportive during such a difficult time, and to our insurers
who were also amazingly helpful. I am utterly proud of my team who managed this challenging situation brilliantly and in particular the Senior Management team - Sara St George, Martyn Balson and Pete Wilson and Technical Manager Jake Sutton. Despite the huge improvement in fundraising initiatives, the year’s deficit position is disappointing although partially due to investment activity to help build resilience in future years. It is also the effect of the additional cost of bringing the Beacon café back in house as well as the impact of some show cancellations beyond our control. The current year has begun well and gives us confidence that we shall improve our position by the end of the year. We are indebted to staff, volunteers and trustees, as well as the support of our audiences and building users and the amazing talent of our artists that enables us to flourish. Everyone who works at Lighthouse, whether as a member of staff or a volunteer plays a vital part and we are hugely grateful to them all for their expertise and hard work, their commitment and their support which has contributed enormously to our continued success.
Elspeth McBain, CEO
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A HOME FOR THE ARTS AND ARTISTS TO FLOURISH Providing our home community with a broad range of artists and artistic experiences is at the core of what we do, and our Lighthouse40 campaign celebrating our 40th birthday did much as it gave us a platform to re-connect with audiences and remind them why Lighthouse is special to them. We presented a full programme of exciting and diverse performances, exhibitions and film screenings, increasing the number of performances from the previous year and capitalising on building improvements to develop more work, utilising our new rehearsal room. We invested in 6 new works co-commissioned from nationally acclaimed companies including Dante or Die with ‘Take on Me’ and ‘Hannah and Hanna in Dreamland’, co-commissioned with Arts International. We extended beyond our building more than ever before and partnered with some amazing companies to bring new cultural experiences to the town: ✚ T he Roundabout Project with Paines Plough included
as part of the Bournemouth Arts by the Sea Festival ✚ F rench circus company Circa Tsuica played
to sold out audiences in their touring tent in Hamworthy Park ✚ C irque Rouages on Poole Quay were a highlight of
the bi-annual Inside Out Festival ✚ ‘ Light up Poole’ once again drew huge crowds to
Poole Town Centre
‘I still get tingly every time I come here. There’s a magic to the place and I love it.’ CHERRY HAYNES
AFRO CELT SOUNDSYSTEM
‘An evening of joyous uplifting tunes, fusing African rhythms with sounds from across many continents, along with plenty of drum and bass.’ BOURNEMOUTH ECHO
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We are committed to ensuring diversity in our programme with visits from Yellow Earth, Tara Arts, Fuel, Avant Garde Dance and Phoenix Dance as well as a world music and international jazz series including Camilla George Quartet, Jean Toussaint Quintet and Natacha Atlas, Joan Armatrading and Afro Celt Soundsystem. Gandini Juggling returned with SIGMA, a unique blend of juggling and Kathak Dance. We partnered with Camden People’s Theatre to present ‘Come As You Are’ – our first LGBTQ festival. As the key cultural hub in the region, Lighthouse plays a prominent role in leading wide scale regional projects. This included ‘Processions’ led by Artichoke as part of 14-18 NOW commemorating the centenary of women gaining the right to vote. Over a series of workshops, local women created a bespoke banner and the project culminated in a march in London, where our participants joined thousands of other women from around the country. New to our programme this year are Live and Unheard, a new series for local bands; the Big Names in Small Spaces pilot series including James Taylor Quartet and LEAP, a talent development programme with Serious. Our partnership with resident orchestra the BSO continues to develop and this year saw 4 new joint concert initiatives, including a concert to commemorate the end of the First World War and the role played by the people of Poole and Dorset. Lighthouse continues to support the BSO rehearsal programme and several community events as well as the delivery of a significant Orchestral season. Once again we produced our own traditional family pantomime, Dick Whittington, with partners Duncan Reeves Productions and were delighted that, as well as being nominated and commended in a number of categories, our lead actor, Chris Jarvis of Cbeebies fame, won ‘best principal boy’ at the National Pantomime Awards.
