Annual
Re p o r t
2012
aberdeen passion PLAYS www.aberdeenpassion.com
ABERDEEN PASSION PLAYS ANNUAL REPORT 2012
The Aberdeen Passion: One Life Given
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“Why are you looking for the living amongst the dead? He has risen.”
Contents Introduction 03 Our Purposes
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Who’s Who Steering Group
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Council of Reference
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The Aberdeen Passion 2012
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Key Numbers
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My Passion
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Responses Received
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One Life Given Review
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Made With Passion!
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Quiz Night
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Schools Art Competition
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Supported Charities
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2012 Financial Statement
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Looking Ahead
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Contact Information
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ANNUAL REPORT 2012 ABERDEEN PASSION PLAYS
Annual Report 2012
Introduction Aberdeen Passion Plays was founded in 2011 with the aim of using the staging of a biennial passion play (“The Aberdeen Passion”) to both spread the gospel message to those living in the North-East of Scotland and to provide an opportunity around which Christians across all denominations could synergise. We believe that people’s lives get better when they accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour. We equally believe the global Church is a stronger vehicle for positive spiritual & social change and improvement when all Christians are united and work together. Art and in particular the theatrical arts, is a powerful agent for joining people together and by helping to preserve the historical practice of passion plays we aim to use the arts to achieve our objects. As part of this Aberdeen Passion Plays has the additional objective of working towards the establishment of the passion play as part of an officially (City Council) sanctioned Easter programme for the City of Aberdeen and to use the staging of the play as a platform for raising funds to support other charitable organisations that live out the Gospel message of love and compassion to all people through spiritual & social improvement and individual betterment activities, both locally and further afield. The group could best be thought of as the parent organisation for the theatre group whose players are drawn from Christians and non-Christians alike across the North East of Scotland. Aberdeen Passion Plays benefits greatly from the talents of its group members be they performing, technical or production. All group members give their time voluntarily and become members purely by being involved.
The Aberdeen Passion: One Life Given
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ABERDEEN PASSION PLAYS ANNUAL REPORT 2012
The Aberdeen Passion: One Life Given
Aberdeen Passion Plays Our Purposes
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To regularly stage a passion play in the City of Aberdeen or its immediate surrounds. This should be a new play to the general audience each time, of high quality, firmly rooted in scripture and be accessible and acceptable to a wide audience.
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To encourage support for, and involvement in, the Aberdeen Passion from as much of the North East Christian
community as possible.
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To work towards seeing the Aberdeen Passion established as an event as part of the Aberdeen City calendar.
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To provide an environment where individuals are encouraged to develop skills, gifts and talents in the performing and technical arts.
ANNUAL REPORT 2012 ABERDEEN PASSION PLAYS
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To use art as a means of promoting and encouraging Christian harmony through actively engaging with individuals, churches and communities across all Christian denominations within the North East Christian Community.
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Members of The Aberdeen Passion 2012 Cast
of social improvement & individual betterment through the distribution of part, or all, of any monies arising from the productions and associated activities after all costs have been met.
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To raise and maintain funds which shall be applied to the above aims.
To identify and provide financial support to good causes, including Christian endeavours, with a purpose
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The Aberdeen Passion: One Life Given
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ABERDEEN PASSION PLAYS ANNUAL REPORT 2012
Who’s Who Steering Group
Alan Campbell
Andrew Sykes
Frazer Ramsay
Council of Reference The Council of Reference is a group of individuals who support Aberdeen Passion Plays’ ethos, aims and objectives, and are willing to be publicly recognised as providing ‘reputational sponsorship’ for the project. Members of the Council also give occasional advice and encouragement as they are able. Some members are in a position to provide more input than others due to their commitments; however, together the Council brings a broad perspective to the work of Aberdeen Passion Plays which is invaluable. It is also the members of the Council of Reference who provide the main theological sounding board for aspects of each production as well the final theological proofing of the scripts.
Members are currently drawn from within the Christian community both locally and nationwide and we seek to ensure the interdenominational nature of the project is reflected in the membership of the Council. We have deliberately set no limit on the number of members of the council as we believe that God will raise new members as and when we need them and so artificially capping the group could limit His moving through it.
