ISSUE NO.
63
APRIL 2012
Staging the Games
How theatres across the UK are preparing for an Olympic summer
Plus: Training, advice, opinion
CONTENTS
Issue 63 | April 2012
04 | News 09 | Going places Prompt asks James Brining about his new Artistic Director role
Welcome …to the April issue of Prompt magazine. We’re continuing our revamped themed issues with a topic that’s on everyone’s mind, the forthcoming Olympic and Paralympic Games. The cause of much debate and excitement, this summer is set to be jam-packed with both sporting prowess and cultural excellence. In a series of features we’ve discovered how some TMA members are planning to capitalise on the Cultural Olympiad, plus Jenny Sealey and Bradley Hemmings talked to Prompt about organising the Paralympic Games Opening Ceremony. While the Games may be happening in London, the cultural offering will involve organisations all over the country. This issue also introduces you to TMA’s new Access Manager, Kirsty Hoyle, and includes an interview with West Yorkshire Playhouse’s incoming Artistic Director, TMA Award-winner James Brining. Our Training and Events programme is revamped, looking fantastic and has never been so popular: do look at the new courses in the calendar included in this issue. We hope to see you at an event soon. Rachel Tackley TMA President
The Olympic issue 11 | Shenton says Our regular columnist measures the popularity of theatre against sport 12 | Chaos theory Caroline Bishop finds out how Royal & Derngate are getting involved with the Cultural Olympiad 17 | The creative minds opening the Paralympic Games Jodi Myers talks to Jenny Sealey and Bradley Hemmings, the Co-Artistic Directors of the Paralympic Games Opening Ceremony 22 | Fringe benefits Mark Fisher talks to Festivals Edinburgh about its plan to lure Olympic visitors 400 miles north of the capital for a cultural hit 26 | On your marks Prompt asks Travelers Insurance Company Limited how best to identify and manage risks linked to the Olympic Games
TMA events & training 28 | Event David Brownlee reflects on this year’s TMA Touring Symposium 31 | Forward thinking TMA course leader Ruth Mason examines managing conflict 32 | Meet & greet Prompt meets the TMA’s new Access Manager Kirsty Hoyle 34 | Sounding board Four experts tackle the issue of effective networking 36 | Research David Brownlee charts the success of panto over the last 10 years 38 | Calendar Your at-a-glance guide to forthcoming events and training courses
Editor: Charlotte Marshall | Design: SOLT digital team, original designs by James Oliver | Cover photo by Spike Liseiko | Contributors: Steven Atkinson, Sonia Beldom, Caroline Bishop, David Brownlee, Mark Fisher, Katie Harper, Ruth Mason, Douglas McJannet, Jodi Myers, Mark Shenton Prompt is brought to you by the Theatrical Management Association, 32 Rose Street, London WC2E 9ET. Tel: 020 7557 6700. President: Rachel Tackley. Chief Executive: Julian Bird. General Manager: David Brownlee. Prompt is printed by John Good, Progress Way, Binley, Coventry CV3 2NT. To advertise in Prompt please contact Viv Plumpton on 01993 777726. All views expressed in Prompt are not necessarily those of the TMA or its members. The inclusion of advertising material in Prompt does not imply any form of endorsement by the TMA.
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NEWS
TMA NEWS Prompt’s regular round-up of just some of the events at TMA member theatres making the news over the last three months TMA and partners win bid for £1.1 million family audiences grant
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rts Council England has awarded a Lottery Award grant of £1.1 million to a partnership including TMA and the Society of London Theatre for a three year programme to encourage more families to attend the arts. The programme will aim to increase the volume and quality of family friendly product available and improve the marketing of family friendly arts experiences. David Brownlee, TMA’s General Manager, who will act as Project Director and ensure that members of all participating organisations have the opportunity to share their views on the project, said: “Over the next couple of months we will be forming a Project Board and Steering Group that will ensure we are taking the project in the right direction.” Full details of the grant can be found on www.tmauk.org
Royal Shakespeare Company announces Artistic Director
Gregory Doran will succeed Michael Boyd as Artistic Director of the
Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) following 25 years working for the industry heavyweight. Doran started out at the company in 1987 as an actor before rising through the ranks as a director, becoming Chief Associate Director in 2006. Doran paid tribute to Boyd, saying: “Michael Boyd and Vikki Heywood [Executive Director] have done an exceptional job in the last decade, rebuilding the theatre and reasserting the principles of ensemble and collaboration, which I hope to continue and extend. My first task is to assemble an exciting new artistic team, with whom I shall start planning the Company’s future from 2014.” Doran will take over the role when Boyd steps down in September. Heywood’s replacement is yet to be announced.
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NEWS
Record advanced bookings for TMA’s Touring Symposium
The TMA’s fifth annual Touring Symposium took place last month
boasting an unprecedented number of advanced bookings, with overall bookings up 38% from 2011. Sponsored by W&P Longreach in association with Chubb Insurance, the event took place at the Congress Centre in London with over 230 theatre practitioners in attendance. Providing a unique opportunity for venue managers, producers and directors involved in all scales of UK touring, the event included talks by experts from companies including Punchdrunk, Peepolykus and Music and Lyrics. As well as informing industry members from across the country, the day also provided a forum for debate – don’t miss Prompt’s article analysing the key discussions on page 28.
SOLT ensures London theatre is Games ready
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he Society of London Theatre (SOLT) is busy preparing for the Olympic summer with its Don’t Miss The Real show campaign, ensuring London theatre is games ready with the country expected to welcome millions of extra people into the capital. A recent survey conducted at the end of SOLT’s Get Into London Theatre campaign highlighted a concern from theatregoers that travelling during the Olympics would make it harder to attend shows, so the company has teamed up with Transport for London to create a downloadable travel guide. SOLT will announce details of other exciting activities taking place as part of the campaign at a PR launch on 18 April in collaboration with the Mayor’s office and LOCOG’s 2012 Festival.
Birmingham Rep to reopen in September 2013
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irmingham Repertory Theatre has announced it will reopen in September 2013, following its two and a half year refurbishment and extension of its building. The reopening is timely with 2013 marking the 100th birthday of Birmingham Repertory Theatre Company. The theatre’s first season when it opens its doors will be under the new artistic directorship of Roxana Silbert. Stuart Rogers, Executive Director of the venue, said the theatre was “looking forward to welcoming customers old and new…We’re currently talking to a very exciting range of artists about working with us during our centenary year of 2013, and look forward to being able to announce full details of the opening season early next year.”
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NEWS
TMA News
Leeds Grand Opera hosts 1,000th audio-described performance
VocalEyes held its 1,000th audio-described performance on 17
February at Leeds Grand Opera with the impressive milestone reached at a performance of Opera North’s Norma. Judy Dixey, Executive Director of VocalEyes, described the event as a “great tribute to our funders, our audiences, our supporters, our describers and the theatres who engage with us,” adding: “we will continue to champion the best possible access to the arts for blind and partially sighted people.” VocalEyes is a registered charity that works with blind and partially-sighted people to enhance engagement with the arts through audio-description. The company was formed in 1998 when it audiodescribed around 20 theatre performances. Today it audio-describes over 100 performances a year in venues across the country.
NSDF goes global at Sheffield Theatres
For the first time ever, the legendary National Student Drama Festival
Photo: Allan Titmuss
has gone global to become the International Student Drama Festival (ISDF). Taking place as part of the Cultural Olympiad, the ISDF is being hosted by Sheffield Theatres from 22-30 June and will feature shows from countries including Israel, USA, Japan and Australia as well as the UK. Holly Kendrick, director of the Festival, told Prompt: “We have been lucky enough to receive some amazing support from Sheffield and in particular Sheffield Hallam University and University of Sheffield and of course the wonderful Sheffield Theatres which will provide the hub for the Festival. Alongside the shows there will be 200 workshops from world-class professionals as well as discussions, technical training and our very own Festival newspaper.”
Theatre Tokens launches Wrapp app
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heatre Tokens, the countrywide theatre gift voucher scheme, has launched an innovative new app in a new partnership with Swedish social gifting service Wrapp allowing friends and family to give Theatre Tokens via smartphones, Facebook and www.wrapp.com. They can currently only be redeemed at the tkts booth in Leicester Square but the unique gifting system allows for more than one person to contribute to a gift, as many friends can give to one gift card through Facebook. This social app is the latest innovation from Theatre Tokens which saw sales of nearly £10 million in 2011. All profits generated through the SOLT run scheme are reinvested into the theatre industry to help support its future, including investment in the TMA’s training programme in recent years.
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NEWS
Sherman Cymru Theatre reopens
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Photo: Simon Gouph
he Sherman Cymru Theatre in Cardiff has reopened following a two year refurbishment programme. The 1970’s venue was given a revamp by architect Jonathan Adams, the man behind the Wales Millennium Centre. The theatre, which reopened in February, now boasts a new exterior, foyer space, public areas and improved access. When announcing the venue’s reopening season, Chris Ricketts, Director of the theatre, said: “We think it’s a really strong opening season and hope it will allow people to delve into Sherman Cymru for the first time or to rediscover it anew. We’re very much looking forward to welcoming audiences back into our new home.”
