Jim Beirne MBE, Live Theatre, Newcastle upon Tyne
Summary • Importance of context and collaboration • Quality of output • Time – ‘long game’ strategy • Importance of Partners EU, ACE, City, Trusts • Risk – sitting with it - No Pain No Gain, Risk, Pain, Reward, Gain, Pain! • Importance of the team • Asset Based approach - Long term engagement • Doubled turnover 2.3m, added 9m of assets, Public sector reduced from 63% to 27%
Economic Impact Assessment TRENDS 2009- 14
NGCV ’ s independent, annual Economic Impact Assessment is produced by ERS and available online with other information about NGCV at http://ngcv.tv *Visitor spend in Newcastle and Gateshead area . Total additional visitor spend in the NE region was £ 7.3m generating 147 FTE jobs
Many things over last 5 years • 10 organisations 17 buildings, • Economic Impact Study – over 6 years • Shared Services Tenders • Shared approaches to knowledge and training • Equalities Gold Standard across all 10 orgs • Collective Training – Skills Agency • The Unusual Suspects -Big Data Project – 500,000 records 20% crossover! • Focus on C&YP - City of Dreams
Culture & Economy … ..and … Any great city is built on the twin pillars of culture and economy Bringing value & transforming the city – Culturally, Socially, Economically
Mission - New Writing Producer From it’s base on Newcastle’s quayside, Live Theatre; • Creates and performs new plays of world class quality • Finds and develops creative talent • Unlocks the potential of young people through theatre • Future thinking – new models
Co Productions West End Tours International Olivier Nominations/Awards Best New Plays
First Draft to Live Tales
Social Enterprise • Looking to the future – new models of increasing income – Social enterprises • Looked at what we had; our people, our ideas, our buildings • We wanted to create long term income • Knew it had to be about building our asset base & creating revenue • Cambridge University
Social Finance Funds • Notion of using debt to build • From grant, to government finance, to soft loans, to commercial loan/equity • Live Works - a mix of prudential borrowing and grant • Assets from 5-16m, income of £500,000 from 2019 – none of which we had in 2010 • And many steps …… .
Started with 4 Social Enterprises added others
1. The Broad Chare Joint Venture with Cafe 21 Group • Live Theatre owned the lease now freehold • Raised £410,000 mix of grant and soft loan • Run by former Michelin star chef, Live receives 10% of turnover • Nets a play a year, £125,000 pa…..
The Broad Chare Michelin Star Restaurateur
The Writers Block Scotch Eggs
Nigella
4 Bars/Restaurants
2. Beaplaywright.com
3. The Schoolhouse • Attached to Live Theatre, part of the group of historic buildings • Raised £1m, Arts Council, European regeneration. • Generates an income of £35,000 as a small business Cultural Hub • Combines creative talent and enterprise
The Schoolhouse SME Incubator
The Schoolhouse SME Incubator
Live Works SME office block, Park, Children’s Writing Centre, Endowment
4. Live Works – Cultural, Social & Commercial Asset • Cost £11million - £5 m to purchase, £6m to build • NCC loan £6m, European grant £2.1m, fundraising £2.9m • Heading for net income of £300,000 • Cultural, social, financial and political return
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Risk, Pain, Reward, Pain, Stamina, Pain, Reward……….is it worth it? • Nothing is easy / Something will go wrong/ Can the team do it? • Creating a new model is easy to say……… • Doing something different is really, really, hard – everyone is learning on the job…….including the people that are supposed to know! • Do your stakeholders understand, does your staff your board, can you train them? • Projections and estimates are just that, and a shaky foundation to build on – but you just have to • Senior officers change - so do interest rates = pain + £75k pa less • Archaeology + construction + ransom = pain £200k • No design team is perfect – where it’s not perfect, it’ll cost • It is always more time and more expense = pain • Timing is everything, and it is never the right time • You are not in control of change, but if you don’t address change, it will control you • Are you good at living with uncertainty? • Nothing is easy / Something will go wrong/ Can the team do it? /Are you good at living with uncertainty?
What have we created • 300 people work in all our different buildings with 15-30m turnover • Leading digital designer • NEHB • Ecology • Swedish House Design • Barristers Chambers • HQ of Restaurant Chain • Project Manager and QS • Engineering firm • 4 restaurants • Created a Park and beautiful spaces • Restored historic buildings • New Children’s Centre 5000 kids so far and 150 volunteers • Net income and asssets
Our audiences Our Youth Theatre The Broad Chare and Charts Community of St Vincents & Head of Steam Artists & Students with Universities Live Theatre’s Communities Live Tales Newcastle & Sunderland New Businesses: Schoolhouse Park New Businesses: Families Volunteers Live Works
Culture & Economy • Transformed - and transformed this corner of the city, audiences, young people, & artists • Restored ancient buildings given them a future • Engaged with many different communities and partners with the highest quality work • From 2010 created £15m assets, by 2018 £500,000 income annually. • As a result we have many more relationships and deeper roots
And finally … Cleveland Playhouse Square
Cleveland Playhouse Square • 10 Theatres, 2,000,000 sq ft office space! 1,000,000 guests to 1000 performances a year. • In June 2017, Playhouse Square announced plans for a 34-story apartment tower with 319 units, a 550-space parking garage and 22,000 square feet of resident amenities. Construction is expected to begin in early 2018. • “I’m sure people will wonder why a not -for-profit performing arts organization is building a high-rise apartment building, but this makes perfect sense when you consider that key components of our mission are to create an exciting district and drive economic vitality in the region. This investment is an example of our long- term real estate strategy, which is to build a working endowment to help secure the future of our historic theaters, and the entertainment and educational programs people enjoy in them.” - Jim Ratner, Chairman, Playhouse Square Board of Trustees
www.live.org.uk Twitter: @LiveTheatre Facebook: www.facebook.com/livetheatre
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