THE YEAR IN NUMBERS
200,339
21,422 new bookers
tickets sold
676
film screenings
4%
increase in audiences
22,225 Children and young people attended productions
4043
281
productions
subsidised school tickets
33
live screenings
1552
education sessions
390
performances
increase in e-list sign up
16
post show talks from 60 artists
39%
62,046
subsidised tickets
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SUPPORTING THE FUTURE Change is a constant factor in the arts, but this year has been particularly challenging with uncertainty for all of our suppliers, audiences and indeed funders due to unprecedented changes in government, both local and national that impact the investment received to support the work we present. Whilst sales account for the greatest single source of income at Lighthouse, only 10 to 20 per cent of that income is retained. We earned 84% of our income which is a great achievement, but to continue to develop our arts programme, develop audiences and support artists, fundraising is increasingly vital. With the appointment of a new fundraising manager we have exceeded our fundraising target with a significant increase in gifts and donations from the previous year and an ambitious target for the coming year. As part of a year-long celebration of our fortieth anniversary, the Lighthouse40 campaign received hundreds of donations from individuals, community groups, arts organisations and corporate bodies. We continued to build on the generosity of our audiences and supporters with our Big Christmas Appeal which will enable more children and families to experience live theatre at Lighthouse this year.
‘Being able to offer free tickets to our students is fabulous. We are passionate about the arts and about confronting and overcoming the barriers that our young children and their families face, be it financial, social or challenging the idea that young people with special needs are not interested in theatre. Opportunities like this ignite the spark and light up the imagination – thank you Lighthouse!’ NATASHA SKINNER, ART SPECIALIST AT WINCHELSEA COMMUNITY SPECIAL SCHOOL
Lighthouse aims to generate further financial support through the philanthropic giving of trusts, foundations, individuals and corporations for the long-term resilience of the venue and for specific learning, participation and development projects.
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2,860
£21k
£40k
£7.49
people donated to support Lighthouse
Lighthouse40 Appeal raised £40,000
Over £21,000 raised for the Christmas Appeal
Average donation amount
EXTRAORDINARY BODIES YOUNG ARTISTS
Performers from Extraordinary Bodies Young Artists, the performance training company based at Lighthouse, welcome improved access at Lighthouse. The new doors were installed thanks to a grant of £4,000 from the Theatres Trust.
CULTURAL LEADERSHIP Lighthouse is more than a place of entertainment, it is a beacon for those who want to make and do and get involved in new things, as well as those who want to see and hear what others are doing The cultural strategy for the region continues to evolve with the merger of local authorities that now combine to make up BCP Council. Lighthouse has joined with the local authority, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra; Bournemouth University and Arts University; the Dorset Local Enterprise Partnership and Arts Council England South West to undertake a Cultural Enquiry and ensure that culture is at the heart of BCP as a major economic and social benefit for the region.
OTHELLO
An English Touring Theatre, Oxford Playhouse and Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory Production HHHH ‘An astute and powerful production’ THE TIMES
HHHH ‘One of the best I have seen’ THE OBSERVER
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‘Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole councils have an exceptional track record of investing in art and culture, which can be seen through the superb range of creative work produced in the region. The forthcoming local government reorganisation presents a unique chance for culture to be put at the heart of this coastal region’s strategy and further develop its sense of place. We’re proud to be supporting this long-term vision for the new unitary authority and we look forward to seeing the recommendations made for the future prosperity of BCP.’ DARREN HENLEY, CHIEF EXECUTIVE, ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND
CREATIVE ENGAGEMENT Supporting the artists of the future is a big part of who we are. We presented over 7,000 artists and worked closely with many partners to enable new work to be made as part of our artists development programme. This year we redefined our learning programme and developed a new Creative Engagement strategy. BRIGHT SPARKS
NEW VOICES Support for new artists and new work is a developing area and this year. Commissioning support was given to enable Cirque Rouages and the Inside Out Festival, ‘Take on Me’ by Dante or Die and Hannah and Hanna in Dreamland which was co-commissioned with Arts International. We also provided our venues for several of our Working Lights Artists to develop their work.
We launched our new programme for supporting young people to develop their talent. The Bright Sparks programme has focused this year on Young Writers which 25 young people attend weekly. The first poetry slam took place in June 2019. The Extraordinary Bodies Young Company continue to be resident at Lighthouse, and we supported their production, ‘What am I Worth?’ which was created here and toured nationally including the Southbank Centre. ‘Training Tuesday’ focuses on the development of young performers as well as older visual artists and singers with six independent groups running workshops. We have continued to develop our Creative Engagement programme, building our relationship with schools and stakeholders with our ‘Partner Schools’ programme, bringing participation and education opportunities to local youngsters, inspiring students and connecting them with the extraordinary work Lighthouse has to offer. We increased the number of participating schools from 7 to 10. Lighthouse inspired an exciting project to capture key moments in our history. Fifteen works were created by Year 7 and 8 students as part of Ferndown Middle School’s ongoing partnership with Lighthouse with the help of final year illustration undergraduates at Arts University Bournemouth and Martin Brown, the Dorset-based illustrator best known for his work on the Horrible Histories books.