TMA Mentoring Programme
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he TMA is continuing its search for new mentors to support its Mentoring Programme. The programme is designed to offer experienced industry members’ insight and experience to others within the performing arts, as well as providing guidance and support. No previous mentoring experience is needed and training will be provided, all people need is an open mind and to be a good listener. Wade Choudhuri, Training and Development Manager at the TMA, described the programme as “an amazing tool for members of the industry to connect with others and devise new ways of thinking and problem solving, as well as offering a huge amount of satisfaction to the mentors.” For further information and to apply visit www. tmauk.org
RSC collaborates with BBC for Off By Heart
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ast year the RSC joined forces with the BBC to create Off By Heart, a competition designed to ‘get students up on their feet, performing speeches from Shakespeare’s plays and enjoying the language. The eagerly awaited result will be shown in a documentary later this year. Every secondary school in the UK was invited to participate with 1,500 children taking part in workshops and auditioning for a place in the grand final which was filmed on 29 January in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. Presented by Jeremy Paxman, the nine finalists had to perform some of Shakespeare’s most famous speeches, off by heart, in front of the panel of judges comprised of Simon Schama, Imogen Stubbs and Samuel West.
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GOING PLACES
James Brining Current Artistic Director of Dundee Rep, James Brining will take over as Artistic Director of the West Yorkshire Playhouse this summer. He spoke to Prompt about career decisions, relocating for work and how winning two TMA Awards is his proudest career moment. What was your first big break? Getting the opportunity to become the Artistic Director of Proteus Theatre Company –a well-funded, stable, small scale company – aged 21 was a brilliant way to launch myself as a professional director without the intense spotlight of a more high profile job exposing all my mistakes.
What’s been your best career move so far? The one I’ve just made! Every place I’ve been lucky enough to work has given me the opportunity to learn and grow as both an artist and a leader. I think it’s important to feel stimulated and challenged by the place you’re working without feeling overwhelmed. West Yorkshire Playhouse will present me with that opportunity for growth, combined with a status and prestige which will prove useful for opening even more doors.
Best learning experience to date? Developing the award-winning musical Sunshine On Leith was a fantastic learning experience. Staging a new musical is a huge undertaking with so many choices to debate and decisions to agonise over. I was able to learn about the structure and rhythm of work incorporating story, song and movement, how to shape an audience’s experience in large scale spaces, as well as the business side of touring a show to tens of thousands of people throughout the UK.
What piece of advice do you live by? Totally commit to whatever you attempt. And if you don’t like it, change it.
What does it mean to you to be running a theatre in your home town? It’s strange. Everything is so familiar and yet because I’ve been away for over 20 years it also feels excitingly different; like becoming reacquainted with an old friend you haven’t spent much time with for 20 years. I know how important the theatre is for the city and because I’m from Leeds and proud of it, I want to do the best possible job for the city and the people of Leeds.
What are your immediate plans in your new post? I don’t start until after the summer so I need to take stock of what the Playhouse’s immediate plans are and start to get to know the staff, who are the most important asset the theatre has. I want to reimmerse myself in the life of the city and start to build the partnerships and relationships with artists and organisations across the region, which will be central to me achieving my objective of really embedding the theatre in the life of the city. I also want to get to grips with the diverse audiences for the Playhouse’s work, both onstage and in the community and education work.
What will be your biggest challenge? Moving my entire family and finding schools for my kids will be interesting!
Who has influenced you most? So many people. Two directors in particular; Giles Havergal, who was Artistic Director of the Citizens Theatre Glasgow when I ran TAG Theatre Company, and Sam Walters who is Artistic Director of the Orange Tree Theatre. Both were inspirational and individual in their beliefs about theatre and theatre’s role in society and both influenced me greatly. Also, the actors in Dundee Rep Ensemble with whom I’ve worked for the last eight years have taught me so much about making great work.
What are you most proud of? Being nominated for and winning two TMA Awards for Best Musical in 2007 and 2010. For a relatively small theatre company [Dundee Rep] in Dundee to achieve national recognition in this way was, I believe, a real achievement and is a testament to the way we made work in Dundee.
James Brining’s prime picks Most useful website At the moment, travelling up and down the East Coast Main Line, National Rail Enquiries.
Must-read publication I love newspapers - if I had to choose, it’d be The Guardian.
Always listen to The news.
Can’t be without My wife Beverley and my four children; Cameron, Ellie, Thorfinn and Jack.
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The Olympic issue
In the next 18 pages Prompt looks at how TMA members are getting involved with this year’s Olympic summer and how they are planning to capitalise on the event.
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SHENTON SAYS
Theatre’s sporting chances (and higher attendance figures) Prompt’s regular columnist Mark Shenton measures the popularity of theatre against sport, and finds that theatre scores higher attendances than football. taking productions into cinemas up and down the country and across the world – never will.
Mark Shenton | Photo: Dan Wooller
The West End once again, for the eighth
year running, set box office records last year, with some 13.9 million theatregoers spending £528.3m on tickets, while, based on the DCMS’s Taking Part Survey, the TMA estimates that 14.7 million adults in the UK attend a theatre event at least once a year. By comparison, the 20 foremost football clubs in the country that comprise the Premiership League saw attendances across the 2010/11 season of 13.4 million1 . So, on a like-for-like basis, theatre is a bigger live spectator activity than football is; though of course, many millions more watch football on television in a way that theatre – even with initiatives like NT Live
Last year the National Campaign for the Arts (NCA) published the first ever UK Arts Index, measuring trends in tickets sales, corporate sponsorship, philanthropy and public sector funding, as well as other performance measures such as attendance levels for adults and young people, satisfaction levels and the number of people volunteering in the arts. NCA Trustee and leading actor/director Sam West pointed out in a Guardian blog feature that, taken as a whole, its findings show that the patient is well. But it also identified some worrying trends, with business contributions and private giving down across the three years measured by the Index (17% and 13% respectively), and cuts in Arts Council funding yet to take effect will reduce the available income further. “Arts organisations already operate a big society model of volunteers, interns and low wages,” he pointed out. “There’s not a lot of fat to cut. So we have to work ever harder for audiences and we have to look further for new money.” He also pointed out: “The West End, the heart of the patient, is doing well.” Comparing its attendance figures against Premiership football matches, he points out that, “given the 20,000 empty seats at Old Trafford last Wednesday, I think our audience is more sustainable”. He also adds: “Blood flows from and to the heart in the form of shows conceived further down the arts pyramid which continue to grow and flourish at the top.”
“Just as the Olympics will put the spotlight on sporting prowess, it will also demonstrate our unmatchable cultural one”
But arts and sport don’t need to go into competition with each other; they can support each other. It’s hardly accidental
that the same government minister and department, the Department for Sport, Media and Culture, looks after both. And nowhere is this more evident than in the activities of the Cultural Olympiad, taking place alongside this year’s Olympic Games: indeed, part of our successful bid to host the latter was built upon a commitment to make culture a central focus alongside it. As Tracey Emin, who has designed a poster for the Olympics, has said, “London’s going to be under a giant magnifying glass. You don’t just judge a country by its stadium. The arts and culture are the soul of a country. That’s what we have to be judged on, too.” At its centre is the London 2012 Festival, but the Cultural Olympiad’s reach is far wider: as its director Ruth Mackenzie recently told The Guardian: “Most festivals are in fields or cities; this one is in an entire country.” As she went on to say, “One of our offers is, we bring the events to you: we make sure there are amazing events all round the UK. You will feel a festive spirit in quite a few of our major cities. There is no doubt that there will be a critical mass of cultural events in London, and it’s going to feel like it’s absolutely at the centre of a festival – that goes for Edinburgh, Derry/ Londonderry, Belfast, Birmingham, Stratford, too.” And just as the Olympics will put the spotlight on sporting prowess, it will also demonstrate our unmatchable cultural one. The cultural life of Britain is one of our great export industries from Hollywood to Broadway; and as with our sporting world, involves great physical achievements. This summer there will be plenty of both to see and celebrate. Mark Shenton is theatre critic of the Sunday Express and also writes reviews, features and a daily blog for The Stage (www.thestage.co.uk/shenton). Follow him on Twitter @shentonstage. 1. http://cde.cerosmedia.com/1J4e26cfd9df8c1624.cde
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FEATURE
Chaos theory
Northampton’s Royal & Derngate knows how to stage a cracking festival. Being part of the Cultural Olympiad is just a good excuse, finds Caroline Bishop.
