Memorandum submitted by Birmingham Repertory
Theatre
BACKGROUND
Birmingham Repertory Theatre, founded in 1913 by
Sir Barry Jackson, was the first purpose built repertory theatre
in the UK. Since 1971, when it moved from its original theatre,
it has occupied a prominent site in the city's premier civic square,
next to Symphony Hall and the International Convention Centre.
The Rep (as it is known) has an 812 seat main
auditorium with the largest stage of any producing theatre outside
London and a 140 seat studio theatre, The Door that is wholly
dedicated to the development and production of new writing. This
new writing policy is reflected and complemented on the main stage
through a programme composed mainly of large-scale contemporary
and new work. In both auditoria, the year-round programme is delivered
through a combination of in-house productions, co-productions
(with both subsidised and commercial partners) and visiting work.
The majority of the work produced on the main stage has a life
beyond Birmingham either through touring or transfer to the West
End. The three specific areas in which the Rep aims to specialise,
and which strongly inform all of its programming decisions, are
New Writing, Work for Young People and Cultural Diversity.
The theatre has very strong Literary and Education
departments creating and delivering both a programme of work related
to in-house productions and a variety of discrete projects delivered
in communities throughout the city and wider region.
THE CURRENT
AND LIKELY
FUTURE PATTERN
OF PUBLIC
SUBSIDY FOR
THE THEATRE
The Rep's revenue funding for 2004-05 is:
Arts Council England |
1,551,018
|
Birmingham City Council | 991,165
|
Total | 2,542,183
|
| |
This revenue funding forms approximately 45% of the theatre's
total annual turnover with the other 55% being earned through
ticket sales, sponsorship, catering, touring and co-production
income.
The Rep's funding from Arts Council England rose by approximately
£500,000 between 2001 and 2004 as a result of the Theatre
Review settlement. This additional investment together with the
valuable ongoing support of Birmingham City Council, has had an
extremely beneficial effect on both the artistic and the financial
performance of the theatre over this period. Artistically, it
has enabled the Rep to consolidate and expand the year-round programme
of New Writing in its studio theatre and to produce more shows
of a larger scale and greater diversity on its main stage, as
illustrated in the following comparisons of annual seasons:
| 2000-01 | 2003-04
|
Productions: | |
|
Main House | 9 |
19 |
The Door | 7 |
15 |
Total | 16
| 34 |
Performances: | |
|
Main House | 277
| 322 |
The Door | 161
| 196 |
Total | 438 | 518
|
| |
|
The increase in the quality and diversity of the work that
the theatre has been able to produce with the additional funding
has resulted in a spectacular response from the public over the
period:
| 2000-01 | 2003-04
| %age incr |
Attendances:
|
| | |
Main House | 80,644 |
158,835 | + 97% |
The Door | 12,454 |
17,590 | +41% |
Total | 93,098
| 176,425 | +90%
|
Ticket Sales Income:
|
| | |
Main House | 711,927 |
1,482,489 | +108% |
The Door | 56,329 |
86,812 | +54% |
Total | 768,256
| 1,569,301 | +104%
|
| |
| |
The £500,000 increase in Arts Council England subsidy
has thus led to an increase in ticket sales income of £800,000,
in turn enabling the Rep to be more adventurous in its commissioning
and programming policy and to expand greatly both its literary
development and education & outreach programmes over this
period. New diverse audiences have been attracted through the
theatre's participation in the Eclipse project and by being able
to risk producing and promoting work of particular appeal and
interest to black and asian communities within the city.
All of these achievements are put at risk by the threat of
standstill Arts Council funding from 2006-07 onwards. Costs of
overheads, materials and salaries will undoubtedly continue to
rise in line with inflation, with the inevitable result that the
necessary savings will have to be found in the work produced on
stage and in the community. The positive spiral of increased quantity,
quality and diversity leading to higher attendances and income
can quickly turn into a very damaging downward spiral of fewer
shows with lower production values attracting smaller audiences.
It would be a tragedy and waste of public resources if the stability
and success that the Theatre Review funding has brought to the
Rep and other regional theatres were now to be put at risk through
a failure to keep funding levels in line with inflation over the
next three years.
