ENGAGING WITH NEW COMMUNITIES The New Wolsey Theatre’s ambitious new project for Ipswich
Project Summary, August 2019
1.
Summary
Engaging with New Communities is a phased capital investment programme at the New Wolsey Theatre and New Wolsey Theatre Square:
Phase 1 – Reimagining of Theatre Square and the building of The Spiral. Phase cost - £2m fully funded and works commenced August 2019. Phase 2 – Fit out of The Spiral and The New Wolsey Theatre refurbishment, Summer 2020. Phase cost £850k. £300k raised to date, £395k applied for (Arts Council England). Remaining Target £155k
KEY THEMES
Capital development which signifies a major shift in the New Wolsey Theatre’s creative work – bringing participation centre stage
At the heart of the development is a new building – The Spiral
The Spiral will be the home for our ambitious, exciting and innovative participatory programme
An environmentally friendly building utilising the latest technologies, with innovative architecture and high end access
The redeveloped square will become the North West gateway to Ipswich town centre, and key for the many diverse communities of Norwich Road and beyond.
The Spiral will provide an exciting architectural welcome to participants and audiences of the future, as well as stimulating further development around the site over the next 10 years.
Phase 2 of the project will re-vitalise and reshape the existing theatre building to improve synergy between the participation & performance strands of our work, transforming our public spaces. The project will refurbish our auditorium seating, increase toilet provision and improve our environmental footprint and accessibility
2.
About The Spiral
The Spiral is part of a new £2.8 million re-imagining of New Wolsey Theatre and the public areas that surround it, wholly and generously financed by the owner of the site, Peter de Savary. The Spiral itself is a new purpose built participation space which will become home to all of the New Wolsey Theatre’s community engagement and creative learning programme. The Spiral will soft open in Summer 2020, with participation programmes moving in from September 2020. Then in Summer 2021 we will truly celebrate the opening of The Spiral as part of our 20th birthday celebrations, with two main stage productions, Lucky Petra and You Never Lose at Home (the sequel to Our Blue Heaven). The impact The Spiral will have on our work is significant:
It will enable our re-energised community engagement programme to flourish.
It will put our engagement work ‘stage centre’, significantly raise its profile and enable us to grow our programme of creative learning and artist development.
It will connect our participation and development work to the performances and activities in our main house
It will catalyse seismic change across the organisation, putting participation and engagement work (quite literally) front and centre of what New Wolsey Theatre does, repositioning our role in the local community and national arts ecology.
It will strengthen our commitment to being a welcoming home for all – a commitment which runs right through our core – from our popular main stage productions, through to highly targeted engagement work with at risk groups.
3.
Why this programme of work is vitally important
This project will, for the first time, bring together our performance and participation work on one site. In the last 12 months we have recruited a new team to lead a re-envisaged community engagement programme, focusing on reaching new groups who have not traditionally engaged with the theatre, or indeed the arts. This project takes us to the next level, enhancing our relationships with local community groups, increasing the scale and scope of such work, its visibility and connection with our main house. It will ensure it is central to New Wolsey Theatre’s offer – quite literally given the physical location of our new building, The Spiral. Building on foundations laid over the past 18 years, The Spiral will provide a new purposebuilt ‘home from home’ for a range of new and existing partners, including local community groups (particularly those working with vulnerable individuals, such as young asylum seekers or those with poor mental health), other arts organisations and those working with young people. The Spiral will be both the catalyst and the primary resource for this work opening up new possibilities, connections and opportunities. Activities will include:
projects and programmes led and developed by New Wolsey Theatre; partnership projects and activity hosted by New Wolsey Theatre but led by other organisations; a range of arts-based work that builds on New Wolsey Theatre’s involvement in the industry’s evolving social prescription model; work that includes a focus on digital technology; other activities focused on nurturing participants’ social and personal development and networks.
4.
Some specific details
All of our projects prioritise access, creativity, diversity and supporting local people to fully engage with the transformative potential of a high quality arts experience. Work developed in The Spiral will flow across all of the New Wolsey Theatre’s other spaces and across Theatre Square, ensuring it engages the widest possible audience. INCREASE THE SCALE AND SCOPE OF OUR WORK WITH YOUNG PEOPLE Up till now our work with young people has focused mainly on our Youth Theatre and schools provision: Engaging with New Communities will transform the scale and scope of our young people’s work. It will enable us to work with more diverse groups of young people, such as unaccompanied asylum seekers and young people with mental illness. Our new tech hub will unlock opportunities for young people to explore new forms of digitally-enabled creative practice and immersive audience experiences. PROVIDE NEW ARTIST DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES AND CATALYSE DIGITAL INNOVATION Engaging with New Communities will see us re-launch our artist development programme with an offer that includes new Research and Development opportunities, hot desking, placements and tailored support packages. At present, we anticipate that this work will focus on our priority areas:
The development of new music theatre; Work by and for young people; Disability work; Work by traditionally under-represented artists New forms of creative practice and R&D.
Within this, our new ‘tech hub’ will mean that our artist development programme can include digitally-focused Research and Development residencies/labs and other opportunities that will enable artists to experiment with new forms of creative practice and types of audience experience.
IMPROVING ACCESS FOR DISABLED ARTISTS AND AUDIENCE MEMBERS A key focus for us is about removing access barriers for disabled artists, audiences and participants. That’s why we are developing a fully fitted Changing Places facility in The Spiral for the use of both audiences and participants. The New Wolsey Theatre receives regular revenue investment from Arts Council England, Suffolk County Council and Ipswich Borough Council.
Project Partners Developer – Peter de Savary. Architect – Waind Gohil + Potter Architects. Contractor – Gipping Construction Ltd. Structural Engineer: Price & Myers. QS: Daniel Connal Partnership. MEP Engineer: Centreline
For Further information contact: Matthew Linley Administrative Director mlinley@wolseytheatre.co.uk
Michelle Emmerson-Grey Head of Communications Memmerson-grey@wolseytheatre.co.uk