“I managed to get two tickets for wrestling in the end,
which wasn’t what I really wanted!” says Laurie Sansom with a wry laugh. Like most of us, the Artistic Director of Northampton’s Royal & Derngate will find his engagement with the sporting aspect of the forthcoming London Olympic Games limited to watching it on telly. “It’s depressing actually, but you kind of go well, we can get involved in a different way.”
control. Sansom has commissioned two new versions of The Bacchae and Blood Wedding – the former from his Cambridge contemporary Rosanna Lowe – which will
And so he is, having signed up Royal & Derngate as one of the participants in the summer culmination of the Cultural Olympiad, the London 2012 Festival. According to Cultural Olympiad Director Ruth Mackenzie, this cultural celebration will “match the Olympic and Paralympic Games in offering once-in-a-lifetime experiences”. Unlike the Games, this cultural offering isn’t limited to London but involves organisations all over the country. “If anything I think it’s quite a shame that the festival is called London 2012,” says Sansom when we meet at the Royal & Derngate, “because it does suggest that it’s celebrating London, whereas actually the Cultural Olympiad isn’t really, it’s very much a national event, and I think that’s one of its strengths, that something that is going to be taking place in London actually has this huge cultural impact round the country.” Northampton’s offering is Festival of Chaos, a city-wide festival initiated by Royal & Derngate, which is staging three classic plays – Euripides’s The Bacchae, Lorca’s Blood Wedding and Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler – from 18 May to 28 July. Not only are they Sansom’s favourite plays – the first two he staged as a student at Cambridge – but they are all linked thematically by their relationship with Dionysus, the god of theatre, wine and ecstasy, and explore the destructive consequences of repressing one’s primal, exuberant instincts in the face of order and
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Laurie Sansom
“It’s very much a national event, and I think that’s one of its strengths, that something that is going to be taking place in London actually has this huge cultural impact round the country.”
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run in repertoire with the same company of actors, while Andrew Upton’s version of Hedda Gabler, originally written for Cate Blanchett and the Sydney Theatre Company, will have its European premiere as part of the season. With themes of death and destructive desire, aren’t these plays a little heavy for a cultural celebration, I wonder? “They’re actually all quite funny,” says Sansom. “The Bacchae in particular is a very slippery play, it goes from high comedy to high tragedy very quickly. They are all very theatrical. What Dionysus represents is ecstasy and theatre
and exuberant sexuality; they are all things that make for a really good night out at the theatre, even if they explore the dark side of that.” The season may be one of the London 2012 Festival’s flagship theatrical events, but it was devised before Mackenzie’s team signed it up. When planning the theatre’s spring/ summer season Sansom realised Festival of Chaos was “a perfect match” for the Cultural Olympiad, encompassing, as it does, ancient Greek and classic European dramas, and using international writers such as Australians Upton
Blood Wedding will play as part of the Festival of Chaos | Photo Spike Liseiko
Michael Malarkey and Liz White in Beyond The Horizon | Photo: Robert Day
Liz White and James Jordan in Spring Storm | Photo: Robert Day
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and Tommy Murphy, who adapts Blood Wedding. “So we approached them and said we’re doing this season of work and we would love to be included in the Cultural Olympiad. They bit our hands off and went ‘Yes, this is exactly the kind of work we should be featuring’, and wanted to make it the flagship drama for the East Midlands.” Mackenzie and team have been supportive, organising two promotional events in Northampton. “Its felt like it’s a really key part of their programming,” says Sansom. “One of the key elements for [Mackenzie] was that she wanted to make sure that the drama programming was strong enough, because obviously it’s the thing that we are best at really in this country. So for them I think it [the Festival of Chaos] fulfils that, it strengthens its drama programme and also stops it being so London-centric.” The advantages to the Cultural Olympiad are clear, but if the season was planned anyway, what’s the benefit to Royal & Derngate of putting it under the Olympic banner? Certainly not money; Festival of Chaos is funded mainly by the theatre itself, with pockets of business sponsorship and support from The Mackintosh Foundation for a resident composer, Dougal Irvine, who is writing original scores for Blood Wedding and The Bacchae. The main advantage, however, is the marketing might of the Cultural Olympiad, including access to a six million-strong email list and inclusion on the London 2012 Festival website. “We get their support as part of that umbrella organisation, all that marketing that in kind is worth quite a lot of money,” says Sansom, adding
with an amusing lack of tact: “You get this ugly pink stripe on all our publicity!” That marketing should go some way to raising the profile of Royal & Derngate on a national and hopefully international scale. But again, that’s something Sansom has been steadily doing anyway since becoming Artistic Director in 2005. The success of the Young America season – Eugene O’Neill’s Beyond The Horizon and Tennessee Williams’s Spring Storm – which transferred to the National Theatre in 2010 on the back of rave reviews, certainly boosted the theatre’s national profile. “I think one of our proudest moments was when that screen along the side of the National announcing what’s going on said ‘Royal & Derngate’s productions of...’ That was really exciting for a theatre that had got a bit stuck 10 years ago,” says Sansom. Northampton can also lay claim to kick-starting Terry Johnson’s hugely successful production of Peter Quilter’s End Of The Rainbow; the
The disused printworks where The Bacchae will be staged | Photo: Courtesy of Northampton Chronicle & Echo
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“Quite often we are cynical about what’s on our doorstep, but over the last few years I think the town has recognised that one of their greatest assets is having this wonderful building.” production, starring Tracie Bennett as Judy Garland, was created in Northampton in 2010 before transferring to the West End and being nominated for four Olivier Awards. It is now playing on Broadway. If inclusion within the national and international marketing materials of the London 2012 Festival can augment this profile further, so much the better; however Royal & Derngate’s first loyalty is to Northampton, and Festival of Chaos looks certain to strengthen its profile within the local community, with or without the Olympics. Since Sansom took over, community-centric events have been frequent within his programming, with a 2010 season entitled Hometown focusing on the city itself, and a community Karen Archer, Natalie Klamar and Fred Pearson in the Hometown season | Photo: Robert Day
Mark Rice-Oxley and Joanna Horton in the Hometown season | Photo: Robert Day
youth theatre project staged in the medieval tunnels beneath the town last year. Festival of Chaos continues this with The Bacchae staged not at the theatre but in the disused printworks of local paper Northampton Chronicle & Echo. In Lowe’s modern adaptation, this becomes the underground lair of Pentheus, who, as ruler of a Dubai-like city, tries to manipulate the media to his own advantage. Community actors will form part of the ensemble for both this and Blood Wedding. What’s more, on 23 June Royal & Derngate will host the Midsummer Bacchanalia, an all-night “immersive celebration” of Dionysus, featuring community actors, university students and the theatre’s resident storytelling company. The theatre has also linked up with other arts organisations in the city, such as the Fishmarket Gallery and Dance4, who will be producing their own events under the Festival of Chaos banner. Sansom knows from experience that events like these are beneficial to the theatre. “When we create a big event, it definitely has a roll on effect in the town. Quite often we are cynical about what’s on our doorstep, but over the last few years I think the town has recognised that one of their greatest assets is having this wonderful building. So I think it will have that knock-on [effect] of people getting excited about the festival; it means they’ll start seeing us as somewhere to regularly come.” Sounds to me like Festival of Chaos might achieve LOCOG’s Holy Grail: a legacy. Given Sansom’s questioning of the Olympics’ potential for a nationwide legacy – “My concern is that the country will have a sporting and cultural hangover at the end of 2012. So much attention and emphasis is going on this summer; is everyone going to suddenly go ‘what next?’” – this community-level legacy for Royal & Derngate is something to be proud of. But it strikes me that this would have been achieved by Festival of Chaos with or without its inclusion in the London 2012 Festival; the Olympics are simply a good excuse. However, as Sansom sees it, why not use the excuse? When I ask if he thinks Northamptoners feel engaged with the Olympics he says: “I think it’s inevitable that in Britain we want to be a bit cynical along the way. It’s healthy scepticism because it makes us scrutinise quite what the impact is going to be and sustainability and whether it’s a good use of money, but I think ultimately once we get closer everyone’s going to get infected by that celebratory spirit. It’s great that we can do a very particular event here that makes the town feel part of it.” He smiles: “Particularly for all those people who didn’t get tickets.” Caroline Bishop is a freelance arts journalist and former editor at SOLT/TMA. www.carolinehbishop.co.uk
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The creative minds opening the Paralympic Games Photo: Alison Baskerville
Jodi Myers talks to the Co-Artistic Directors of the London 2012 Paralympic Games Opening Ceremony, Jenny Sealey and Bradley Hemmings, to find out how they’re using their experience of collaboration and juggling their day jobs to organise an event to remember.
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The Garden will be revived on the South Bank this September | Photo: Alison Baskerville
Last summer when the announcement was made that
Jenny Sealey and Bradley Hemmings were to be Co-Artistic Directors for the London 2012 Paralympic Games Opening Ceremony, there was a sense of “of course they are”. They are champions of large-scale outdoor work who have worked extensively with disabled artists, their skills are complementary and they have a strong track record of working together on a number of successful projects.
disabled adults with a passion for the performing arts, and had been struck by how Prospero’s daughter Miranda views people without judgment, which has particular resonance for disabled people.
Sealey and Hemmings have been leading innovative organisations for substantial periods of time, during which their respective companies have flourished. Sealey is Artistic Director and joint Chief Executive of Graeae, the leading deaf and disabled theatre company for whom inclusive working and creating an accessible theatrical experience for its audiences is core to what they do. Hemmings is Artistic Director and Chief Executive of the explosion of work every summer that is the Greenwich+ Docklands International Festival (GDIF), where working with disabled artists and audiences has become a significant part of the programming. His organisation also produces the Liberty Festival, London’s annual disability arts festival, for the Mayor of London.
