Lorien Gichuke reflects on South Hill Park Arts Centre’s experience of presenting Moon on a Rainbow Shawl, the first touring production under the Eclipse initiative.
When I saw the advert for someone to do marketing and promotional work for a play called Moon on a Rainbow Shawl at South Hill Park Arts Centre, I was intrigued – it sounded fascinating, and that proved to be the case. One of the largest arts centres in the country, South Hill Park is an eighteenth-century mansion and purpose-built theatre in eighteen acres of grounds in Bracknell, Berkshire. For thirty years the Centre has offered a year-round programme of events and activities including drama, dance, film, comedy and literature. As part of a touring circuit of eleven national venues funded by Arts Council England to present mid-scale culturally diverse work, we are now focusing on best practice in marketing and developing audiences for this work.
A brief history
In February 2000 a group of Black practitioners and administrators were invited to Nottingham Playhouse to discuss ways of developing the profile of national and regional Black theatre. It was recognised that few companies were producing Black work of sufficient quality and range for mid-scale touring venues outside London. Through Arts Council England’s Black Regional Initiative in Theatre (BRIT), Nottingham Playhouse proposed an initial three-year programme involving two additional producing theatres, Birmingham Rep and the New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich, to establish and tour mid-scale Black theatre. Each of these would lead on one production a year before touring the play to presenting venues across England. Eclipse Theatre was born and Moon on a Rainbow Shawl, Errol John’s classic play, was chosen as the first production. Further developments were the Eclipse Conference, held in June 2001, which developed strategies to combat institutional racism in theatre and the ensuing Eclipse Report. The Report gives twenty-one recommendations for venues, programmers and funding bodies and the Conference was followed by seminars on positive action and equality of opportunity for senior management of every regional subsidised theatre in England.
Audience building
South Hill Park had a clear set of ambitions for Moon on a Rainbow Shawl.
- To help establish its reputation for presenting mid-scale, high quality culturally diverse work
- To attract a multicultural audience (principally African Caribbean) which could be further developed
- To attract a drama audience from across the region
- To forge relationships with local Black communities to encourage their interest in this and further performances at the Centre.
On the opening night the Centre was buzzing with new attenders soaking up the theatre experience and enjoying a Caribbean buffet with live steel pan music. This level of interest was achieved through a variety of marketing techniques. As well as direct mail and advertising, we recruited ambassadors to promote the play in two main target areas, Bracknell and Reading, with the facility to offer free transport to the event. This word of mouth marketing helped overcome any perceived barriers to attendance. Direct contact with the main target group was achieved as a result of understanding this particular audience’s needs. Audience figures were higher than anticipated, both from regular attenders and from African Caribbean communities in the region, who made up the majority of 34% of new customers. We sold 1,000 tickets (61% of the Wilde Theatre’s capacity), seven diverse regional groups came to see the play, and the ambassadors brought over 120 new attenders to the Centre.
Towards a diverse future
The success of Moon on a Rainbow Shawl indicates the need for South Hill Park to explore further ways of identifying and engaging the region’s culturally diverse community. The experience confirmed the suggestions of the Eclipse Report that beyond looking at audience profile there are other indicators for measuring progress, such as “artistic programming, marketing practices, networks with leading community figures, response to culturally diverse influences in the environment, and the ability for the theatre to be a meeting place for culturally diverse groups”. Considering the high attendance of Black people, young people and our usual audience, the production offered value for South Hill Park’s investment and indicates the potential of a culturally diverse programme as part of our strategic plan.
We acknowledge that the number of Black people currently coming to the Centre is low and are determined to improve on this, but presenting Moon on a Rainbow Shawl at South Hill Park is also a commitment to eliminating the perception that programming Black work means marketing solely to Black audiences. As one of the Black community leaders remarked, “We’re not only interested in seeing Black work” –
if the arts really are about broadening people’s experience, why should he be? The same obviously applies to Asian or white people. It is this cultural balance that South Hill Park is now striving to achieve.
Lorien Gichuke is Multicultural Arts Officer for South Hill Park Arts Centre in Bracknell, Berkshire and Co-ordinator for the Touring Circuit for eleven national presenting venues involved in mid-scale touring, marketing and audience development for diverse work, and collaboration with Eclipse Theatre. Both the Consortium and the cultural diversity work at South Hill Park are funded by Arts Council England. t: 01344 484858;
e: lorien.gichuke@southhillpark.org.uk;
w: http://www.eclipsetheatre.org.uk