Transforming Ovalhouse

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TRANSFORMING OVALHOUSE


A NEW HOME FOR OVALHOUSE: BUILDING A BRAND NEW THEATRE IN BRIXTON Ovalhouse has a unique opportunity to create a new theatre in the centre of Brixton, as part of an innovative project in partnership with Lambeth Council. With a history stretching back 50 years as the launch pad for new theatre and a gateway into the arts for those most often excluded, Ovalhouse is looking to the future. Brixton used to have seven theatres and now has none: become involved in our project and join us for the opening of Ovalhouse, a new theatre for Brixton, in 2019.

Deborah Bestwick MBE Director, Ovalhouse


I am deeply honored to be a Patron of the Ovalhouse Theatre; it’s where it all began for me back in 1971. I found a home in the arts, within the walls of the Ovalhouse. It was a powerful first step for a 16 year-old Irishman who was not sure of where the next step in life would take him. I was allowed to express myself... to become an actor and an artist. Now, a whole new generation is about to discover a new Ovalhouse in the heart and soul of Brixton where original theatre will be seen, new writers will be heard, and new ideas shaped and created. It’s all there on your very own doorstep. Come with us on our Journey to Brixton. Pierce Brosnan OBE

Ovalhouse Patron


50 YEARS OF EXCELLENCE Founded as a visionary project by graduates of Christ Church Oxford, Ovalhouse has been delivering its mission through theatre and art for over 50 years.

WHAT DO WE DO? We create a crucible and test bed for new theatre: • Associate Artists Schemes • R&D • Advice and support • Commission performances which provoke debate and ask questions • Present ambitious shows Invite and Delight Audiences • Access schemes • Festivals • Community audience schemes • Offer affordable tickets Change Lives • Use theatre and participatory arts to give young people a new perspective and the tools to make change where they can • Engage young people in workshops and ambitious projects – community based, and in partnership with professional artists • Offer training and qualifications in theatre – with cross transferable skills • Support young people to develop a creative voice – and for a diversity of artists to tell stories that need to be heard Disseminate Good Practice • Run and lead national networks of arts practitioners to support work with vulnerable young people • Host conferences and artists seminars • Publish case studies of good practice and our evaluations

Young people with complex disabilities making adventurous theatre Participants of Ovalhouse project Demonstrate!

Her first professional production at Ovalhouse – now on national tour Ambreen Razia, former Youth Theatre Member


A dramatic exploration of the Wolfenden Report: commissioned by Ovalhouse, transferred to the West End. The Act – by Thomas Hescott

Tim Roth as Cassio in an Ovalhouse Youth Production

A play set inside a wig attracts a full page feature in The Independent! Selina Thompson’s innovative Dark & Lovely at Ovalhouse

Performing The Paper Project – directed by international director Mark Storor Temor – a member of the young migrants project We Are London

New interactive theatre for family audiences Developed by fanSHEN at Ovalhouse

SOME OF OUR PROMINENT ALUMNI Sir David Hare, Pierce Brosnan, Meera Syal, Nitin Sawhney, Mike Figgis, Howard Brenton, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Paulette Randall, Karena Johnson, Stephen Rae, Tim Roth


OVALHOUSE IN NUMBERS Some of the amazing things we have done in 2015

WE HAVE NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL IMPACT

9

new theatre commissions

20

FESTIVALS

co-productions

14

touring productions

8

2

3

productions touring internationally

inter-regional collaborations

3

ARTISTS’ RESIDENCIES

8

associate artists

WE ARE LOCALLY RESPONSIVE

80%

of our audience comes from the London Boroughs

50%

of our participatory events are attended by residents of Lambeth

WE ARE IMPROVING YOUNG PEOPLE’S LIVES

20 young people have progressed from Ovalhouse to higher education

12

young people from our youth programmes are now working in the arts sector

204

socially excluded and at risk young people work with us regularly

WE SUPPORT JOBS AND DEVELOPMENT

398 200

national associate members have joined our professional network from

6

regions across the UK

youth practitioners attended professional development courses with Ovalhouse

13

creative companies were supported by our managed workspace

95

freelance and creative jobs are supported by our projects

None of this would have been possible without the support of 15 Trusts & Foundations, Arts Council England, London Borough of Lambeth and over £32k of private donations.


OVALHOUSE IN WORDS

“It was the best time ever!! I really enjoy it, I feel happy… in another world happy, free and EQUAL” “World Arts Day was better than winning the FA cup!” Living Here Young Refugees Art Project

“Incredibly supportive to artists. Warm and welcoming. Gives genuine opportunities, space and support.” Artists' feedback, Autumn Season 2015

“At Ovalhouse we work together across cultures and share our imagination. You work with a person you wouldn’t normally work with. You don’t always need to speak the same language to make drama.” We are London Participant

“Ovalhouse has an outstanding reputation in the refugee sector.” Almir Koldzic, Co-Director of Counterpoints Arts and National Coordinator of Refugee Week

“Ovalhouse proved that it can make a difference to young people who are among the most disadvantaged and excluded.” Mary Ryan, External Evaluator

“Those in attendance learned so much from your commitment, passion and creative ideas... It is a testament to the power of words and ideas in the theatre.” Member of the New York League of Professional Theatre Women seminar


AIMS & OBJECTIVES WE NEED TO RAISE £2.5MILLION BECAUSE A NEW ROOF Our current building • Is not fit for purpose: spaces are too few, too small, too low, too noisy • Does not enable us to meet our potential to generate income • Is not accessible for many of our visitors and users The new theatre will have • Seven multi-use accessible studios – meeting the needs of C21st artists and available for community and training • Two flexible studio theatres – we aim to develop the best small scale theatres in London! • A café, bar and foyer – bringing audiences, artists and community together • 26 workspace units for arts and creative industry tenants Ovalhouse in Brixton • A sustainable increased earned income of 131% through extra space hire capacity • Enhanced and expanded opportunities for artists and young people • Our relationship with 300 new homes will make us central to community building and regeneration • A creative hub, with professional opportunities and cross transferable skills for local young people and artists • A destination building – attracting audiences from all over London and beyond, with international opportunities – a creative exchange for artists, the local community and Londoners

