MACROBERT ARTS CENTRE 2013-14 YEAR END BRIEFING macrobert serves Stirling and the Forth Valley with a diverse programme of live and film entertainment and opportunities that enable over 140,000 people to enjoy, to learn, to create, and to perform both in our theatres and in communities. macrobert also supports established and emerging artists to develop award-winning productions that tour across Scotland, in the UK and abroad. macrobert is the only multi-arts centre in Scotland to be based on a university campus, affording unique opportunities to enrich student experience and to collaborate with academia in research at the University of Stirling. As a charity macrobert receives some statutory and public grant funding but we must raise 65% of income from other sources. We are grateful to the individuals, companies and grants organisations who - through their generosity and vision - help the arts to flourish in the region.
macrobert in numbers 377 926 6217 606 5 8 9
LIVE PERFORMANCES IN THE MAIN THEATRE AND STUDIO SCREENINGS OF FILMS IN THE NORMAN MCLAREN CINEMA YOUNG PEOPLE PERFORM IN THE MAIN THEATRE
TAKE PART EVENTS
MACROBERT PRODUCTIONS FOR CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE TOUR IN THE UK AND ABROAD NEW WORKS CREATED BY CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE WITH ARTISTS
NEW PRODUCTIONS CREATED BY ARTISTS FOR CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE
macrobert arts centre University of Stirling Stirling Scotland FK9 4LA Web: www.macrobert.org macrobert arts centre limited is a Scottish charity, no SC039546
macrobert welcomed over 140,000 people attending drama, comedy, film, opera, dance, music, musical theatre and art exhibitions. macrobert is proud to be a Creative Scotland Foundation Organisation, selected for its contribution to a creative Scotland in terms of talent, quality productions, access, audience development, participation and outreach work. macrobert’s cinema, The Norman McLaren Filmhouse, screens a year-round programme of blockbusters, independents, classics, foreign language, documentaries and children’s films. Over the year, it achieved over 36,000 visits.
A varied programme of blockbusters and independents on the big screen at The Norman McLaren Filmhouse
macrobert enjoyed a varied drama season, welcoming 14 productions on to its stages and playing at 75% capacity. Pioneering Scottish company Communicado visited twice, with The Government Inspector and Calum’s Road. After winning a Herald Angel and Fringe First, Stellar Quines brought The List to macrobert, starring a “superb” Maureen Beattie (The Scotsman). Other highlights included Hector MacMillan’s The Sash; London Classic Theatre with Harold Pinter’s Betrayal and Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest; Othello by Icarus Theatre and a riotous new comedy Wendy Hoose by Birds of Paradise and Random Accomplice. There were also popular visits by Scottish Opera and Ballet West and macrobert’s second Gala fundraising evening, with a programme that included Company Chordelia with Scottish Opera, All Or Nothing Aerial Dance Theatre and the Loveboat Big Band.
Tall Stories brought Julia Donaldson’s much-loved The Snail And The Whale to life in the macrobert Mainhouse
macrobert programmed a wide range of shows for children and families, especially early years. Almost 1,000 people came to see Northern Ballet in a single day for the Scottish premiere of Three Little Pigs, a ballet for children aged 3+. Over the year there were also visits from Visible Fictions, Birdsnest Theatre, Allie Cohen, Childrens Classic Concerts, Grinagog, Comedy Club for Kids, Nonsense Room Productions, Barrowland Ballet, Tall Stories, Andy Cannon and Wendy Wetherby.
