RESILIENCE

With over 90% of planned venue activity cancelled and advance ticket sales reduced, aiming to build our financial resilience in 2020-21 was quickly superseded by the need to survive and, where possible, survive well.

The Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme helped us retain most of our skilled staff and in July, the Arts Council’s Emergency Response Fund supported the loss of income and additional costs incurred for April to September 2020. Thanks to the organisation’s efforts lobbying local and national government and making the case in the media, the organisation was invited to participate as a case study as DCMS sought to understand the impacts of the pandemic. Shortly after the announcement of the ERF award, the DCMS / ACE Cultural Recovery Fund phase 1 (CRF1) was announced and we were awarded funding of £987,964 to cover periods October 2020 to March 2021. This enabled the organisation to underwrite further lost income and exceptional COVID-related expenses as well as to begin investing in the measures that would contribute to resilience in the ‘new normal’; live streaming facilities, some enhancement of the outside amphitheatre space, the Cinema Theatre facilities (the cinema programme could now continue under extended social distancing) as well as continuing to engage artists, including BSO, to make and develop work on site. It also enabled the organisation to replenish an element of reserves spent tackling the effects of the pandemic. The venue re-opened to the public on 12 September, for a limited period after the successful first – soldout – trial of the Lighthouse: Outside season, albeit with minimal events, the bulk cancelled under the commercial pressures faced by promoters in the light of social distancing. After Lockdown 2 had come and gone, along with the small-scale Christmas show, Lockdown 3 commenced in the first weeks of 2021. However, by early February, there was further good news, with £290,000 awarded by the Weston Culture Fund to support the organisation’s post survival recovery. The opportunity to invest in a rejuvenated programme, creative engagement, and artist development programme as we go into 2021-22 is a game-changer and allows the organisation to go beyond survival to having every chance of thriving in the post-pandemic period. Expectations of the length of the crisis grew, and CRF2 was awarded (£493,982) near the end of the financial year, which provided similar support to CRF1 for the extended period and a further contribution towards reflating reserves.