Council of Reference members as of 31st December 2012 were: Dr Andrew D. Clarke Senior Lecturer in New Testament University of Aberdeen
Rev John Greenshields Ministry Development Coordinator Baptist Union of Scotland Fr Keith Herrera St Mary’s Cathedral Aberdeen Rev Jarod Meenan Bridge of Don Baptist Church Aberdeen Rev Gary Smith Crown Terrace Baptist Church Aberdeen
ANNUAL REPORT 2012 ABERDEEN PASSION PLAYS
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The Aberdeen Passion: One Life Given
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ABERDEEN PASSION PLAYS ANNUAL REPORT 2012
The Aberdeen Passion 2012
One Life Given “The Aberdeen Passion – One Life Given” was performed Friday 6th and Saturday 7th April 2012 (Easter Weekend) in the Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre with capacity audiences coming to see the performances.
The Aberdeen Passion: One Life Given
ANNUAL REPORT 2012 ABERDEEN PASSION PLAYS
Key Numbers 3 Performances 2200 in Audiences 109 Performers & Crew 140 Hours of Rehearsal 18 Beards Grown 55 Microphones Used
800 Production Miles Driven ÂŁ6450 Raised for Charities 240 Metres of Costume Fabric 1400 Cookbooks Sold 14 Hours to set up for production 2 Hours to dismantle after production
The Aberdeen Passion: One Life Given
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ABERDEEN PASSION PLAYS ANNUAL REPORT 2012
The Aberdeen Passion: One Life Given
The Aberdeen Passion: One Life Given
ANNUAL REPORT 2012 ABERDEEN PASSION PLAYS
“Surely He took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.” Isaiah 53:4-5 (NIV)
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ABERDEEN PASSION PLAYS ANNUAL REPORT 2012
The Aberdeen Passion: One Life Given
My Passion
Robert McGregor, “John”
I first heard a “noise from abroad” about the Passion from a very good friend who had already been signed up but it was at a joint churches event when I heard a talk about the vision to bring the truth of The Passion in a play to Aberdeen and saw the promotional video I thought “I wanna be part of that, I gotta be part of that”. But could I be? Would I be good enough, it all looked so big, so professional. I need not have worried, from the start, the production reflected the love of Christ in its ethos and its welcome of all comers. As weeks went by our skills in acting grew, enthused and motivated by The Director, Andrew, mentored by our principal, Brad. Yet throughout it was a collaborative effort, no suggestion too silly, no perspective or comment dismissed. It all contributed to feeling not just part of something but owning it too. Our ideas as the cast contributed to how the production translated from script to stage, from dream to reality. It was demanding, yet so rewarding. I had put the entry “Passion” every Wednesday and Sunday in my electronic work diary. This led to people asking “how come you are getting all this passion? And why is it in your diary!