Company Chordelia with Scottish Opera perform Dance Derby at Gala 2014
Northern Ballet’s Three Little Pigs Nearly 1,000 people experienced the Scottish Premiere of Northern Ballet’s Three Little Pigs in our mainhouse.
macrobert continued to develop its comedy strand with two visits by The Reduced Shakespeare Company, as well as solo shows from Chris Addison, Jo Caulfield, Alex Horne, Andy Zaltzman, Craig Hill and Mark Thomas. macrobert was also proud to be a key venue for - and provide the ticketing for - the first year of the Stirling Fringe Festival. macrobert hosted 4 festivals over the year, including an Arts & Dementia Day (in association with Luminate, Scotland’s creative ageing festival) and a Mini Festival About Family with performances by Andy Cannon and Barrowland Ballet. In October, THAT Festival presented work for, with and by students and young people aged 15 - 25. Professional productions showcased alongside work by young people, experimental performance events, film and emergent professional bands including Neu! Reekie!, Junction 25, Buzzcut, Bright Night International, ponydance and macrobert’s award-winning production Educating Ronnie.
Beauty and The Beast
macrobert is the regional hub for the national Get Scotland Dancing initiative and ran a packed week-long Let’s Dance Festival programme, featuring Scottish Ballet, Barrowland Ballet, Northern Ballet, Underhand Dance Company, Tony Mills, Jennifer Paterson and many other artists. macrobert was also proud to be part of the McLaren 2014 programme, celebrating the centenary of the Stirling-born film pioneer. macrobert is the only venue in Scotland to offer three Christmas shows that cater for all ages, including the very young. Christmas saw 30,000 visitors enjoy a brand new version of Beauty and The Beast written by and starring Johnny McKnight, a new play for 3 to 6 year olds The Little Boy That Santa Claus Forgot and Scottish Dance Theatre’s interactive show for babies Innocence.
Let’s Dance Festival
Junction 25
Let’s Dance Festival
Bunty And Doris 24 local people aged 6-64 performed on-stage with Barrowland Ballet.
At the heart of the University of Stirling: engaging staff and students macrobert is a key strand of the University of Stirling's cultural offering and campus life and provides a unique platform for the University of Stirling to engage with its local community. The University supports macrobert with a grant and in-kind support which allows the arts centre to raise £10 for every £1 the University invests. macrobert works closely with the Students Union and hosted 35 Student Union Clubs and Societies events. macrobert welcomes student promoters and provides them with an unique set of professional facilities to rehearse and perform in, either free of charge or discounted by up to 80%. macrobert and the Student Union have joined forces on hosting Fresher week events, social media activities and the joint promotion of shows. macrobert also employs a student in the post of Student Engagement Officer, has a Sabbatical Officer on its board, employs four graduates and provides students with paid employment worth over £145,000 per annum.
macrobert’s facilities are regularly used as part of the University’s conferencing operation, providing valuable additional space. macrobert works closely with the Commercial Services team at the University, providing a 468 seat theatre space - the largest on campus and extra breakout and meeting spaces. “macrobert plays a key role in providing an excellent experience for students at Stirling University. macrobert provides space not only for entertainment and enjoyment, but a place for learning. Through hosting conferences and events to having lectures and academic film screenings, macrobert’s facilities are invaluable for students. Furthermore, macrobert gives our students a place to engage with and enjoy the arts, through fabulous performances and film screenings and developing their creative skills through Take Part classes and rehearsal space. In my position as Union President, I am greatly looking forward to working with macrobert for my time in post and to see what can be done together to make students’ lives better.” Amy McDermott, President, University of Stirling Student Union.
Students access a diverse arts programme of drama, comedy, opera, music, dance and cinema - supported by a range of discounted tickets - with students making up to 44% of the audience for certain events. Over the year macrobert hosted 21 University school and departmental events, including providing lecture space, as well as space for meetings, research, performance and conferences. macrobert made significant inroads into working with academic schools to host events and collaborate on research projects. macrobert worked with the University’s world leading Dementia Services Development Centre and hosted an Arts and Dementia symposium as part of Luminate, the national Creative Ageing Festival. In addition macrobert was a partner in a research project in collaboration with the School of Education about the role of creativity in education, in the context of the Curriculum for Excellence.
Amy McDermott
Booker Event Adam Foulds A conversation with the Booker Prize shortlisted author of The Quickening Maze.
