A self-sufficient structure

The title of our conference ‘Thriving Theatres’ is in part provocative as many theatres ponder the question of how best to survive in these times of austerity and deal with the changing role of the public sector to both deliver and fund services. It is also a call to all those who aspire towards growth in the economy, more engaged communities, healthier people and investment in infrastructure, to see that theatres can provide solutions. Following Maria Miller’s speech at the end of April, when she asked us to continue to build resilience, self-confidence and self-reliance, to seek out new artistic and commercial opportunities, and position ourselves squarely within the visitor economy, this becomes even more pertinent.

Theatre managers need to look at how they have collaborated in the past and consider how they need to do so in this new environment to thrive

And it becomes even more of a call to our theatres to have the evidence and solutions ready for those decision-makers involved in their local enterprise partnerships (LEPs), looking to apply to regional and local growth funds, initiatives such as ‘Core Cities’, ‘Future Cities’, ‘Portas Pilots’ and ‘Town Centre First’, and health service providers working with health and wellbeing boards to show that theatres are thriving places, full of the very energy, vitality, people and creativity that can provide the solutions so many seek.

Vikki Heywood, the conference chair and former executive director of the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), has taken the RSC and Royal Court through their respective £113m and £20m capital redevelopments. She therefore knows how important it is to position theatres at the heart of decision-making and build the trust, rapport and belief in what a thriving theatre can achieve for everyone. One such theatre is Live Theatre in Newcastle, run by Jim Beirne, who oversaw its £6m capital refurbishment and developed associated social enterprises, including a pub and workspace to generate income and develop its work in promoting and producing new playwriting and the involvement of young people in theatre in the North East (AP261).

Another success story is Shakespeare’s Globe, whose chief executive Neil Constable has clearly positioned it both as an artistic and cultural power house, and is recreating a seventeenth century Jacobean theatre as part of its estate. He has positioned the theatre strongly as a major visitor attraction and educational centre for Shakespeare in London.

Another important theme is the progress of theatres engaging with new planning legislation. In England the new core planning principle, which promotes culture in the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), is now over a year old. The Localism Act 2012 introduced new opportunities to register theatres as assets of community value, and the community infrastructure levy (CIL) is starting to impact on theatres. As well as having the potential to benefit from the CIL by being included as priority projects in local infrastructure delivery plans, theatres may also be faced with being charged CIL on their own developments.

In theory, these new initiatives could provide a useful boost to theatres and arts centres, but this will only happen if the buildings and those running them can demonstrate that they are providing a return to their local economy and delivering a service to their communities. So while local authorities may not be awarding grants as in the past, unlocking new sources of income to provide investment and subsidy will still require theatres to have close relationships with the public sector and new bodies such as local enterprise partnerships.

The new building regulations also finally come into force in April 2013, with the execution of the Building Regulations &c. (Amendment) Regulations 2012. These recast the energy performance of buildings directive (EPBD) and introduce a requirement for all new buildings to be nearly zero-energy or ‘nZEB’ from January 2019 for public buildings, and from the end of December 2020 for all buildings. The EPBD defines a nearly zero-energy building as a “building that has a very high energy performance... The nearly zero or very low amount of energy required should, to a very significant extent, be covered by energy from renewable sources, including renewable energy produced on-site or nearby”.

Theatres cannot afford to ignore this. Capital and retrofit works to theatres, whether new or major redevelopments, will need to address these new regulations and be ready and prepared to harness new initiatives such as the Green Deal and benefit from the Green Investment Bank and other such schemes.

Theatre managers need to look at how they have collaborated in the past and consider how they need to do so in this new environment to thrive. There are good examples of where they have engaged with the growth agenda, worked with other theatres and other cultural and non-cultural institutions in their locality and built social engagement with their communities. As Charles Darwin said: “In the long history of humankind, those who learned to collaborate effectively have prevailed.” Our aspiration is that theatre management has a clearer understanding of where and with whom theatres need to collaborate to drive the changes to their buildings, the security of their assets, and establish economic, social and cultural capital to thrive long into the future.

A version of this article was originally published in Theatres Magazine. The ‘Thriving Theatres’ conference takes place on 11 June at St James Theatre, London.

Mhora Samuel is Director of the Theatres Trust.
www.theatrestrust.org.uk