At first I thought the hardest task would be to learn my lines, yet it was actually growing my beard. I started just before Christmas, as it happened the day the Camels came to Ellon as part of a Schools’ real life Nativity experience. It seemed apt. It grew – slowly and straggly – yet as others found it became my biggest selling point, the opportunity to talk about the Play and even my faith. The publicity shoots were a hoot, Aberdeen Beach Boulevard and Collieston had never seem such a spectacle. The presence of the Roman Soldier on Aberdeen Beach led one enthusiastic jogger to bellow ala Life of Brian, “What have the Romans ever done for US?!” At Collieston, I was told the village was abuzz with speculation as to who or what was the band of ragged looking men and pained women doing early on a Saturday morning in the freezing cold with no shoes on and an enormous wooden cross. A new cult perhaps? Filming an episode of Doctor Who? The results though, in the hands of Graham Dargie, were stunning. When the first publicity shots came out all of us were amazed, they really took our
breath away – almost as much as the cold had done the morning we took them. Now though the pressure was on, we had the publicity, we even had an iconic image, we had a brand, but now we had to come up with the goods, our product had to be as high quality as our advertising, our acting had to look as good as the publicity shots. Never though did we fail to appreciate why we were doing this, this was Service, it was to be for God’s glory, not our own. Prayer was central to our work, concluding every rehearsal and upholding us throughout. It is a cliché to say the rehearsing and the expectation made us bond together but it is true. With few of us having any significant acting experience we were all in it together bearing one another’s anxieties, encouraging, willing each other to do well. As I look back I see now all the “silly” games and warm up exercises we did which was so alien to most of us, not only helped us when getting into character, and to project our voices but was also part of the bonding together, of generating the atmosphere of trust and collectivism. If we all looked silly, if we all felt a bit daft, if we all slowly put
ANNUAL REPORT 2012 ABERDEEN PASSION PLAYS
off our self-consciousness and our egos then we could all start from the same place, and then something could be built – together – because we had been through it all – together. When we turned up on Good Friday, at the AECC, ready to do the dress rehearsal, it was awe inspiring. Those months of rehearsal in the Church hall, the feeling of cold wooden floors on bare feet, the wonder at how the costume makers had made our costumes so authentic yet so versatile, the evenings spent repeating lines over and over, the willing of hair and beard to grow, just grow. And every Wednesday, spotting Frazer purposefully striding round hammering away at his laptop, ensuring every detail was covered, learning from George and Andrew the finer points of passion play history and New Testament authenticity, and the learning of the craft of acting from Brad, himself an incredible actor yet so incredibly humble and generous with us the willing amateurs. And now here we were, willing ourselves to do our best, to glorify God. And when the musicians and the choir struck up...was there a dry eye left in the house? I doubt it. We had rehearsed mostly apart, yet the score somehow
The Aberdeen Passion: One Life Given
reflected the emotions we had felt as actors developing the scenes, the characters in which we inhabited. We had all done the research, we had read Luke over and over, and now in perhaps the hardest moments when there is no dialogue, you really have to act, the lyrics and the music told the story, augmented the emotion, made the audience buy into the power of the story unfolding before them. As an experience, there is nothing else to compare it to, for the excitement, for the discipline, for the sheer joy of being part of something so big, so significant. For the incredible feeling of having something to give your all to, to be so committed to, of the bonds of brotherly and sisterly love – I felt so incredibly close to these disciples - as we lathered each other in fake tan and as mirrors in the Gents were taken up with men preening their eye lashes, applying mascara, foundation and eye liner (I rather enjoyed that!) and above all to the sheer hilarity of it all. Even at its most serious, someone could crack a joke that would send us all into peels of laughter. Indeed the most hilarity I can remember was in the tense 20 minutes waiting before the first performance in the
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corridor parallel to the arena we were performing in. We knew that we were doing was serious but perhaps because of that we could share the nerves and the excitement and the expectation in a collective release of zany wit. And then it happened, waiting in the wings like coiled springs and off we went, into the light, into a small part of Aberdeen Church history, on to tell of the amazing truth of Christ’s life, death and redeeming resurrection. In the end I hope, it achieved what we set out to do, to bring the truth of Christ’s sacrifice to Aberdeen in a new way. To give believers and others an opportunity to really reflect on the meaning and the impact of Easter. I know it did because a year later people are still talking about it. About how special it had made Easter 2012, how significant a reflection of the truths we portrayed were. That wasn’t down to us, that is down to the power of the truth that we handled. Robert McGregor Played the Disciple John in The Aberdeen Passion: One Life Given
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ABERDEEN PASSION PLAYS ANNUAL REPORT 2012
Responses Received We are really grateful to everyone who have given us such positive feedback and encouragement following the staging of The Aberdeen Passion: One Life Given. Below are just some of the comments we received:
“I went to the Friday evening performance and was so blown away I cancelled my Saturday evening so I could see it again with friends.”
“It was fantastic and moving. The actors did a great job and the music was wonderful. I shed quite a few tears, so thank you.”
“I could not believe how professional the production and acting were – worthy of the West End! Congratulations to all involved!”
“We had the pleasure of watching “The Aberdeen Passion” yesterday... wonderful for you all to give your time in such a busy society to resource and give yout talents. We shall be telling everyone about it...”