Hemmings has been instrumental in getting performers to work outdoors for the first time. At Graeae’s wonderful base in Dalston, during a break from rehearsals for the revival of Reasons To Be Cheerful, which is currently on a tour of middle-scale venues, Sealey gleefully explained, “Bradley dragged me out of black box theatre into the outdoor arena. He introduced me to Strange Fruit, an Australian company which creates eye-popping shows from the top of very tall bendy poles known as sway poles, and in 2008 a commission from GDIF and Liberty enabled Graeae to work with Strange Fruit for the first time. This was part of a programme designed to bring artists and sports people together in the run up to 2012, and prophetically our show featured a medal ceremony.” Aware that none of the sway pole performers were deaf or disabled, Graeae set up training programmes and Sealey described this process as the beginning of a way of working that was completely new to her.
After the announcement of their appointment, Sealey and Hemmings spent five weeks brainstorming ideas for the Paralympic Games Opening Ceremony; Sealey described this as a wonderful experience, something rarely afforded to people running companies. While plans are currently under wraps, out of that process came a theme inspired by The Tempest, which by happy coincidence was also what creative teams working on other ceremonies were exploring. Sealey had just done a production of The Tempest with The Orpheus Centre, an organisation that works with young
In a break between meetings at Three Mills Studios, where
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At the same time, Sealey was working with the Rhinestone Rollers, a power-wheelchair dancing troupe who have performed at Liberty in Trafalgar Square and outside the National Theatre. Their latest show Wheels On Broadway interprets hits from some of the most popular musical theatre shows. All performances feature integrated audiodescription, enabling blind and visually impaired people to engage with them, whilst signing singers translate songs into sign language for deaf festival-goers.
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the Ceremonies team is based, Hemmings explained, “I started to work with disabled performers at Liberty, where I met Caroline Parker, a leading exponent of signed song. Caroline and Jenny [Sealey] had worked together and the three of us ended up working on The Alexandras, a cabaret piece in which Caroline was placed alongside two deaf drag queens and an entourage of Muscle Marys in a signed song act inspired by Priscilla Queen Of The Desert.” This had a very visual style but the story telling aspects were limited and Hemmings became interested in developing new ways of telling stories that are inclusive, providing an emotional experience for everyone in the audience. “I originally wanted to be a violinist and am aware that music often carries the emotional narrative in outdoor work,” said Hemmings, adding, “working outdoors means the work needs to have a strong dynamic with the audience – performers can see the audience close up, and can leave at any time if they aren’t engaged”.
The Rhinestone Rollers performing in London
Graeae’ s 2011 production The Iron Man | Photo: Paul Goodwin
Hemmings pointed out, “Being a creative producer for outdoor work is very different to undertaking that role in a building. There are so many variable factors to consider including scale, access and, of course, weather. There are also different challenges and opportunities from working in the outdoors, where the audience often becomes a key player in the dramaturgy or where aspects of the staging might appear out of a familiar cityscape or a park. I try to use my experience of the outdoors to act as creative problem solving protagonist, bringing people from different backgrounds together and providing the glue that binds the artistic team.”
Hemmings explained that GDIF offers a fantastic range of locations from world heritage sites in Greenwich to 19th and 20th century industrial sites in Woolwich and Bow, and the 21st century grandeur of Canary Wharf. “In many ways these demonstrate the story of London, so we never run out of ideas.” In 2009 GDIF commissioned Graeae to create Against The Tide. The following year The Garden was commissioned by Unlimited, the UK’s largest programme celebrating arts, culture and sport by disabled and deaf people, and will be revived on the South Bank while the Paralympic Games is
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taking place in September. Last year The Iron Man, based on Ted Hughes’s book, was commissioned by GDIF and Without Walls, a consortium of eight outdoor festivals, and toured successfully to Norwich, Brighton, Bristol and Stockton. Next up for Graeae is Prometheus Awakes, a spectacle co-commissioned by GDIF and Stockton International Riverside Festival and created with the renowned Catalan company La Fura dels Baus. Prometheus Awakes will take place in the grounds of the Royal Museums Greenwich on 22 June, the opening weekend of GDIF, and is part of the London 2012 Festival. The show will be the UK’s first large-scale outdoor spectacle featuring disabled performers. Volunteers are being recruited to be a part of this extravaganza, which will include a 42 person human net raised into the night sky, a vessel representing fire above the audience, a giant wheel moving amongst the audience and a 24 foot high puppet. But the Paralympics Opening Ceremony will be on a completely different scale to what Sealey and Hemmings have done before, and it’s a challenge to work on such a grand scale with resources, which while huge by the standards they are used to, are inevitably finite. While unable to disclose their plans, Sealey explained that it would have a strong narrative with universal resonance. She described discussions with their designer Jon Bausor and costume designer Moritz Junge as “phenomenal creative meetings” and she is excited to be working with Mark Fisher, the overall Executive Producer in charge of Production Design for all four Ceremonies. Sealey said the team responsible for casting the ceremonies was “brilliant”; it needs to be, as the Paralympic Opening Ceremony alone requires around 3,000 performers, for which mass auditions were held at the end of February. Casting has to be complete by the end of April so costumes can be made and rehearsals scheduled. Sealey called the
“Working outdoors means the work needs to have a strong dynamic with the audience... they can leave if they aren’t engaged” 20
Alison Halstead and Amit Sharma in The Iron Man | Photo: Patrick Baldwin
spreadsheets for rehearsals of the four Ceremonies “a thing of beauty”. Meanwhile back at Graeae and GDIF some changes have had to be made. The boards of Graeae and GDIF recognise that working on the Paralympic Opening Ceremony is a phenomenal opportunity for Sealey and Hemmings and for their organisations, but with the artistic leaders inevitably absent for large amounts of time, there are challenges for the companies, so both decided to strengthen their organisations by making fixed term Associate Director appointments. This has had the additional benefit of offering career development in areas in which there is relatively little mobility. Amit Sharma has taken on this role at Graeae, and he will direct Prometheus Awakes. Judith Kilvington, Graeae’s Executive Director and joint Chief Executive, has assumed sole Chief Executive duties until Sealey returns full time in Autumn 2012. GDIF has appointed Nathan Curry, Artistic Director of tangled feet and a former Associate Director at the Bush Theatre, to work alongside Hemmings on the delivery of GDIF 2012. Hemmings pointed out: “It’s particularly exciting to bring in someone who has extensive experience of working with text based work, and Nathan’s involvement will provide a new opportunity to look at how we create work outdoors.” The legacy of the Paralympic Games could be enormous. “Through the process lots of artists will have the opportunity to work with each other in an inclusive way”, Sealey suggests, “and many people will have the opportunity to develop skills that will inform outdoor and circus work in the future.” Hemmings hopes it will be “a ceremony which will emotionally resonate with the audience and contribute to the transformation of perception and understanding, changing the way people feel about the contribution disabled people make to society”. Sealey wants people “to judge as Miranda would, marvelling at ‘How beauteous mankind is’ seeing such diversity on a playing field”. Jodi Myers is an independent arts consultant and a member of the board of directors of Graeae Theatre Company
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Fringe benefits With a gap of more than two weeks between the end of the Olympic Games and the beginning of the Paralympic Games, Edinburgh has been busy thinking of ways to lure people 400 miles north from London for a cultural hit. The question of how much the London Olympic Games
By the time the Olympic Games finish on 12 August, the Scottish capital will be heaving with visitors from over 60 countries to the Edinburgh International Festival, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the Edinburgh Art Festival and the Edinburgh International Book Festival. Once the Paralympic Games begin on 29 August, the festivals will be either finished or winding down. The plan is to lure For at least one organisation, however, the 2012 event audiences, journalists and cultural leaders 400 miles north, provides a great opportunity. In the gap between the as well as offering UK holidaymakers an alternative to a Olympic and Paralympic Games, Edinburgh’s summer disrupted capital. festivals will be in full swing, a coincidence the umbrella As elsewhere in the UK, Edinburgh is programming events body Festivals Edinburgh has been quick to exploit. The as part of the Cultural Olympiad. They include Speed Of five-year-old organisation represents the city’s 12 major Light, a choreographed display of illuminated hill running festivals throughout the year and is focusing much of its on Arthur’s Seat, and, as part of the World Shakespeare Festival, productions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream (As marketing power on the Olympics. will affect audiences for other cultural events will be argued over until the statistics come in. A recent report by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport forecast a postOlympics boost for the West End as tourists, drawn by the good publicity, return in greater numbers in 2013, but it is all conjecture until the thing actually happens.