Arts for all macrobert tours professional productions and participation to local communities, reaching children who rarely experience live performance or take part in high quality arts activities. We also deliver a wide range of regular classes, making the most of fantastic facilities that include a main theatre, studio theatre and cinema. macrobert engages artists through commissions, residencies, traineeships, co-productions and paid internships, and this leads to exciting opportunities for people to co-create high quality works that are programmed at macrobert and elsewhere. macrobert is a selected partner in Creative Scotland’s Promoting Equalities Programme that seeks to widen inclusion in the arts: our aim is to make sure that children and young people have equal access and opportunities to take part in the arts.
Once On This Island macrobert Artistic Director Liam Sinclair and team worked with a cast of 34 young people to create Once On This Island during an intensive 3 week summer project.
Prom Rehearsed Reading at THAT Festival
Buzzcut at THAT Festival
The rehearsed reading of new high-school drama Prom gave our young companies the unique opportunity to see how a new script is developed by professional actors and directors.
THAT Festival was aimed at young people aged 15 to 25. Young people, artists and emerging artists presented 14 performances.
macrobert Christmas Appeal Thanks to the generosity of people, companies and voluntary organisations in the Forth Valley, 836 children and family members, supported by local charities came to see 2013 Panto Beauty and The Beast. We worked with 14 charities who nominated families and groups they felt needed a break at Christmas. All of the charities asked us to pass on our thanks to those who made this possible. "It is with heartfelt gratitude that we send a massive thank you to all who made this visit possible, our families had a wonderful time and the parents were delighted by their children's enthralment". Action for Children
macrobert was once again the lead provider of the Scottish Government’s Get Scotland Dancing initiative in the Stirling region in 2014, which saw over 3,000 young people and families engaging with dance. The Let’s Dance Festival saw 580 young people taking part in dance, choreography and performance in March and April 2014 in nurseries and schools across the Forth Valley area. This included nurseries in Cornton and Raploch and primary schools in Bannockburn, Clackmannan, Fallin and Tullibody as well as Drymen, Dunblane and Killearn. macrobert took its show Sprawl - a dynamic dance theatre duet featuring sibling rivalry and acrobatic partnering to primary schools in the area : “Amazing, funny, awesome. Please come back. Wow, Wow and Wow again!” Pupil
Sprawl Dance Workshop
“Our catchment area lies within the top 15% in the country in terms of social deprivation and many of our children would never have the opportunity to experience a workshop or performance such as Sprawl. Thus, we are very grateful for any opportunity to bring such experiences into school for them to enjoy. Jennifer and Tony were brilliant throughout the workshop and the performance and the children remained totally engaged. Please bear us in mind if any future opportunities arise!” Clackmannan PS, commenting on Sprawl.
In November 2013 macrobert toured its production The Polar Bears Go Wild to nurseries. 525 children saw 10 performances in 6 nurseries: “The Polar Bears Go Wild completely captivated even our very young children” Raploch Nursery
The Polar Bears Go Wild
Plus...
Adapted performances at macrobert
506 primary school pupils enjoyed performances of Oor Rabbie by Andy Cannon.
macrobert signed, audio-described, and captioned special performances at Christmas so that those with visual and hearing impairment could experience the thrill of live performance. Children and adults with sight loss had stage ‘touch tours’.
60 young people took part in Norman McLaren Dance Workshops. Local nurseries got a sneak preview of macrobert’s new Christmas dance show, with workshop performances of The Pine Tree, Poggle and Me.