“I was so moved by your play, it was way beyond my wildest expectations….It had the most wonderful ‘feel’ to it and left many of us uplifted, encouraged and inspired! What an achievement!”
“The build up in the reception area…. had a lovely family feel with folk pleased to be together.” “Many thanks for a job beautifully done!”
“Attended Saturday night’s performance of The Aberdeen Passion – wonderful story, brillantly performed in a simple but dynamic way.” “Attended the production tonight - it was magnificient. A blessed climax to Holy Week before tomorrow’s big day.”
“What an awesome production you gave us. The music was amazing!” “Thanks for a wonderful enriching and emotional performance…you all showed such dedication and enthusiasm.”
“From the moment I sat in my seat I felt I was there. When we sing ‘Were you there when they crucified the Lord’...well we were!” “A big thankful for making a very meaningful Passion.”
“It was so wonderful to see the coming together of hundreds of Christians at this most special of times in our Christian calendar, we don’t have enough of this – thank you for making it happen!” “Thank you so much for staging The Aberdeen Passion: One Life Given, Not only was it truly a magnificent production it showed the City that all denominations are one in Christ.”
“We were so touched to be able to experience such an amazing production, and one which brought all the different denominations together at this wonderful time of year made it all the more special.”
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One Life Given Review Margaret Hearne, Local Theatre Supporter & Reviewer Over the Easter weekend Aberdeen Exhibition Centre was the scene of a new Passion play - “One Life Given”. This was a drama of remarkable power which caught and held the attention of all those fortunate to obtain a ticket. The play was a faithful retelling, from St Luke’s Gospel, of the events in Jesus life, from entering the gates of Jerusalem, through betrayal and crucifixion to resurrection. The writing was straightforward, the story told simply. Much of the strength of the play lay in the way the characters were portrayed, especially the disciples, each one revealing his own personality - this added much to the realism of the story. The part of Jesus was played by a young man, Brad Morrison, who was remarkable for his assurance and composure in this demanding role. Equally important to the production was the musical element: an 11 piece band, of mainly young people, and a community choir of 29, played and sang with enthusiasm and conviction, which enhanced greatly the mood of the drama being played out.
The entire company was amateur yet the power of its storytelling drew us in. We understood Jesus’ anger as he overturned the tables of the money changers in the temple; we shared the anguish of Mary as she suffered at the foot of the cross. However what remains most with me is the sincerity of all the performers, be they priests, soldiers, townspeople, children in the crowd, whatever. I suspect that this sincerity comes from each individual’s personal belief in the story, and In the extraordinary power of theatre to bond people together. It was fitting that in such a story no final curtain call was taken; the disciples simply ran into the audience singing, over and over again, “Jesus is alive, Go out and tell the world!”
audiences with many folk unable to get seats. The writer and director, Andrew Sykes, hopes that such enthusiasm from both performers and public could establish a Passion Play in Aberdeen as a regular event, perhaps every two years. This year involved almost 200 participants who came from Aberdeen, and further afield including Stonehaven, Ellon and lnverurie, with the production company and steering group based at Bridge of Don Baptist Church. The hope is that future productions would allow even more people to appreciate the relevance of the Good News story, while, at the same time, carrying on the tradition of reenactments of stories from The Gospels which has been a tradition in the Christian Church since The Middle Ages.
“One Life Given” played to three sell-out
The Aberdeen Passion: One Life Given
ABERDEEN PASSION PLAYS ANNUAL REPORT 2012
The Made With Passion! editorial team
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Made With Passion! Putting on the Aberdeen Passion 2012 was always going to be costly. It was also important to raise awareness of the Passion. These two goals came together in the form of the production of a Cookbook. Focussing on cakes, bakes and puddings, it was aptly titled “Made with Passion”. A small team put in a lot of effort in collecting people’s favourite recipes. The resulting book contained 103 well-tried and tested recipes. It was launched at a successful coffee morning with the opportunity to taste a selection of the recipes . The event was attended by more than 100 people. Cookbook sales topped 1400. It is intended to compile a second volume on “Soups, Snacks and Savouries” in the run-up to Aberdeen Passion 2014.
