ANNUAL REPORT 2015/16
OUR MISSION
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CHAIR STATEMENT
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THE YEAR IN NUMBERS
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KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE
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CREATIVE PLACEMAKING
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ENVIRONMENT 17 THE YEAR TO COME
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FINANCIAL SUMMARY
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BOARD AND STAFF
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FUNDERS & SUPPORTERS
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OUR MISSION Our mission is to make powerful public art that reconnects people to their built and natural heritage. The work acts as a catalyst for regeneration, attracting investment and increasing community confidence and cohesion. Our name, NVA, takes its inspiration from nacionale vita activa, the Ancient Greek ideal of a lively democracy where actions and words, shared amongst a community of equals, bring new thinking into the world. Established in Glasgow in 1992, our practice uses creative learning and environmental innovation to involve audiences in physically redefining landscapes, revealing how places shape and are shaped by people. Our first permanent work, The Hidden Gardens, was founded in 2002. As Scotland’s first sanctuary garden dedicated to peace, it has become a much valued part of Glasgow’s cultural life. Speed of Light and Ghost Peloton are large-scale collaborative events that use film, photography and live choreography of endurance runners and cyclists in light suits to bring a chosen environment to life. The resuscitation of St Peter’s Seminary and the surrounding woodland in Cardross will create the world’s first intentional modernist ruin and will become a platform for public art and knowledge exchange. The intention is to preserve a raw sense of otherness, excitement and revelation that will embolden future generations of artists to make brilliant new work in the 21st century.
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ANNUAL REPORT 2015/16
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CHAIR STATEMENT I am delighted to introduce NVA’s annual report for 2015/16. This year has been a time of exciting change and development for the company. Huge steps have been made towards the realisation of our ambitious plans for St Peter’s. The reimagining of the site will transform one of Scotland’s most important modernist buildings, currently in a state of advanced ruination, into a place of creativity, inspiration and learning. Thanks to the committed support of key stakeholders, funding partners and private donors, our long term plans have now moved into the delivery phase with restoration works commencing and Hinterland the first major public artwork presented on site. With the appointment of a full design team led by Avanti Architects and dedicated staff in place the project now has real momentum with fantastic international media interest and a well advanced fundraising programme. Over ten nights in March, an audience of around 8,000 people experienced the landscape and seminary buildings subtly animated with light and a specially commissioned soundscape. The event was a public and critical success, selling out well in advance and garnering widespread media coverage and 4 and 5 star reviews.
Brian McLaren Chairman NVA
Continuing NVA’s exploration of landscape, Island Drift marked something of a creative departure. Instead of staging a performance or installation, Island Drift documented the effects of movement and light over large physical landscapes to create a stunning series of photographic images marking the fault line of the Highlands at Loch Lomond. Supported by an extensive education programme with local schools, the final artworks were presented at an exhibition at Street Level Photoworks in Glasgow in 2015. As ever, NVA’s work is firmly rooted in local communities. Whether through the Island Drift education programme, working with local cyclists in Ghost Peloton or the ongoing programme of community engagement around St Peter’s, the company maintains a firm commitment to making work that is accessible and has meaning and value to local people. Finally, I am pleased to welcome new board members to the company. They bring not only valuable expertise and knowledge, but also new energy, and will be of tremendous support as we continue to bring innovative work to global audiences.
In late November 2015 we restaged Ghost Peloton at the Whisky Bond in Port Dundas, Glasgow as part of the World LUCI (Lighting Urban Community International) Conference and UN International Year of Light celebrations. This work is an ambitious collaboration between NVA and Leeds based Phoenix Dance Theatre that transforms landscapes through a fusion of performance cycling, athletic choreography, film and innovative lighting technology. ANNUAL REPORT 2015/16
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ANNUAL REPORT 2015/16
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KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE NVA is committed to making creativity and learning part of everyday life. By producing high quality, cutting edge work that is accessible to all, we aim to stimulate ideas and inspire creative ambition. Marking the official launch of Scotland’s Festival of Architecture 2016, Hinterland provided 8,000 people with the opportunity to explore the ruins of an iconic modernist building which had been abandoned for more than thirty years. Creative mentorships enabled four emerging artists to benefit from the expertise of Hinterland’s creative team through immersive learning experiences focused on design, lighting design, performance and projection. A series of new educational partnerships were piloted through Hinterland, establishing a foundation for long-term relationships for the future of St Peter’s. Argyll and the Isles Coast and Countryside Trust provided placements for six environmental trainees on Hinterland’s Woodland Build project, contributing towards their SQA qualifications. We also facilitated portfolio development opportunities for six photography students from City of Glasgow College, granting them behind-the-scenes access to document the event. The work has been beautifully recorded through the production of the Hinterland film, which will be used to promote the site and the themes of the work to wider audiences. The film has already been shown at a TEDx presentation in Glasgow and is available to view online. Further documentation will be presented later this year at the launch of a new Historic Environment Scotland publication entitled St Peter’s, Cardross: Birth, Death and Renewal.
