Vanessa Hart gives a personal view of the challenges facing local authority venues attempting to balance the demands of funders with the needs of audiences.
Arts budgets within local authorities have always been a ?discretionary spend? which has left theatres over the years feeling vulnerable and dependent on the courage of the political environment. The vision of a Council or Board can influence the programming of the venue, usually relating to mission statements about ?improving the quality of life for the community?. Not much has changed then, well, until you consider the culture of local governance and the way that local authorities have attempted to become more transparent.
New challenges
Whereas in the past theatres were always held at arms length by their local authorities, they now find themselves enveloped within the core of the corporate jungle. Theatre managers are held more accountable for the performance of their venues, yet at the same time have to deal with the implementation of corporate policies and the statistical minestrone of Best Value. Between this and having to justify the theatre?s very existence comes the need to show compliance with one or two little pieces of legislation such as Human Rights, the Race Relations Act, Community Safety ? and the list goes on.
Free thinkers needn?t apply
The persona of the General Manager over the years has changed too. Recruitment practices now require candidates for jobs to be measured against ?Person Specifications? and subject to ?Personality Profiling?, and the requirement to conform to the ever-increasing restrictive procedures of local government is forcing out the industry?s entrepreneurs. Those with less than conventional approaches to the role need no longer apply - it no longer acceptable to negotiate a show based on the ?gut reaction? that the date will work well and be right for the venue.
Squeezing promoters
The producing side of the theatre industry has always seen civic venues as a soft touch, as their assumption was that these theatres were run to provide a service to the community. This may have been the case in years gone by, but today the local authority attitude is far less philanthropic when reviewing the costs associated with the running of theatres. Local authority venues have moved on with today's business environment, which demands more data and accountability. A negotiated deal must these days minimise the financial risk to the authority and be related to financial potential, based on the previous success of the show or of a similar production. Promoters are asked to provide information on the real costs of staging a production and to explain precisely who is receiving the ever-increasing percentages of the Royalty payment. This leaves the theatrical producing industry looking like dinosaurs, as they fail to recognise these changing times when it really is important for a theatre retain a substantial share of box office income to contributed to overheads.
Worst value?
The programming and the operation of theatres have never sat comfortably within the rigid procedures of local authorities and the requirement for open competition for all services. Time-exhausting reviews, such as the introduction of Best Value, appear to have been interpreted differently by different authorities (and a number of consultants must have made a healthy income trying to explain it). Some authorities compare venues to gain an insight into Best Value under the remit of best practice. But no two venues or communities are the same, and even an ice cream seller could tell you that regional tastes play a great part in the success of the product. So what value is the comparison? Such reviews can produce a lively debate, but an enormous stack of printed paper will merely serve to divert attention from the core job of running a theatre.
The pantomime problem
Somewhere along the way audiences have been forgotten. Remember them? They are the people all this work is for and, regardless of any policy or vision held by the authority, what ends up on stage will be what they want to see and are prepared to pay for. Which brings us back to basics: theatres need an audience to survive. Why then do we not have a compulsory strategy for audience development? An obvious place to start would to be to aim at children and young people (supposedly our future audience) while they still have an ability to absorb creativity. Yet the first experience a child has of theatre is often the Christmas pantomime, and whilst there are some excellently produced pantomimes, there are equally, some very bad ones which undoubtedly can leave a child with the memory of a less than magical experience. So why is pantomime deemed 'not worthy of discussion' by the funding bodies? Their support could be used to encourage producers to include contemporary dance, mime and circus skills in their productions, and enable the casting of classically-trained actors, as well as employing up-and-coming theatrical designers for their costumes. As the stars of the world of entertainment are becoming harder to attract to pantomime (or pricing themselves out of the market) and the availability of talented variety entertainers continues to decline, there may be many producers who would welcome some encouragement from the funding bodies to look to the arts for their pantomime productions. The funding bodies are missing a wonderful opportunity to stir fresh young minds by displaying the power of expression and colour of passion that can be seen upon the stage.
Pantomime producers have made vast sums of money over the years (?Oh yes you have?), but theatres also rely on the annual pantomime income to see them financially through the year. Is this what scares the funding bodies - that it?s ?commercial? and not heavily subsided? If so, could it be they who are who are keeping the majority of our audiences roaming with the dinosaurs?
Vanessa Hart is Theatre Manager of the Orchard Theatre, Dartford
e: orchardtheatre@dartford.gov.uk
ArtsProfessional is media sponsor of a forthcoming conference debating The Changing Face of Venues, taking place in Cheltenham this month. For full details http://www.tickets.com/uk/conference.html