ANNUAL REPORT 2012 ABERDEEN PASSION PLAYS The Aberdeen Passion 2012 Quiz Night
Quiz Night Another means of raising awareness involved holding a Quiz Night in February 2012. With a set of testing questions on an incredibly wide range of subjects, 20 teams took part in an exciting contest hosted at Bridge of Don Baptist Church Centre. It came down to the wire and was narrowly won by a team from St Columba’s Church of Scotland with the team from the CLC bookshop as runners-up. Based on the success of the first quiz night, it is planned to hold a repeat event in early 2014.
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ABERDEEN PASSION PLAYS ANNUAL REPORT 2012
Schools Art Competition Aberdeen Passion is for all ages. Some of the local schools were therefore contacted with a view to their taking part in an art competition. Children in primaries 6 & 7 were asked to choose an aspect of the Easter story, from Palm Sunday through to the Resurrection, and to produce a poster for display. Two schools in particular, St Peter’s and Greenbrae, submitted multiple entries. The winning pictures and a selection of other entries were displayed in the foyer at AECC for people to look at as they gathered for the Passion performances. The winners received art sets to encourage their future creativity and tickets for the production for them and their families.
Pupils from St. Peter’s Primary School with their competition entries
ANNUAL REPORT 2012 ABERDEEN PASSION PLAYS
Artwork on display at the AECC
Pupils from Greenbrae Primary School
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ABERDEEN PASSION PLAYS ANNUAL REPORT 2012
The Aberdeen Passion: One Life Given
ANNUAL REPORT 2012 ABERDEEN PASSION PLAYS
The Aberdeen Passion: One Life Given
The Aberdeen Passion: One Life Given
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ABERDEEN PASSION PLAYS ANNUAL REPORT 2012
Supported charities & groups ÂŁ6450 raised
Street Pastors & Teen Challenge Receiving Cheques for the Money Raised
ANNUAL REPORT 2012 ABERDEEN PASSION PLAYS
Street Pastors (Aberdeen) is an interdenominational church initiative that seeks to respond positively to the various issues facing our evening economy and those that visit our city centre during the weekends. For over five years now, Aberdeen Street Pastors has been building relationships between the church and those who work and socialise in our vibrant city centre. Each weekend around 20,000 people come into the centre and Street Pastors seek to connect with this community through simple acts of kindness, and being available to care.
Teen Challenge
By being a listening ear and offering practical help and support they seek to demonstrate God’s love – whether it’s a pair of flip flops for the girls hobbling around in high heels or a supportive arm as they walk people to taxi ranks, administering first aid or calming people down when tempers fray, Street Pastors’ mission is to surprise the people of Aberdeen by being present in unusual places at unusual times, to listen and meet needs.
Teen Challenge (North East Scotland) is the local branch of Teen Challenge UK which works in fifteen locations in England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland and is a Christian faith based organisation. The charity tackles
Child Watch International, a nonprofit humanitarian organization dedicated to bettering the lives of impoverished children, their families and communities worldwide - primarily in the areas of education, health, and youth.
one of the greatest social problems providing a positive answer to the present drug epidemic in our country. Teen Challenge believes that everybody deserves another chance.
Following a bereavement suffered by a member the extended team during the production a donation was made in their memory to Macmillan Cancer Support in lieu of payment of services. The charity provides specialist health care, information and financial support to people affected by cancer.
Street Pastors, Aberdeen
When we first set out on the path to producing a passion play in Aberdeen on the scale of One Life Given, we didn’t know what the reaction from the Aberdeen community would be or if we would sell enough tickets to cover our costs. However, despite this we committed at the start of the project that if we raised enough money from ticket sales and other fundraising to make a profit, we would give the majority of this to selected charities. Prior to tickets going on sale we chose two main charities working in the local area, one in Aberdeen and one in Aberdeenshire, both of whom serve the community by living out the central message of the passion story - the redeeming love of Christ.