FERNDOWN MIDDLE SCHOOL PROJECT
‘The most positive outcome from this project was the fantastic collaboration between AUB, Lighthouse and Ferndown Middle School. It was a real team effort bonded by the skills and expertise of Martin Brown. All involved gained so much from this collaboration.’ JERRY WHITTON, FERNDOWN MIDDLE’S HEAD OF DESIGN TECHNOLOGY
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BROADENING OUR AUDIENCE Knowing your audience has become something of a holy grail for venues. The fact remains that if we engage with people and they want to see or take part in what Lighthouse is doing they will come here. This year we saw an increase in audience numbers of 4% with 200,339 tickets sold. Approximately 60% of our visitors are based in Dorset with the remaining 40% largely travelling from across the UK and over 21,000 new bookers in the year. We have a strong programme of family friendly work with 22,225 tickets sold for this group. More people than ever are engaging with us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. A key investment this year was the appointment of Baker Richards, a leading international consultancy for arts organisations who completed a thorough review of Lighthouse exploring ways in which we can grow the business by generating additional income and at the same time improving access and how we engage with our community. Lighthouse excels in producing work that involves our community. The Big Sing is now in its tenth year with approximately 600 participants taking part and, in partnership with Audacious, over 40,000 people attended the Light Up Poole digital art festival. We celebrated turning forty with a programme that included several special events that targeted areas of audience engagement. The performances of ‘Now or Never’ by Circa Tsuica in Hamworthy Park were a highlight with young musicians form Queen Elizabeth school taking part in the performance.
GROWING DIGITAL AUDIENCE
17%
12.27%
4%
27%
Facebook followers 17% increase
Twitter followers 4% increase
visits to our website 12.27% increase
e-list subscribers 27% increase
88%
Instagram followers 88% increase
‘It is so important to keep this beacon of arts, education and entertainment available for the use of everyone in the area, especially for the young who are the performers and audience of the future...’ DAME HARRIET WALTER
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TAKE ON ME BY DANTE OR DIE, PART OF LH40
‘...a moving, funny and ultimately joyful show about life at the deep end.’ THE GUARDIAN
A WORLD-CLASS EXPERIENCE
From the moment anyone enters the building, our focus is on creating a welcoming, safe and memorable visit. Be it through a world-class performance, innovative education event, or community participation activity we take pride in offering a world-class visitor experience. As a result of the capital improvements to the building made in 2016/17 we are delighted to have been awarded winner of the South West Community Building Category at the 2018 Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) awards, recognising excellent achievement in providing a venue which directly benefits the community. We were also highly commended in the community category of the Spaces Awards 2018.
PEOPLE Our people are at the heart of everything we do. Their expertise, knowledge and professionalism provide so much of the inspiration, creativity and motivation that makes Lighthouse the remarkable place that it is. We are very pleased to have retained Investors in People accreditation. Our professional development programme continues to grow through staff training and mentoring, with a variety of specific programmes in place so the team always have the tools to ensure that the customer experience at Lighthouse is second-to-none. We have continued to support internships in the Marketing team. We also hosted 19 work experience students.
ENVIRONMENT Lighthouse is a large building and we have committed to reducing our energy and carbon outputs where possible. We have made further improvements in reducing our carbon footprint and our building surpasses bench-mark expectations for our industry sector in terms of its energy efficiency. During the year we have further phased out single-use plastics in our retail areas, replacing them with wooden or paper alternatives and increasing our use of polycarbonate, multi-use plastics.
‘This extensive project to refurbish an existing 1970’s arts centre was driven by a desire to make Lighthouse more open to the local community whilst at the same time significantly enhancing the facilities for the performing artists. The wide range of educational projects and community activities undertaken following the completion of the project is testament to its huge success. The refurbishment has ensured that Lighthouse will enjoy a bright future at the heart of the local community.’ ROYAL INSTITUTE OF CHARTERED SURVEYORS
2018 AWARDS Community Category Highly Commended
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FINANCIAL SUMMARY KEY FACTS TICKET SALES
£2,287,344
Representing 55% of our total income – each year we earn or raise the rest to be able to cover the costs of doing what we need to do.
GRANTS
£774,213
One fifth of our regular income is provided through public funding from the local authority and the Arts Council England
FUNDRAISING
£55,993
Whilst still early days, fundraising income is increasing achieving 1.4% of total income. As a percentage of turnover this is up 55% this year. Our aim is to get this to 5%.
OTHER EARNED INCOME
£1,029,075
We have built this by just under 6% this year - almost double normal inflation. However with rising costs, figures remain static.