The Royal Shakespeare Company’s The Rape Of Lucrece will play at this year’s Edinburgh International Festival | Photo: RSC/Ellie Kurttz
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“Festivals Edinburgh is a particular thing... arguably nobody else in the world has something like that”
2008: Macbeth will play in Edinburgh this summer as part of the World Shakespeare Festival | Photo: Stefan Okoêwicz
You Like It), directed by Russia’s Dmitry Krymov, and TR Warszawa’s 2008: Macbeth, directed by Poland’s Grzegorz Jarzyna. These are all part of the Edinburgh International Festival whose Artistic Director, Jonathan Mills, was in charge of the Melbourne Festival at the time of the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000, so has form in this area. Edinburgh’s strategy, however, is not about giving a sporty spin to its cultural programme so much as marketing the summer festivals as the Olympics of the arts world. Just as elite athletes will gravitate towards East London, goes the thinking, so elite artists will head to the Scottish capital. Alex McGowan, Executive Director and joint Chief Executive of Edinburgh’s Royal Lyceum Theatre, argues that for most theatres the Olympics pose little threat. The summer months are always a quiet time, so beyond the West End and, conceivably, Pitlochry and Chichester, the effect will be minimal. He believes Edinburgh’s festivals are in a category of their own however, and that justifies the marketing drive. “Loads of theatres from mid-July through August don’t normally get an audience anyway, because it’s school holidays, it’s summer, people aren’t coming indoors,” says McGowan, whose theatre is a key venue for the Edinburgh International Festival. “So apart from your Lion Kings and your Billy Elliots, producing houses tend not to operate. Festivals Edinburgh is a particular thing: nobody else in the
UK, and arguably nobody else in the world, has something like that, so it does genuinely have a unique selling proposition. If anybody’s going to manage to get something out of it, it’s a brand like that.” At Festivals Edinburgh, Marketing Manager Susan Russell has been focusing her attentions on the Olympics since early 2011. “At that time, a lot of tour operator associations started talking about concerns they had about a drop-off of international visitors,” she says. “Our international visitors are roughly 16% of our total audiences across the year, so if we lost 50% of them, how would we offset that on a domestic level to encourage more people from the UK to attend our festivals?” Despite the profile of the Olympic Games, people are often discouraged from visiting a host city because of perceived expense, delays and disruption. The European Tour Operators Association was against the Olympics being staged in London, having observed the effect on tourism in cities such as Beijing in 2008, and believes many long-haul travellers will avoid the UK altogether. Some operators have been programming destinations such as Manchester and Edinburgh as alternatives to the capital. The challenge for Festivals Edinburgh – which has core annual funds of £400,000 supplemented in 2012 by grants of £65,000 from VisitScotland and £78,000 from Creative Scotland – was to identify visitors likely to make this kind
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of switch, as well as those who are in London because of the Olympics and have additional time to spend. Russell says the organisation settled on three strands: “extension marketing” to encourage tour operators to make pre or post-Olympic trips to Scotland; “displacement marketing,” aimed at those in the south east who want to avoid London; and “staycation marketing” to attract short-break holidaymakers from Northern England and Scotland, in particular Glasgow. “If there was a drop-off of international visitors, then that’s where we could grow a more local audience,” she says.
with artists, thinkers and cultural policy experts. Under the theme of ‘culture as an international dialogue’, it will consider the role of the arts in deepening international relations, the maintenance of private and public support for culture, and the skills needed for the future of the creative industries.
Susan Russell
As well as PR work and digital marketing, the campaign includes regional radio adverts in Manchester and Newcastle and national adverts in The Times and The Guardian. This year’s campaign began several months earlier than usual but, like everyone trying to get to grips with the Olympic phenomenon, Russell has to cope with uncertainty: “With all the other cities that have hosted the games, there is no general like-for-like. It has been really hard for the tourism agencies to predict numbers into the UK.” A major opportunity for the Edinburgh festivals, as Russell sees it, comes from broadcasters and print journalists. With a pool of international sports, travel and lifestyle journalists already in London – some of whom will have to remain in the UK until the Paralympic Games – Festivals Edinburgh is hoping to boost media coverage of the festivals. If the campaign is successful, the benefits will be long-term rather than immediate, but such profile-raising exercises are precisely why Festivals Edinburgh was set up. “We’re working strategically with VisitScotland and VisitBritain around the London Media Centre to try to ensure that we’re front and centre of all messaging,” says Russell, noting it will be much cheaper to get journalists the short distance to Edinburgh than all the way from overseas. “We’re trying not to take everyone away from London during the Olympics, but we’re looking at short press trips – it could be getting the sleeper up to Edinburgh, spend a day here and get the sleeper back, so they’re only out of the city for one day.” Helping in this process will be an international culture summit in Edinburgh on 13 and 14 August attended by culture ministers from nations attending the games. A collaboration between the Scottish Government, the UK Government, the Edinburgh International Festival and the British Council, it will bring ministers together
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“It provides a wonderful opportunity for fellow culture ministers from around the world to come together and focus on the benefits of culture and the role it can play in improving dialogue,” said Ed Vaizey, the UK’s Minister for Culture, when the summit was announced. “Set against the backdrop of the Edinburgh International Festival, this conference makes an excellent addition to the programme of events being put on by the UK around the Olympic and Paralympic Games.” For Russell, it is also a great excuse to attract cultural journalists. “With the cultural summit, there are opportunities for us to pitch in to the long-leaders to say, ‘This amazing thing’s happening, make sure you stay for a couple of extra days.’ The world is in London and Edinburgh at the same time, so it was a fantastic hook for Edinburgh to host the world’s first cultural summit.” Cornering culture vultures in this way should be straight forward, but what about sports fans? Does it follow that interest in an athletic event should cross over into interest in Edinburgh’s arts festivals? “If you’re interested in those kind of major large-scale events, the world’s biggest arts festival would be an interesting add-on to a holiday,” she says. “We target a lot of long-haul visitors who don’t just want to do one particular thing. For example, if a North American came to Scotland, they’d want to play a round of golf in St Andrews, try the whisky and walk up a hill. So you’ll probably get those sporting aficionados who have to see the 100m final, but at the same time, if they’re coming this far, they want to make the most of their time here.” Early indications are good – the travel website Expedia has reported a 30% increase in July bookings for Glasgow and Edinburgh – but Festivals Edinburgh is ready with a lastminute tactical campaign should figures appear sluggish in July and early August. How it turns out is as open to speculation as the names of the athletes who will climb the Olympic podium but, a contender to the last, Festivals Edinburgh is determined to go for gold. Mark Fisher is a freelance feature writer and The Guardian’s theatre critic in Scotland. He is the author of The Edinburgh Fringe Survival Guide.
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Speed Of Light has been programmed as part of the Cultural Olympiad | Photo: Toby Williams
“The world is in Edinburgh and London at the same time, so it was a fantastic hook for Edinburgh to host the world’s first cultural summit”
25 Speed Of Light at Edinburgh’s Arthur’s Seat | Photo: Alan McAteer
FEATURE
On your marks
It’s a tremendous opportunity to put the UK on the world stage, but with it comes risks. We asked Travelers Insurance Company Limited (Travelers), the insurance company that support the TMA’s Training Programme, how best to identify and manage risks linked to the Olympic Games.
They’ve been labelled the first risk-based Olympic Games.
When you consider the provisions for risk management at London 2012, it’s little wonder. The sheer scale of the potential challenges facing organisers becomes clear when you consider the numbers: over a six-week period this summer, the UK will welcome millions of extra visitors, more than 15,000 athletes and 200 heads of state, attending 32 different venues dotted throughout the country, according to the official London 2012 website. It will place unprecedented demands on the nation’s transport infrastructure, local authority services, the police and private businesses. This is particularly the case in the capital city, where the bulk of the Games will take place, but also in every other location where events are taking place or the Torch is passing through. While the UK may not have hosted a recent global event such as the Olympics, Travelers’ UK office has been working closely with counterparts in the US, which have had handson experience with the Vancouver Winter Olympic Games and the G20 in recent years. As with both of these high-profile events, terrorism is the most obvious – and headline-grabbing – threat to the Games, but it is far from the only risk. Some experts predict that, during the Games, the country could experience increased pick-pocketing, petty crime and cyber crime. Business disruption is one potential scenario facing companies during the Games, especially in London. A survey of businesses undertaken by Deloitte for its report The State of Play: London 2012 – Ready or not? found that one in four businesses was already assessing potential risks from the Games. The two key areas of concern were transport and unavailability of staff. However, there are ways that companies can successfully mitigate this problem. “Businesses should consider, where possible, offering their staff home working or working from alternative locations and hours in order to minimise the potential disruption
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during this period,” Travelers’ Health and Safety Adviser, Tony Booth, says. He also suggests creating dedicated communication networks to ensure that staff are kept abreast of developments that might affect them throughout the Games. “One item relating to occupational health and safety is ensuring that you are able to communicate effectively to your staff any urgent information,” he explains. “Employers with mobile staff may want to consider a coordinated communication approach, which uses multiple ways of reaching people.”