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The ministry is built on and driven by Christian values and beliefs which clearly show how precious and loved each person is. Teen Challenge seeks to take that message to young people whose lives are messed up, who have lost all sense of worth, self esteem and often the will to live. Teen Challenge’s overarching goal is to help people become mentally sound, physically well, emotionally balanced, socially adjusted and spiritually alive. The local centres are at Sunnybrae, near Fyvie and at Benaiah near Mintlaw. During the process of working on the passion project, and subsequent to it, 4 additional worthy causes were identified that also received financial (and in one case additional in kind) support.
During the production we recognised the sterling work being undertaken by Aberdeen Christian Diary in publicising Christian events and endeavours happening around the North-East. Aside from some support through CLC Bookshop the diary has been run out of one person’s dedication and personal outlay for years. From the money raised, Aberdeen Passion Plays has been able to both fund and provide in-kind developmental support to relaunch the diary as the North-East Christian Diary with a new website and events management system. APP is committed to ongoing financial and developmental support of the diar. Following an appeal from New Scottish Arts for financial support for “The Day Between”, a Christmas drama production staged at Gilcomston South Church of Scotland during Christmas 2012, APP were able to provide an element of funding towards the project. The production focussed on Mary during the Saturday before the ressurrection as she relives the memories and miracles of the birth of Jesus as she tries to make sense of His death on the cross.
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ABERDEEN PASSION PLAYS ANNUAL REPORT 2012
Financial Summary 2012
The Aberdeen Passion: One Life Given
ANNUAL REPORT 2012 ABERDEEN PASSION PLAYS
Aberdeen passion plays 2012 financial summary January - December 2012
INCOME Made With Passion! Cookbook £6697.32
Private Donations £2831
Ticket Sales £22407.09
Fundraising Events £1976.27
outgoings Charitable Disbursements £6450
Venue, & Associated Costs £8413.2
Made With Passion! Cookbook £4725 Lighting £5000
Licencing £688.73
Schools Competition £86.11 Miscellaneous £1898.12
Sound £1251.06
Programme £1674
Publicty £737.84
Costumes & Scenery £1292.53
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ABERDEEN PASSION PLAYS ANNUAL REPORT 2012
Looking ahead Future Plans
The Aberdeen Passion: One Life Given
DESPITE BEGINNING IN 2011, 2012 WAS REALLY THE FIRST YEAR WHEN THE IDENTITY OF ABERDEEN PASSION PLAYS (APP) BEGAN TO BE ESTABLISHED IN THE GENERAL CONSCIOUSNESS OF THE NORTH-EAST CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY. Prior to the start of the year it was very much a niche audience who had both heard of the project and had become engaged by it as we found our feet and recruited people to take on roles and responsibilities. As January progressed, the post-Christmas focus of churches and individuals began to turn towards Easter and the idea of supporting the project as a part of individual church programmes began to take hold and for many become one of the key points of their Holy Week programmes. As we move into 2013 we recognise there is still a long way to go to building a secure foundation on which
to stage passion plays and as such one of the key objectives for the coming year will be harnessing that reputation and the positive memories held by so many of the 2012 production and building on it to create greater community engagement and buy-in as the project develops. When the decision to stage The Aberdeen Passion 2012 was first discussed there was an underlying hope that it would act as a catalyst for individual Christians & Churches across denominational boundaries to come together at that holiest of time of year to reach out to the North-East of Scotland community through the dramatization of Christ’s passion story in a form that would make it accessible for non-Christians and Christians alike and through that to encounter something about Jesus. In many cases we saw this becoming a reality; however, we also recognise that there is still a long way to go. Another of our aspirations was being able to establish The Aberdeen Passion as more than just part of the North-East Christian Calendar. It was, and still remains, our aim to
see it become a core element of a City-based Easter celebration and to that end we continue to seek to build the reputation and audience base of The Aberdeen Passion, as well as promoting opportunities for other Christian drama endeavours. Looking ahead, the main activity of APP across 2013 is the planning and preparation for staging a second Aberdeen Passion play over the Easter weekend 2014. In keeping with our desire that the message should be presented in a manner that is fresh and challenging the 2014 production will be new both in terms of concept and script. This will be the first big test of whether the good will, and networks established, from the first production translate into similar, or enhanced, support for something that no longer carries the interest factor of being a new event. For this we are also discussing with Aberdeenbased BreadPR how we can improve our communication and church engagement activities to promote, and educate about, the passion plays project.