THE PERFORMANCE
OF ARTS
COUNCIL ENGLAND
IN DEVELOPING
STRATEGIES AND
PRIORITIES AND
DISBURSING FUNDS
ACCORDINGLY
The restructuring that Arts Council England has undertaken
recently has undoubtedly led to considerable improvements in clarity
of purpose, accessibility and efficiency in delivering and monitoring
funds. There is a much clearer and more harmonious relationship
between the national office and the regional offices; the grant
application process is simple and clear; and the monitoring and
reporting systems are user-friendly. In general, there is now
less unnecessary paperwork and bureaucracy than at any time in
the last 20 years.
SUPPORT FOR
THE MAINTENANCE
AND DEVELOPMENT
OF: THEATRE
BUILDINGS; NEW
WRITING; NEW
PERFORMING TALENT
The shrinking of the lottery funds available to Arts Council
England poses a real threat to capital investment in theatres
in the UK. Whilst the Theatre Review funding increase has stabilised
the revenue operations of most regional theatres, it has not addressed
the ever-present need for maintenance and improvement of the buildings.
No subsidised theatre company is able to establish sufficient
reserves to meet its maintenance and capital needs in full. The
whole sector will always be reliant on assistance from public
sources to meet the costs of maintaining what are substantial
public buildings. It is vital that a strategy and funding source
is established for major maintenance and development if the sector
is going to be able to meet the growing legislative and public
demands of its theatres.
New writing and the nurturing of new performance talent are
essential to the future health and vitality of all the performing
arts in the country, and our television and cinema industries
would be considerably weaker without the development work undertaken
by regional theatres in this area. The Rep is currently able to
devote around £120,000 per year to its literary development
operationtraining, nurturing, and commissioning writers
from a wide range of ethnic backgrounds from the age of 13 upwards.
Not all of these young people will go on to become full-time professional
writers but all will benefit in some way from the unique opportunity
for self-expression offered to them. It is vital that regional
theatres continue to be given the resources to enable this important
developmental work to flourish.
THE SIGNIFICANCE
OF THE
THEATRE AS
A GENRE
(A) WITHIN
THE CULTURAL
LIFE OF
THE UK; (B)
IN THE
REGIONS SPECIFICALLY
AND (C)
WITHIN THE
UK ECONOMY, DIRECTLY
AND INDIRECTLY
By particular virtue of its concentration on contemporary
and new writing, the Rep has a significant role to play in allowing
artists and public to examine and debate together issues that
reflect and affect their daily lives. The theatre's extensive
education and outreach programme serves to strengthen this dialogue
between artists and the diverse communities of Birmingham. As
the recent experience of Behzti has so dramatically demonstrated,
the ability of live theatre to stimulate discussion and debate
is alive and well in this country. This should be celebrated and
vigorously protected for, whilst the results of such debates may
not always be comfortable, they are a vital aid to the creation
of an open and inclusive society in which individuals can explore
their selves and relationships with each other.
In addition to playing an active part in Birmingham's cultural
life, the Rep contributes to the city's economy through employment,
trading with local suppliers and additional spending in the city
by its visiting artists and its audiences. The theatre employs
89 permanent staff and, over the course of a year, offers employment
to a further 360 actors, directors, designers and technicians.
THE EFFECTIVENESS
OF PUBLIC
SUBSIDY FOR
THEATRE AND
THE RELATIONSHIP
BETWEEN THE
SUBSIDISED SECTOR
AND THE
COMMERCIAL SECTORESPECIALLY
LONDON'S
WEST END
Much of the Rep's artistic and financial success over the
last three years has been the result of maximising the return
on the increased funding through collaboration with other subsidised
companies and with those from the commercial sector. Co-productions
of this sort enable the Rep to reduce its origination costs of
productions, to increase the "life" of shows, and to
attract actors and directors who would not otherwise come to work
solely in Birmingham. The vast majority of shows now produced
at the Rep are done in collaboration with a partner company and
either tour (nationally and internationally) or transfer to the
West End following their opening in Birmingham. Such partnerships,
whether commercial or subsidised, can, if they are based firmly
upon shared artistic aims, only serve to strengthen the theatrical
life of the country as a whole.
15 January 2005
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