Let them all come

Lincoln Drill Hall is a multi-purpose, regularly-funded arts venue owned by a registered charity. We are currently run and funded by the local council, but in April 2010 a new Trust will take over the management of the venue and a Service Level Agreement (SLA) will be established with the Council. This new SLA is set to coincide with a substantial increase in the level of support from the Council, at a time when it is facing huge cuts and has disinvested in a number of initiatives. It will allow the Council to consolidate its cultural offer through one (adequately funded) organisation and also, we like to think, indicates some level of satisfaction with the service we have been providing.

We offer people a mix of what they want, and what they don’t know they want because they haven’t had it yet. Every event is broadly categorised as ‘popular culture’, ‘core programme’ or ‘challenging work’, and our challenge is to encourage people to try something new. I recall an audience member who came to see a dance piece because she had seen the poster on one of our comedy nights and been intrigued. She arrived on the night nervous, sceptical and unsure, but came out in tears because she had “never seen anything like it”. The venue has a flexible auditorium which enables us to stage a range of events, and the popular culture entry point events such comedy nights, club nights and the annual panto are a vital way of bringing in new audiences. Our occasional open mic night for 13–19 year-olds, ‘YoungPlugged’, regularly sells out and has had a huge impact on our reputation amongst young people. Tickets are cheap, but the benefits to us, are almost unimaginable.
Finding the right balance of touring work is difficult as we have so little capacity to go out and look for it. Local and regional networking is essential. We have recently been able to co-produce a show, Precarious Theatre’s ‘Anomie’, which is currently touring the UK. This has been an excellent experience that has taught us a great deal, and given us a thirst for more. But times are tough and, like many, we have to batten down the hatches and weather the recession storm. Our challenge is to do so not by retreating to ‘safer’ programming, but by celebrating the range of what we offer, highlighting our value for money, ensuring our customer care is as good as it can be and trying to keep convincing people to try something new. Wish us luck.