‘No-one throws a party quite like the Lyric Hammersmith’ Time Out
Tipping the Velvet Bugsy Malone
The Herald
‘Razzmatazz perfection’
‘Impressively original and constantly compelling’
The Daily Telegraph
Sunday Herald
Raymond Briggs’ Father Christmas ‘Magnificent’
Cinderella ‘It’s glorious.’ The Daily Telegraph
The Observer
A Midsummer Night’s Dream Independent on Sunday
‘Slapstick, magic and mayhem’ The Guardian
Herons ‘A terrific revival’ The Daily Telegraph
‘The Lyric is bringing on a new generation of actors’ The Observer
‘Studying at the Lyric helps me see the fun side of learning’ Phoenix High School Student
‘It has helped me achieve something I didn’t think I could have. My confidence has grown’ START participant
‘The Lyric is like a second home. We’re all like family’ Melina, 19
‘I’m now more confident than I ever thought I could be’ Nathan, 18
One Year On 2015/16 has been a milestone year for the Lyric Hammersmith. In April 2015 the Lyric reopened following a multi-million pound capital project which saw the addition of the Reuben Foundation Wing housing state-of-the-art facilities for theatre, dance, film, music, digital and more. The ‘new’ Lyric is now the largest creative hub in West London and home to an innovative partnership of like-minded leading arts organisations who work together to deliver life-changing creative opportunities for thousands of young West Londoners. The heart of the Lyric is our 125 year old auditorium. We are one of the largest producing theatres in London and this year have welcomed more than 158,000 people to entertaining and eclectic shows, ranging from our celebrated family pantomime to the joyous Olivier-nominated Bugsy Malone to hard hitting contemporary drama. What makes the Lyric unique is our wholehearted commitment to producing the highest quality contemporary theatre whilst nurturing the creativity of young people from all walks of life. We do powerful work with young people, many from marginalised and disadvantaged backgrounds, ensuring that the arts are open to all. We provide thousands of low cost classes, schools partnerships and specialised programmes for young offenders, looked after children or those who have dropped out of education and employment. We are passionate about nurturing the next generation of theatre artists and audiences. What we love is when we can interweave all aspects of our work. Many who have come through our programmes have gone on to take their first professional steps on our stage or work with us to help change the lives of other young people at the Lyric and beyond. We are proud to call Hammersmith our home. In 2016 we celebrate the 20th anniversary of our Free First Night Scheme, part of our long term partnership with the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham, through which we give free tickets to people who live or work locally. Many who have never had the opportunity to see theatre are given the chance. We are committed to playing our part in ensuring that Hammersmith and surrounding areas are a vibrant and creative place to live, to work, to go to school and to grow up. None of this would be possible without the extraordinary support of our partners, funders, donors, audiences and participants. Thank you.
Sean Holmes Artistic Director
Registered Charity, No. 278518
Sian Alexander Executive Director
2016 marks...
Last year our Targeted Work programmes for marginalised young people, START and REWIND, reached
of START, our arts based training programme for young people who are NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training)
121
young people helping them build new skills to confidently re-engage with education or employment
3
young people from the START programme were recruited to the Lyric’s front of house team, giving them regular employment and valuable work experience
We employed
7
apprentices in our producing, box office, young people’s and technical teams
Participants on our programmes achieved
161 33 free bursary places were provided to local low income families
Arts Awards
10 Lyric Young Company members were cast in professional productions on our main stage and 2 of our Alumni played lead roles in our pantomime, Cinderella
graduates of Lyric programmes joined our Alumni scheme and were trained to become support artists for our young people’s classes and projects. Alumni have also been supported into creative roles such as Associate Choreographer on Cinderella and Producer for the Evolution Festival
We gave away
2,354 Free First Night tickets to people who live & work in the borough - and celebrated 20 years of this popular scheme
158,964
Bugsy Malone & Cinderella played to over
90% capacity
639
Only 25% of our income is public subsidy. We raise or earn the remaining 75% (Thank you for your support)
Our average ticket price was
£18.77 Our annual turnover was
£5.7
performances at the Lyric
million
We delivered We work with
9 partner organisations across theatre, dance, music, film and digital to deliver our young people’s programme
1,433 classes and projects which saw
26,292 attendances 70% of our classes are
£3.50 or under per session
We engaged with
2,022 school pupils through workshops, backstage tours, careers events and other enrichment activity
Sherice Pitter was named Creative & Cultural Skills
Apprentice of the Year 2016
Bugsy Malone
was nominated for an
Olivier Award for Best Musical Revival
Little Lyric our children’s theatre programme for under 11s played to 23,760 people. The Lyric was voted Best Venue in the Get Creative Family Arts Festival Audience Choice Awards
More than The Lyric was awarded the highest 3 star Industry Green certification by Julie’s Bicycle for the fourth year in a row - the first theatre to achieve this
95% of our lighting is LED
The Lyric is working towards a BREEAM rating of ‘Excellent’ for its new building
Our recycling saved
464 trees last year
We recycled 97% of our waste and offset 58 tonnes of CO2
Changing Landscapes, Changing Lives