Major inroads have already been made to minimise potential disruption to transport systems, according to Dr Liz Lee-Kelley, Programme Director of the specialist MSc in Programme and Project Management at Cranfield School of Management. “There is a traffic-demand management system in place and the Games’ organisers, working with Transport for London, are negotiating with businesses to allow flexible home working and to encourage individual commuters to be prepared to take alternative routes to work,” she says. The Society of London Theatre (SOLT) has also been playing its part, producing a special theatre travel guide with Transport for London. As London’s Transport Commissioner, Peter Hendy, said: “We have two clear objectives at TfL; to support the delivery of a great London 2012 Games and ensure we keep London moving and open
for business [this] summer. With 95% of West End theatres a 15 minute walk, or less, from mainline stations, and with Tube trains running an hour later during the Olympics, there’s every reason for people to head to the theatres in their droves [this] summer.” Julian Bird, Chief Executive of SOLT and the TMA, believes that the Games should have an enormous positive impact, but that careful planning is extremely important: “Hosting the Olympics and Paralympics is a huge opportunity for London and the entire UK. It should have long-term benefits for the health of our theatre sector, one of the few industries where we can still say that we are truly world leaders. But with every opportunity comes an element of risk. We have spent over a year examining the potential challenges ahead for theatre in London and doing everything we can to ensure our members can make the most of the very different visitor demographic we can expect in 2012. “We have been able to work with partners to mitigate potential risks, particularly around transport. It’s fantastic that most mainline stations won’t be affected by the Games at crucial times for theatre performances and that the Underground will be open until 01:30. But having done the hard work in addressing complex logistical issues, it is crucial that we let our current and potential customers know how they can make the most of what we have to offer. “Almost every theatre company and certainly every venue in the UK will be affected by activities in this unprecedented summer. I would encourage all our members all around the UK to make sure they have seriously assessed the risks and potential new opportunities ahead and have clear plans to address them, along with a practical strategy for engaging in a positive way with customers and potential stakeholders.”
All photos courtesy of London 2012
Travelers has supported the TMA’s training programme in 2011 and 2012. Well established in the media and entertainment insurance markets in the UK, US and Canada, Travelers offer specialist insurance solutions for theatrical and production companies. To find out more about Travelers go to www.travelers.co.uk or talk to your insurance broker.
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EVENT
One tour. Four nations. TMA General Manager David Brownlee reflects on discussions and debate at this year’s TMA Touring Symposium.
This year’s TMA Touring Symposium
focused on collaborations and working internationally, but it also featured a panel session with senior representatives of the arts funding bodies from three of the four UK nations. The speed and warmth of their acceptance to face potentially hostile questioning from a room of over 200 practitioners should be noted. Would this have been the case five years
ago? Possibly not. In fact it may have been challenging to even know who to invite from some arts councils five years ago. But in 2012 it was easy to identify the strategic leads for touring and they all had positive stories to tell. Independently in all three nations touring has risen up the list of strategic priorities of the devolved cultural development agencies. We heard there are still challenges. In Wales, a nation of just three million people, sums available to support touring reflect the size of the population. In Scotland, revenue support from Local Authorities is increasingly under threat and there are also major issues around the availability of appropriate infrastructure to support touring outside of the ‘central belt’. But in all three nations represented on stage there was a clear understanding of the importance of investing in supporting producers to reach places that would otherwise struggle to receive quality product. So had recent touring policies been developed in a joined-up way across the UK nations? It didn’t seem so, and the message from the stage was of potential increasing divergence. Whether the anecdotes shared in the international touring session of
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near disasters due to different time zones and currency fluctuations could ever have relevance to those touring in a no longer ‘United Kingdom’ is currently simply a matter for conjecture. But the ‘UK’ touring world may begin to look very different in another five years time. In the meantime, currently the arts funders are at least talking to each other about touring. The ‘15% rule’ – where a funded tour can include at least 15% of dates outside the home nation – is still officially in force across the four nations, although it seems to be being observed in admirably pragmatically different ways in each country. Earlier in the day at the Symposium, John Stalker talked about what he believed were the successful ingredients for successful partnerships . One was that partners were of an equal status. It was ironic to reflect on this in the session with the funders. With 84% of the UK’s population, England’s cheque book for touring is of a completely different scale to the other nations. But with the difference in size of resources and population comes other challenges. True, £45 million of Lottery ‘Strategic Funds’ to invest over the next three years is a wonderful resource that could make a
EVENT major difference to the touring landscape in England, but in Wales and Scotland, funders are dealing with a far more manageable canvas. They understand the fundamental issues around supply and demand and can work in a practical, hands-on way with arts organisations, local authorities and other partners to make a real difference in the places that most need it. The approach in England over the next three years will largely be reactive. Arts Council England has provided a very well thought through set of guidelines for grant applications, but at the end of the day they will have to sit back and see what applications come in. This isn’t a criticism, it’s simply a legal fact of life when it comes to Lottery rather than Treasury funding. And as the balance between Lottery and Treasury funding continues to shift – at the same time as another wave of staffing reductions are enforced – ACE’s ability to be pro-active and make a real positive difference to the arts infrastructure will be increasingly stretched. I wholeheartedly applaud the objectives behind ACE’s new fund and sincerely hope that they receive an excellent range of applications for high quality arts activities that really give new people the chance to regularly experience great work. If, looking back in three years time, this is the case I will be delighted. Delighted and very surprised. There are several reasons for my reluctant scepticism. New partnership and collaboration is at the core of ACE’s policy. Local authorities should be at the heart of this, but my recent conversations with Local Authority venue managers have generally focussed on staff cuts, bans on any kind of ‘risk-taking’ and a complete lack of capacity to engage in any activity other than opening a building and making it safe. And Arts Development Officers, who have previously been invaluable in increasing capacity and building partnerships in the community, will soon officially be an endangered species. If successful collaborations require a partnership of ‘equals’, 2012 may be the least fertile time in living memory to grow sustainable local partnerships. For organisations with professional fundraisers on their staff, the application process for ACE touring funds is a fairly
straightforward process. For many small organisations and most commercial outfits, it will take a significant investment to bring in the skills and capacity to write the bid, with no guarantee of success. It will be fascinating to see how many organisations outside ACE’s core National Portfolio are funded in the early rounds. Finally there is ACE itself, about to face another enforced round of ‘restructuring’ whilst trying to run a national programme that requires detailed local knowledge in every region to deliver its objectives. In my day, the funder’s knowledge of infrastructure beyond the funded portfolio was sketchy at best. It is now a significantly smaller organisation and about to be
shrunk once more, with the major turbulence and reduction in corporate memory that always accompany significant cuts. Will it really be able to gather and manage the intelligence needed to make informed national decisions on local need during this period of change? It’s wonderful news for the public and the sector that touring is once more at the heart of cultural policy around the UK, with different approaches, priorities and budgets. From the TMA’s perspective, we will do everything we can to support our Members and funders to make the best of the new opportunities. Let’s hope there will be much to celebrate at the 2015 Touring Symposium.
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FORWARD THINKING
Managing conflict with customers In advance of her managing conflict with customers training course for the TMA in May, Ruth Mason tells Prompt the three golden rules you should always follow.
“I
’ve had enough of this pantomime and I’d like my money back please”. No, not the words uttered post interval at a recent festive offering, but words proffered calmly and assuredly during a recent altercation in one of Britain’s biggest high street electrical appliance shops. As a staple offering at one’s local retail park – the most remarkable aspect of which is their recent change of staff uniform to bright pink shirts – I expected nothing less than a straight forward and courteous customer interaction. Basically, I needed a vac, they sell vacs. Job’s a good ‘un I thought. But once home with my shiny new vacuum cleaner, I found that a small but important part of it was broken. After being assured that a replacement part would be ordered and dispatched to me the very next day, I thought nothing of it. That day came and went. In fact, several days came and went. Along with several phone calls. And the carpet pile in my best parlour was beginning to look like a fine example of South American pampas grass. By this time, I’d talked myself into that very English ‘it doesn’t matter, I’ll manage’ mindset. We’ve all done it haven’t we? In order to avoid conflict, we choose the path of least resistance; decide it isn’t worth confronting a difficult issue and let things pass. And each time we do this, we are diminished. We are ever so slightly, almost imperceptibly, but quite distinctly diminished as a human being. It was only at this point that I remembered the first rule of managing conflict: You Have the Right. In fact, you have many rights. Amongst them, you have the right to assert your wants and needs. Importantly, you also have the right to say ‘no’ without feeling guilty. Now, as many of you will know, assertiveness is the ability to express ourselves openly and honestly without denying the rights of others, and it was at this point that I decided to assert my rights. Once we are armed with the knowledge of our behavioural rights, it helps us to become much more assertive in our interactions with others. This means that whether we’re dealing with an angry,
hostile customer in our own work situation, or wanting to achieve a successful outcome for ourselves, we can do this assertively, without transgressing the rights of others. Armed with my rights and a large cardboard box, I approached the shop. It was at this point that I remembered the second rule of managing conflict: Stay Adult. Now, it would have been the easiest thing in the world to storm into the shop, grab the nearest fuchsia-clad oik and suggest something highly inappropriate involving a brush attachment and a bodily orifice. Mindful of rule number one, I resisted
a Child ego response and therefore to be avoided. As I waited at the counter while my bank card was refunded, I began to realise that everyone had overlooked the third important rule of managing conflict: Say Sorry. Back in 2008, the then newly elected Prime Minister of Australia Kevin Rudd gave an historic speech apologising for the forced abduction of a generation of aboriginal children by white Australian early settlers. 26 May is now their annual National Sorry Day. Impressive. A lofty example maybe, but one which demonstrates the importance of saying sorry as part of the healing process. So, if you would like to be bored with further details of ‘Vac-Gate’, or more importantly learn more about managing conflict with customers, come and join me at the TMA in May. In the meantime, if you’re keen on offering exceptional customer service in your venue, remember the three rules of managing conflict: You Have the Right, Stay Adult and Say Sorry.