MAKING IT HAPPEN Lambeth Council has provided a prime site on a peppercorn lease for 250 years. This enables us to invest the value of our current freehold in the new building. FUNDRAISING TARGET: NEW BUILDING Ovalhouse needs to raise £2.5m to make this building happen. This is the matching funding for the investment we already have: £6.4m from the sale of our freehold site in Kennington £3m offered by Arts Council England FOUNDER’S FUND: £1M Alongside our campaign to build the new theatre we are establishing the Founder’s Fund: a £1m endowment to ensure that the work of Ovalhouse can continue, flourish and develop in Brixton, supporting generations of new artists, opportunities for more young people, and able to take advantage of unmissable opportunities for the community and wider theatre audiences. HEADLINE BUDGET The total cost of the Ovalhouse project (as at March 2016) is calculated to be EXPENDITURE Build & Construction £8.62m Fit-out £3.28m Total Project Cost £11.9m INCOME So far we have secured (in principal) Value of current freehold £6.4m ACE Capital Grant £3.0m Total Income £9.4m OUR FUNDRAISING TARGET Detailed costs and company accounts are available on request

£2.5m


PLAYING A ROLE

Imagine if you could play a role in helping to regenerate the centre of Brixton, develop a centre for the arts that can be enjoyed by the whole community and provide a top quality theatre for an organisation that fosters talent and inclusion in society. Well, here is your opportunity! I feel privileged to be Chair of the Ovalhouse Development Board and to be part of a great team that is the very embodiment of the theatre’s vibrancy. Ovalhouse is privileged to be expanding its relationship with two long-standing partners without whom the new theatre would simply be a pipe dream: Lambeth Council and Arts Council England. We have also received tremendous support from Christ Church, Oxford – which founded Ovalhouse some fifty years ago – and from our growing band of donors. We are building not only a new theatre but a sustainable future for its work. The first class facilities will help to meet the shortage of rehearsal and CCI space in London and enable Ovalhouse to increase its earned income by over 130%. This will in turn help to fund new programmes and to ensure that new writers, directors, actors and technicians have increased opportunity to express their talents. Ovalhouse is about inclusion and involvement. We would love you to join our team and to become part of this terrific journey in any number of ways. Put your name on a seat, a brick, our pillar of support – or maybe have one of our studios or theatres named after your company or a family member. Perhaps you would like to donate some of your time to our fundraising activity. Or just come to our performances and experience Ovalhouse for yourself. The extended Ovalhouse community is extremely diverse: it is bound together by a shared belief that the new theatre can bring new voices and new talent into theatre, create new jobs, and contribute a new sense of community cohesion and wellbeing in a town centre that houses some of the most disadvantaged members of society. Ovalhouse would like to see all of you playing a role!

Robin Priest

Chair: Development Board


YOUR PART IN TRANSFORMING OVALHOUSE – A NEW THEATRE FOR BRIXTON The Capital Campaign offers a range of ways for you to be involved. Talk to us about how to support us in the following ways:

CORNERSTONE Put down the first Ovalhouse cornerstone and become a Capital Campaign

Cornerstone Supporter

FRONT ROW COMPANY Become a Front Row Company and put your name in lights:

Name one of our theatres or rehearsal studios after you or your company

OVALHOUSE FOUNDER Become an Ovalhouse Founder and help towards building our new

theatre: Buy-A-Brick or Name-A-Seat, or donate to our future projects

MATCH GIVING Did you know that your company may match your gift at no cost to you? SHARE GIVING Ovalhouse is able to accept a donation of shares


PATRONS, BOARD & TRUSTEES ROYAL PATRON H.M. The Queen

TO TALK ABOUT YOUR INVOLVEMENT WITH THE CAPITAL CAMPAIGN Contact Katie Milton, our Development Director – Capital Campaign on 020 7820 7273 katie.milton@ovalhouse.com

BACS details: Barclays Bank Ovalhouse Capital Campaign Sort Code: 20–80-57 Acct Number: 80371793 Cheques: Ovalhouse Capital Campaign Katie Milton Ovalhouse 52-54 Kennington Oval, London, SE11 5SW

“Ovalhouse’s reputation as “one of the most important centres for pioneer fringe theatre groups” dates from the 1960s, when the club introduced a radical change in the policy under newly appointed warden, Peter Oliver”

PATRONS Pierce Brosnan OBE Paulette Randall MBE Sanjeev Bhaskar Jenny Sealey MBE DEVELOPMENT BOARD Roberta Anderson Diane Banks Zed Cama Amanda Campbell Jeremy Day Paul Disley-Tindall Lucy Hannah Victoria Hardie Shinade Haughton Peter Manning Robin Priest Miles Ruffell Anton Simon Storme Toolis TRUSTEES Oladipo Agboluaje Richard Beecham Michael Bright Miles Eady Mat Fraser Martin Humphries Esther Leeves Alexandra Marshall Robin Priest Elizabeth Rasskazova John Spall Sue Timothy

Ovalhouse (Christ Church [Oxford] United Clubs) is a registered charity no. 2888931


CONTACTS For more information and to talk to us about our Capital Campaign contact: Katie Milton, Development Director – Capital Campaign katie.milton@ovalhouse.com Direct Line: 020 7820 7273 Robin Priest, Chair of the Development Board rp@robinpriest.com

ovalhouse.com @ovalhouse

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