Demanding targets and high level of bureaucracy pose challenges for free ticket scheme
Proposals for the implementation of a scheme to offer free theatre tickets to under-26 year-olds, unveiled last week by Culture Secretary Andy Burnham, have been drawn up by Arts Council England (ACE) in a consultation document based on interviews with a number of regularly funded theatres across the UK. The document reveals that the DCMS is adding £2.5m to ACE’s core grant to enable it to deliver a scheme which will see free tickets offered by up to 95 theatres throughout England, from February next year. This will be preceded by a week of outreach activities, and supported by a marketing and media campaign.
An eight-day consultation period, during which ACE contacted selected theatres and agencies which could be directly involved in the scheme, ended on 1 October, and details of how theatres can apply to take part will be launched this week. Last-minute changes may be introduced before the scheme opens for applications on 13 October, but current proposals are that producing and presenting venues – but not concert halls, opera or dance houses, or visual arts spaces – will be able to apply for grants of £10k, £30k or £50k. Priority will be given to not-forprofit theatres, or venues owned or managed by local authorities, in areas where there is a high demand to take part in the scheme. Those currently running schemes for young people will be eligible to apply. Venues will need to demonstrate how they will meet targets including the distribution of a specified minimum numbers of tickets over a two-year period. Tickets will have to be free on at least one day each week from February 2009 to March 2011. A free allocation will have to be guaranteed for all shows, whether ownpromotions, co-promotions or external hires. National marketing support for the scheme will cease after three months, when each theatre will be expected to promote its own offer to local audiences. [[tickets will have to be free of charge on at least one day each week]]
To avoid seats being given to ineligible people and to prevent resale, theatres will have to submit the name, date of birth and postcode of all those who are issued with free tickets. The document states, “we need adequate checks and balances to ensure that tickets are issued to real and appropriate people and that checks are in place to ensure that in every theatre that takes part, an empty seat does not become counted as a ‘free’ seat.” The information gathered will also be used to evaluate the scheme and monitor each theatre’s progress. Failing to hit targets will “trigger a meeting with Arts Council Officers to review how targets might be met”.
Reactions have been mixed. NCA Director Louise de Winter called on the DCMS and ACE to “make sure that the money actually does find its way to new audiences. There will be no benefit to the arts if this money is used to give regular theatre-goers a freebie”. Alison Edbury, Chair of Network, said that it was important that “the sector is able to take the opportunity… to transform McMaster’s high level concept of a ‘free week’ into a more realistic and grounded audience engagement proposition”. Shadow Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt and Shadow Arts Minister Ed Vaizey have drawn attention to the relatively small amount of cash set aside for the scheme, and questioned the motives behind its announcement: “The one million free tickets is merely aspirational… The scheme is still very much in development, and was announced prematurely to get headlines at the Labour conference”.