Ruth Mason
the urge. Back in 1964, Dr Eric Berne, a Canadian psychiatrist, wrote the book Games People Play. He defined the three ego states of Parent, Adult and Child and explored the conversational transactions or ‘games’ that ensued. He captured all of this in his theory of Transactional Analysis. The theory says that effective transactions – or to put it another way, successful communication between two people – happens when one ego state talks to the same ego state, and that the very best combination is Adult to Adult. Clearly, oik grabbing and inappropriate suggestions re: domestic appliances would have been
Ruth Mason has held senior positions in arts management, business development, PR and leadership training across a range of organisations including Bradford Theatres, the NSPCC, Opera North and the NHS, and is a trustee and board member of Mind the Gap theatre company. She is an accredited facilitator of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator tool (MBTI) and a qualified practitioner in Neuro-Linguistic Programming.
Managing Conflict with Customers training 29 May 2012, TMA, London Working to help our customers enjoy an artistic experience can be a source of immense job satisfaction. But what happens when things go wrong? If your role brings you in contact with customers, you may have encountered difficult situations, flared tempers or even physical aggression. This one-day course explores how to deal with these situations while remaining calm and professional and how to reach a successful outcome for all involved. For more information and to book, go to www.tmauk.org/events
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MEET & GREET
Kirsty Hoyle Kirsty Hoyle has joined the TMA as Access Manager, balancing her role alongside working part-time at the Unicorn Theatre. She tells Prompt how members can improve access in their theatres and what she wants to achieve in her new role. Kirsty Hoyle
Why did you want to join the TMA? Working with the TMA was attractive as it is an excellent chance for me to build on my current work by looking into more wide-spread access policy and standards. There are many theatres that are very keen to understand, and cater for, disabled audiences and I am really enjoying helping theatres to find positive ways to do this. In my experience I have found there is so often nervousness around engaging with disabled audiences because of the fear of ‘getting it wrong’. It is a big part of my job to demystify the – often very simple – steps a venue can take to become more accessible. Also, there is so much good work in the UK that I will enjoy having a national platform through which to share it.
What have you seen at the theatre lately? Matilda The Musical, which was absolutely brilliant; I laughed, I cried and I sang all the way home.
Your career so far has been a mix of working in theatre and working with people with disabilities. Was it always the plan to bring the two together? I didn’t really think that I could to be honest, as least not without working for a theatre company. I think there are more jobs available now which bridge disability and theatre and I am approached regularly by young people and students who want to work in this field which is brilliant. Access at any venue is only as good as the person responsible for it and it is exciting to see careers being developed in this area, rather than access being an afterthought tagged onto the duties of whoever is personally interested in it, which is sometimes the case.
You are also Access Manager at the Unicorn. What does this experience offer the TMA? It is helpful that while talking to theatres about access I am able to relate with current, rather than reflective, experience. Particularly as theatre access is developing in leaps and bounds at the moment. I am lucky to work at a theatre which is regularly identified as a leader in the field, and we develop, evaluate and push boundaries constantly. Our loyal and honest audience feed back openly about our successes and our failures, and these relationships help to inform my practice in both positions.
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Does your experience working with carers and as a drama co-ordinator at a special educational needs school help you in both roles? Yes, very much so. I have first-hand experience of just how much work and effort can go into organising a theatre trip for a family with disabled children. This helped me to start thinking about how venues need to be accessible from the outset of audience engagement, not just when the audience reach the venue. Working closely with groups of disabled children also meant I learnt to value the importance of having a sense of humour when things get difficult, and not to sweat the small stuff – all good tactics for working with the public! I also worked with hundreds of families with disabled children and adults, placing and monitoring specialist nannies. This experience ensures a good understanding of the needs of disabled people which I feel is hugely important when attempting to provide high quality access for this audience.
What are your immediate plans at the TMA? One of the larger projects I am working on is researching some basic audience guidelines, the aim of which is to encourage theatres to welcome increasingly diverse audiences and to support them in balancing the needs of disabled and non-disabled audience members. We are collaborating with a number of national charities and audience members to ensure that this happens. I am also working with the National Autistic Society to create a best practice template for a ‘visual story’. These are documents which explain the process of going to the theatre and give visual and textual information to help prepare audiences with a sensory or communication disorder for their visit. This will be available for all theatres to use as a reference document and we hope to see these documents becoming an on-going offering from theatres as the feedback from families has been incredibly positive.
It’s a tricky time for the arts with funding cuts. How do you think these cuts will affect theatre access? I think this offers a great opportunity for venues to continue to develop new audiences by focussing on inclusivity as a way of engaging a local, sustainable audience which is wholly representative of the local community, which has a long-
MEET & GREET term financial and social benefit. Also, creative thinking and sharing best practice with other venues helps to keep accessible performances economically viable; there is an enormous amount of brilliant work being done already which needs to be shared more effectively.
What opportunities do the Olympic and Paralympic Games offer access in theatres? The anticipated increase in disabled visitors to London and its theatres is a perfect opportunity for us to ‘test’ the accessibility of our theatres and to be proud of the good work already happening. Through the Society of London Theatre’s Access London Theatre project we have excellent maps and information available on venue accessibility for all visitors to theatres in London, and we also have advice and guides available for venues on supporting disabled audiences. There are many accessible performances planned for over the summer and we look forward to welcoming diverse audiences into our theatres. This summer also offers us an opportunity
bringing the industry together Established in 1894, the TMA is the leading membership body representing the interests of and providing professional support for the performing arts in the UK. Our members include theatres, multi-purpose venues, arts centres, concert halls, commercial producers, touring theatre, opera and ballet companies, sole traders and suppliers to the performing arts. The TMA provides a collective voice for the management of the UK performing arts. We support our members with the very latest in current thinking and best practice, and our services include specialist legal, financial and employment relations expertise, practical support and guidance. The TMA’s agreements with the trade unions are the benchmark for the employment and engagement of those working in the middle and large scale UK performing arts. We represent the interests of arts organisations from across the UK to central, local and European government, funding and other bodies concerned with the performing arts. (From left to right) Hall for Cornwall, Northampton’s Royal & Derngate, and the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester
to get feedback and to hear what disabled audience members think of our theatres, which can help us to continue developing. Onwards and upwards!
What easy steps can TMA members do to improve access in their venues? In my experience, attitudinal changes are the quickest and most effective, which is most positively kicked off by Disability Awareness Training. Most venues are able to tell audiences how many accessible toilets they have, but not all have properly trained box office staff who are able to clearly and confidently offer advice on supporting a disabled audience member at their venue. Often the physical access to a venue cannot be changed, but the way disabled people are treated in that venue can easily be improved with education.
Can members contact you for advice? Of course, email kirsty@solttma.co.uk. And not just for advice, please tell me about projects and positive access stories too!
Member benefits A wide range of local and national professional networking opportunities Advice, guidance and support on legal matters, industrial relations, business management and corporate governance Reduced costs through the TMA’s Group Purchasing Scheme Reduced rates and advance booking for our high quality training and events programme To find out how to become a member or how you can get more value from your existing membership, call Gemma Nelson on 020 7557 6706 or visit www.tmauk.org
Photo: HOLLIS
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SOUNDING BOARD
Effective networking
Networking is an essential part of relationship building and business development for any organisation. Prompt asked four arts professionals how to network successfully. Sonia Beldom, executive media training coach/facilitator If you want to see brilliant networking watch the popular kids in school; they quickly form lasting childhood relationships by picking those who are going to be the most reliable friends, have the most in common and make them feel liked. We then network as teenagers to find attractive people who find us attractive Sonia Beldom in return. As grown-ups our analytical brains take over from our subconscious and we have to re-learn our networking skills because our adult relationships need to feed, clothe, inspire, nurture and support us financially. We learn to to look people in the eye, adopt similar body language, build rapport, speak in the same language and learn how to quickly convey our business message and assess how useful the other person will be to us. Well, that’s the theory and some people are better at it than others.
demonstrate artistic excellence, we give career opportunities for the young, we champion female playwrights, ethnically diverse writers, innovative thinkers and experimenters, we celebrate rural Suffolk and represent it UK-wide and internationally. Articulated in this list are examples of the three reasons why people give to the arts: 1) to enable true artistry, 2) to further understanding and social cohesion and 3) to celebrate place (often where you live or where you are from). Good networking requires creativity; positioning your ask into the interests of who you’re speaking with. So to take HighTide’s patrons as an example, Sam Mendes will provide us with something different to David Hare, but it’s your job to tailor the ask and to therein get something equally useful from both. The British are often characterised as reticent and reserved. If I were asking for money for myself, I’d probably be too abashed. But there’s great release in asking for the support of others. Douglas McJannet, General Manager at Arden Entertainment
So how good at networking are you? Do you get more incoming requests, contracts and phone calls than outgoing? If so, great, however it’s often the reverse. An hour’s meeting is a luxury in today’s world, a 30-second pitch is more likely, so a simple mantra is ‘cast your net wide and work hard at your communication skills’. Get it right personally and improved business will follow. Steven Atkinson, Artistic Director of HighTide Festival Theatre
Steven Atkinson
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We’re talking about getting people behind your cause, getting them to contribute towards the furtherance of it. In my position, the cause is philanthropic support of new playwrights. So the beneficiaries are the playwrights and the return for the supporter is the pleasure derived in helping others. So why help HighTide? We
Douglas McJannet
The most important thing, and hardest to achieve, is to set aside time each week to develop your network as part of your on-going work. This is in addition to the day-to-day networking we all do, whether as part of an opening night, updating your Facebook status or simply having the courage to make a brave telephone call.