COSTS
£4,249,670
It cost over £254,200 more to achieve all this than last year; about 6% more. We have invested heavily this year to make sure we keep pace with ever-growing costs, lack of growth in grant income and the need to build reserves.
INSURANCE CLAIM
£300,000
The flood was one of the big stories this year. The money was received to repair and replace the vital equipment needed to keep Lighthouse going.
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THANK YOU TO ALL OUR SUPPORTERS AND PARTNERS NETWORKS We work with many partners and are grateful to them for ensuring that we deliver a strong arts and culture in our region. Arts Development Company Arts Marketing Association Black Theatre Live British Association of Concert Halls Circus Evolution Dance Along the South Coast Dance Touring Partnership Dorset Theatre Promoters Consortium
PARTNERSHIPS Activate
Albion Language tours
Arts Fundraising and Philanthropy
Arts Development Company
Arts University Bournemouth
BH Star Awards
Angel Exit
Care Choices Conference
Arts Council England
Condor Ferries
Arts Development Company
Diverse Abilities Gala Ball
Arts by the Sea Festival
Dorset CCG
Bournemouth and Poole College
Dorset Tourism Awards
Bournemouth Tourism
The Open University (Graduations)
Bournemouth Symphony Chorus
PFK Francis Clark
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
Sunseeker
Bournemouth University
Music beyond Mainstream
Crying Out Loud
Regional Touring Network
Dorset School of Acting Dante Or Die
SUPPORTERS We would like to thank all of the trusts, foundations, companies and individuals who have supported Lighthouse with donation and gifts. The Aurelius Trust Archives Revealed The Theatres Trust Arts Fundraising and Philanthropy Trethowans Solicitors Nuffield Health Lyn Glass Mike and Pam Jeffries Anonymous donors
CORPORATE CLIENTS
Diverse City Doppelganger Duncan Reeves Productions Extraordinary Bodies Young Company Inside Out Festival Local Enterprise Partnership The Mayflower Theatre Paines Plough Pavilion Dance South West The Point, Eastleigh Paines Plough Poole Tourism Serious Soundstorm Stagewise Wave …and a HUGE thank you to all the staff, trustees, and volunteers at Lighthouse.
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‘Investment in arts and culture has been shown to generate economic growth, benefit health and well-being, boost educational attainment and develop community cohesion. We can only do that by working collectively’ ELSPETH MCBAIN CEO, LIGHTHOUSE
BARELY METHODICAL GROUP WITH ‘SHIFT’
‘These gifted, circus-based performers scale, throw and cantilever off each other’s bodies, generating a relaxed but focused energy that draws us into their orbit.’ THE TIMES
OUR PLANS FOR 2019-20 Standing still is not an option for an organisation that plays a leadership role in the community. To this end we have spent time and energy developing our future strategy for the organisation. As we look ahead, we plan to maximise the investment made in this financial year to grow the business. : D eveloping and maximising fundraising opportunities to support the creation and development of new work and the delivery of our creative engagement programme. : D eveloping our artistic programme to balance artistic and non-artistic supplementary work and hires through with the recruitment of a new post, Head of Programming.
WEATHER MACHINE
40,000 people attended Poole’s Digital Light Festival, Light Up Poole
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: I dentifying additional revenue streams to support the core delivery of the organisation. : D elivering our Bright Ideas programme to ensure the organisation works as effectively as possible to achieve our charitable aims. : A chieving the greatest possible reach enabled by our investment in digital technology, to understand, communicate with and grow audiences. : B uild cash reserves to further mitigate business risks and support overall charitable objectives. : M aintaining the building and improving fabric, access and facilities.
WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT £10
£10 could help support Lighthouse to provide dementia-friendly events throughout the year.
£25
£25 could pay for essential maintenance to our building ensuring that we can keep our doors open for everyone in our community to meet, talk and learn.
Help us to keep enriching lives. To discuss ways to donate or partner with Lighthouse contact: Tom Shallaker, Fundraising Manager tom.shallaker@lighthousepoole.co.uk www.lighthousepoole.co.uk/support-lighthouse
01202 280000 www.lighthousepoole.co.uk
Lighthouse makes Poole a better place by delivering a diverse and inclusive artistic offering to ensure that everyone in our community can engage and participate in the arts.
£50
£50 could pay for a family of four to come to a show and experience live theatre together for the first time.
£100
£100 could pay for Lighthouse to deliver a free workshop in one of our partner schools.
01202 280000 www.lighthousepoole.co.uk