People with learning disabilities such as autism - and their family carers - enjoyed films at ‘relaxed’ screenings. macrobert also sub-titled and audio-described film screenings as part of a growing body of work relating to equalities.
macrobert - finance Income £2.107m Ticket Sales 29%
Creative Scotland core grant 19%
Donations, grants sponsorship 17%
Food & Beverage 15% University of Stirling 11% Facility hire 5% Creative Learning 2% Other 1%
Expenditure £2.049m Programme 38%
Food & Beverage 16%
Building, utilities, overheads 16%
Management & admin staff 11% Marketing 7% Production & technical costs 6% Creative Learning 4% Fundraising costs 2%
macrobert is an independent charitable organisation. Following the launch of a Business Plan in March 2012 macrobert has stemmed an annual loss making situation, has absorbed cuts in public sector funding, and has driven efficiencies and income streams to successfully achieve small surpluses in 2012-13 and 2013-14. However, macrobert must continue to address a historic negative reserves position; a ten year Financial Plan is in place that charts income development across a range of areas to generate positive reserves by March 2024. In 2013-14 grants from Creative Scotland and the University of Stirling funded 19% and 11% of core costs respectively. As macrobert keeps only a quarter of ticket income on average there is a considerable gap in income that must be raised from other sources. Philanthropic support is increasingly important to help meet this gap, and to ensure that macrobert successfully continues to deliver and develop inspiring arts programmes for the region, and for Scotland.
macrobert - supporters We thank our supporters whose vision and generosity help the arts to flourish Patron Gordon and Alice Stewart Alec & Lynne Carstairs Platinum Central Produce Ltd Gold Clark Electronics Coffeepots Ltd Stirling Rotary Club Silver Janice & Tom Ward Mr Ian Whyte Bronze Alastair Thornley
Supporters ASM Recovery Rotary Club of Grangemouth Maureen Blenkharn Mary Burch Dawn Harrington Susan Holden Mr & Mrs Bradley Helen Thom Lucy Hutchison Jane McGuigan C McGregor Ms Ruth Burgess Janet Laverty Dr K Walker Job Centre Plus Social Club Mrs Pat McDonald And all anonymous supporters
Trusts & Grant Funders Creative Scotland University of Stirling The Robertson Trust Garfield Weston Foundation The MacRobert Trust Gordon Fraser Charitable Trust Souter Charitable Trust Awards for All – Scotland The Dunclay Charitable Trust JTH Charitable Trust The John Liston Charitable Trust Sponsors Stirling Credit Union The Co-operative Accenture Arts & Business Scotland Mackie’s of Scotland
Janice Parker Dementia Outreach Acclaimed choreographer Janice Parker worked closely with Stirling Town Break SCIO to provide a series of dance and movement workshops to people with dementia.
macrobert - producing award - winning work in Stirling, touring across the UK
Educating Ronnie
Educating Ronnie - The Fringe First Award-winning show was shortlisted for the prestigious national Royal National Theatre Foundation Award. It toured across Scotland Autumn 2013 and will tour across UK in Autumn 2014. “As thought- provoking as they come” **** The Independent Too Many Penguins? - The Winner of Best Production For Children And Young People 2012, Critics Awards For Theatre In Scotland embarked on a major UK tour in Spring 2014, including Belfast, Lincoln and Leicester.
Too Many Penguins
“Adults and children left with smiles on their faces and a warm feeling in their heart” **** TimeOut London Titus - Played to great audience and critical acclaim as part of the Made In Scotland showcase at the 2013 Edinburgh Festival Fringe and will tour the UK in Autumn 2014/15. “A completely compelling piece of theatre” **** The Scotsman The Polar Bears Go Wild - Spent their Christmas at Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh and will perform at the renowned Unicorn Theatre in London in early 2015.
Titus
“Charming, imaginative show” **** The List The Little Boy That Santa Claus Forgot - Played to packed audiences during our Christmas 2013 season. The show will play at The Arches, Glasgow during Christmas season 2014. “Delightful” The Stage Beauty and The Beast - Johnny McKnight returned to macrobert to star in, direct and write our blockbusting 2013 panto.
The Polar Bears Go Wild
“The righteous might of the macrobert panto” **** The Guardian
macrobert - tours and invitations from around the UK Educating Ronnie Too Many Penguins Titus The Polar Bears Go Wild
The Little Boy That Santa Clause Forgot
Beauty and The Beast