When I embarked on earning a living after university, I worked in advertising sales. Very quickly I realised that on a commission structure, if you don’t try, you don’t earn. So with that ethic I toiled hard during my years in sales and with this knowledge applied myself through my own business set up in 2006, seizing every opportunity to meet new people. Tenacity, drive and a sense of humour are all essential in building your own network. Don’t get me wrong, not every business encounter goes to plan or shows you in your most favourable light. Mistakes do happen, clashes do occur, but as long as they are the exception rather than the rule, then surely you must be doing something right!
SOUNDING BOARD Katie Harper, Programme Manager of Stage One As the programme manager of Stage One, a charity dedicated to developing commercial producers, I see first-hand the benefits of networking. New producers in particular are extremely ambitious and hungry to network with co-producers, venues, creatives and the Holy Grail… investors! But what is the best Katie Harper way to network? Whether you are starting out in this industry or looking for a change of direction within it, the rules are mainly the same.
• Find out who the industry’s movers and shakers are and have an awareness of their projects, offer to help and try to build relationships • At a networking or industry event, take an interest and engage in conversation with others, rather than talk about yourself and ask 101 unfocused questions • Use social media to network but also pick up the phone and have one-on-one conversations • Asking someone to mentor you means that you have someone else in the industry saying your name and championing you • Remember that this industry is actually quite small and many people know each other and talk
• If you have successfully networked and made a new contact, • If you meet a new contact for the first time, send them an follow it through by doing what you said you were going to email, swap business cards and remember where they work and quickly. If it’s sending a CV, make sure it’s excellent and in a clear format so the person can read it easily and what they do
In the next issue: The next issue of Prompt will focus on all aspects of managing risk in the theatre industry: from financial and funding risks to health and safety and insurance. • Is theatre in 2012 a riskier business than it has ever been? • Are we getting better at understanding and mitigating risks? • What are the emerging areas of threats we should be focusing on in the coming years?
Get in touch! Comments, questions, suggestions? We would love to hear your views on any of the subjects in this issue of Prompt. To contact us, email prompt@solttma.co.uk. If you would like your letter to be considered for publication in a future issue, please mark ‘for publication’.
To request y p your co CALL: 57 020 75 6706 35
RESEARCH
21st century panto The world is a fast moving place but theatregoers’ passion for the classic panto seems unwavering. David Brownlee looks back over the last 10 years to see how the British favourite festive pastime is faring.
I
t’s Christmas 2001. Bob The Builder figures are selling faster than you can say ‘Yes we can!’ 1 A new invention called an ‘iPod’ is failing to capture the public’s imagination, shifting just 125,000 units worldwide before the end of the year 2 , 55% of UK homes will only have a choice of five channels to watch on Christmas Day 3 and less than 40% will be able to surf the internet 4 after the Queen’s speech. But at TMA member venues panto is in rude health: 74% of available tickets were sold and 61% of the maximum potential box office income was achieved across the 2001/02 season. Fast forward 10 years. By Christmas 2010 73% of households are online 5 and 93% have access to a myriad of TV channels. In the three months running up to Christmas Day 2010, Apple sold a staggering 19 million iPods, 16 million iPhones and seven million iPads. And how was panto coping with this new digital world? In 2010/11, shows played to 74% capacity and achieved 61% of potential box office income. Exactly the same as in 2001/02.
1. For all sources, visit www.tmauk.org
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Shaun Prendergast as Widow Twankey at the Lyric Hammersmith | Photo: Tristram Kenton
RESEARCH The figures actually vary very little across the 10 years, averaging 75% tickets and 63% cash. 2009-10 was not a good season (reflecting the UK economic situation), but 2010/11 began to show an upturn. But the main thing to note about capacity and yield is just how little things have changed.
than this, averaging 84%. 2005/06 was the record season, with average actual yield of 90% of the average asking price. Some caution is needed with these figures: they do not necessarily mean that there was any less discounting as if a higher proportion of above average price tickets were sold, this will also bring the percentage up.
In 2001/02 the average price paid for a ticket was £10.35. In 2010/11 this had risen to £15.86. Before rushing to condemn profiteering producers and venue managers, it is worth remembering that £1 in December 2001 was only worth 76p in December 2010, according to the Retail Prices Index 6 . In real terms, prices paid for tickets have gone up by a more modest but not insubstantial 17%. The increase largely came in three large, above inflation leaps in 2002/03, 2005/06 and 2007/08. Average real term prices paid actually fell in 2007/08 and 2008/09.
So now with a decade’s worth of sales data, what can we say about panto in the 21st century? Clearly there is still a sizable market and customers are prepared to pay as much if not more for their experience. The economic downturn has had an impact on attendances, box office income, ticket prices and ticket yield, but early figures for 2011/12 suggest that the upturn of the previous year is continuing and accelerating.
There is of course a difference between the actual price paid for tickets and the average asking price. In 2001/02 the average asking price for a ticket was £12.57. This rose to £19.03 in 2010/11, or, adjusted for inflation to December 2001 prices, £14.47 (an 11% increase). Significant above inflation asking price increases occurred in 2002/03, 2006/07 and 2009/10. In real terms, average ticket prices dropped by 4.5% in 2007/08. If we look at the average price achieved as a percentage of the asking price, this was 82% at the start of the 10 year period and 83% at the end, but for most of the period it was better
While the extremely valuable sales data collected by Michael Quine for TMA can tell us about our performance in the changing financial climate, it can’t tell us how our audiences have changed. In 2001, 87% of the population in England and Wales were defined as ‘white British’. By 2009 that had reduced to 83% 7 . Have our audiences changed to reflect that shift in population? What other changes have there been in the socio-demographic make-up of the art form that accounts for 23% of revenue and over a quarter of annual attendances for TMA members? Sadly we can’t currently say, but with advances in technology there is no reason why we shouldn’t be collecting and sharing a far broader range of significant insight and intelligence in the years ahead.
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TMA diary dates Prompt looks at what’s coming up in the next six months in training and events. For further details on all TMA training courses and events go to www.tmauk.org/events or to receive a full brochure email events@solttma.co.uk
April Sun 15
Olivier Awards with MasterCard, Royal Opera House, London
Wed 18
Business Planning Training, London
Thu 19
Negotiation Skills Training, London
May
Thu 14
Networking for Success Training, London
Thu 21
London 2012 Festival begins, nationwide Training, London
Tue 26
Introduction to Finance Training, London
Thu 28
Health & Safety Essentials Plus Training, London
July
Mon 7
Bank Holiday
Tue 8
Managing VAT in the Performing Arts Sector Training, London
Wed 9
Media & Presentation Skills Training, London
Thu 10
Sustainable Touring Training, London
Tue 15
TMA Members’ Meeting, AGM & Annual Lunch, London
Tue 15Fri 18
IOSH Managing Safely Training, London
September
Wed 23
Managing VAT in the Performing Arts Sector Training, Birmingham Hippodrome
Thu 10
Wed 23
Press & PR Conference, London
Tue 29
Managing Conflict with Customers Training, London
Fri 27
Olympic Games Opening Ceremony
August Sun 12
Olympic Games Closing Ceremony
Wed 29
Paralympic Games Opening Ceremony
Paralympic Games Closing Ceremony & 2012 Festival ends
And further ahead... Sun 28 Oct Theatre Awards UK 2012 Thu 8 Nov TMA Members’ Meeting
June Sat 2Tue 5
Diamond Jubilee Events
Mon 4Tue 5
Bank Holidays
The Royal Opera House will host the Olivier Awards with MasterCard 2012 on 15 April | Photo: Peter Mackertich
The theatre business is becoming increasingly more complex and it is important that those involved take advantage of professional development and share best practice. That is why Travelers is delighted to support TMA’s training programme, helping theatres to successfully manage their organisations and business risks. To find out more about Travelers visit www.travelers.co.uk or talk to your insurance broker.
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