ANNUAL REPORT 2012 ABERDEEN PASSION PLAYS
2013 will also see the launch of a number of new and exciting initiatives. The first of these is the ‘Friends of The Aberdeen Passion’; a scheme through which individuals and organisations can support The Aberdeen Passion project financially through a low annual membership fee and in return receive benefits such as friendsspecific events and updates about the project. We hope this will not only create a community of support and encouragement around all those who become involved in the project, no matter what the scale of their involvement is, but provide an established base through which future productions can be promoted.
The Aberdeen Passion: One Life Given
The second initiative is the formalisation of church/organisation partnerships. Aberdeen Passion Plays is not officially linked to, or run by, any particular church or organisation. This was a deliberate decision made by the founding members to ensure ownership of the project was held at a community level and not by any one church, denomination or organisation. Instead, we seek to partner with individual churches & organisations. What this means for each church/
organisation is likely to vary; however, through that we hope a strong foundation can be established for the project’s long-term existence. Over the course of 2013 and 2014 it is our aim
endeavour to undertake with much of the financial needs having to be met before the income derived from ticket sales is obtained. In particular, securing funds for the advanced
to increase the number of partners associated with the project, and through that seek greater engagement across the region.
payments associated with hiring the venue which begin to be paid several months in advance remains an issue. At this stage we are expecting the cost for staging the 2014 production to be in excess of twenty thousand pounds. For Passion 2012 we met the upfront costs through the kind gift of an interest-free loan which was paid back as soon as the ticket money was received. As appreciative of this as we are it is a situation we would like to move away from. As such we have enacted a reserves policy through which we hope to build up a financial reserve which will allow us to meet these upfront costs for each production, replenishing the reserve following receipt of ticket sales. If carried out as planned we hope to effectively create a cost neutral event which will provide long term sustainability without affecting the charitable fundraising efforts of the project. However, the reality of this is we do not see this reserve being able to reach an appropriate level for several years. In saying this, if you feel you are in a position to provide financial support through donations or sponsorship please get in touch (our in-kind sponsors for 2012 saved the production thousands of pounds by effectively removing budgeted costs).
The Aberdeen Passion: One Life Given
Alongside of the work for the 2014 production we are also looking into whether we can establish a series of drama and technical workshops as a means of building avenues through which individuals would be able to develop and enhance skills which will be applicable both in future productions of The Aberdeen Passion and other theatre/arts endeavours.
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Another big change we hope to bring in during 2013 is moving APP into charity status. The application paperwork has been started and we hope to be submitting a formal request to the charity regulator around Easter 2013. The granting of charity status to the work of APP will be a major step forward for the long term development of the project and building acceptance across the board. As with many other organisations, we still have too few people doing too many roles. It is therefore another of our aims to increase the number of people on the project’s active team. We have already started by drawing up job descriptions for key roles and begun approaching people and hope to be in a position to do more of this over 2013. This will enable us to have a team in place all year round and not just building one afresh in the lead up to each production. In addition, it will also enable us to build a mentoring and development scheme into our plans to help individuals develop and hone skills in the arts, music and technical areas to create a valuable resource for the Lord’s Kingdom for years to come. Finance remains an issue as we look towards putting on another production of a similar size to the 2012 play. It is a very expensive
All these plans are only just that plans. We believe it is only through the hard work of God’s people and his guiding and enabling spirit that we can realise what we truly believe to be his will. We would therefore ask for your prayers for this continuing work.
The Aberdeen Passion: One Life Given, Cast & Crew
Contact Details Aberdeen Passion Plays c/o The Church Office Bridge of Don Baptist Church Centre Dubford Road Bridge of Don Aberdeen AB23 8GS Telephone: 01224-826256 Email: admin@aberdeenpassion.com Web: www.aberdeenpassion.com