Earlier in the year, we commissioned Street Level Photoworks to deliver the Island Drift engagement programme. Island Drift, an immersive photographic artwork created during the Year of Natural Scotland, made use of moving and static light sources and multiple camera positions to achieve a powerful set of images articulating the Highland boundary fault line in Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park. Pupils from three local primary schools took part in sessions that explored creative photography techniques including slow shutter speed, painting with light, panoramas and manual focus, to capture their own images of their local area. Adult learners were given direct access to the creative team involved in the making of Island Drift. Photographer Alan McAteer led a masterclass and night shoot at Conic Hill with BA Photography students from Glasgow School of Art and City of Glasgow College, and delivered a lecture to more than 120 students. Alan, along with NVA’s Creative Director Angus Farquhar and Associate Creative Director James Johnson, hosted an Artists’ Talk at Street Level Photoworks in Glasgow during the exhibition of the work. In a discursive session, the team provided insight into the creative development of the work. We continue to share our knowledge of public art and innovative approach to heritage restoration through participation in a wide range of talks, seminars and lectures throughout the UK.
ANNUAL REPORT 2015/16
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CREATIVE PLACEMAKING NVA’s practice is deeply rooted in the idea of public art that responds to a chosen site and the people who live or have lived there. We find ways to delve into a location’s past and reveal things that are relevant to its current evolution. We have been working for almost a decade to reclaim the future of St Peter’s Seminary and bring the decaying building and its surrounding landscape back into productive use. In March 2016, we produced Hinterland, the inaugural event on site, generating significant public awareness of our plans for the site. The event sold out, drawing more than 8,000 people to Helensburgh across the ten days, with local businesses observing that the ‘Hinterland Effect’ boosted trade in the town. A huge range of local, national and international media outlets covered the event, ranging from the Helensburgh Advertiser to The Guardian, BBC, CNN and The New York Times. During Hinterland, we received the news of £4.2 million in confirmed funding from Heritage Lottery Fund and Creative Scotland towards our capital fundraising target. After years of dreaming, scheming, battling, planning and persuading, we are finally able to take forward this ambitious capital restoration. The building was so nearly lost, and this investment gives hope that Scotland and Europe will gain a new cultural centre worthy of the optimism and ambition that created St Peter’s Seminary fifty years ago.
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We have also provided new perspectives on a far better known Scottish landscape. Island Drift was exhibited for the first time in Street Level Photoworks’ gallery in central Glasgow. Running during the period that the Turner Prize visited the city, the exhibition provided audiences with a new way to view and engage with the iconic natural landscape of Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park. Another exhibition at Cashel Native Forest Centre showcased some of the work created by pupils from Luss, Buchanan and Drymen Primary Schools. The children produced stunning imagery of their local area, from considered studies of nature, to sweeping, swirling and imagined landscapes, and abstract reconstructions of reality. A powerful re-staging of Ghost Peloton at the Whisky Bond in Port Dundas, in collaboration with Phoenix Dance Theatre, brought Glasgow’s newest Cultural District to life. The Whisky Bond is currently the focus of a radical regeneration vision to create a vibrant new city neighbourhood on the Glasgow canal. The Whisky Bond was originally built as a bonded warehouse for Highland Distilleries in 1957 and now provides studios and creative spaces to a growing community of thinkers, designers, makers and doers. Ghost Peloton Glasgow marked the arrival of the World LUCI Conference to the city during the UN International Year of Light, exactly ten years since their Annual General Meeting was held in Glasgow in 2005 when NVA was commissioned to produce Radiance, the city’s inaugural lighting festival.
ANNUAL REPORT 2015/16
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ENVIRONMENT NVA’s work places the environment centre stage, in context and through our approach. By demonstrating responsibility and commitment to best practice and carbon reduction alongside a solutionfocused playfulness we inspire positive action and challenge barriers to change. In preparation for Hinterland we carried out significant environmental improvement work to make the seminary safe for public access through the removal of hazardous materials and debris that had accumulated over several decades. Stabilisation works used innovative construction materials to save 80 of the iconic vaults in the chapel and refectory from collapse. By carrying out these works, we have mitigated a significant environmental risk for the local community and have gone a long way towards rescuing the A-listed building from demolition.
The lighting technologies used for Speed of Light were reconfigured for Ghost Peloton to create a kit that would adapt and attach onto any cyclist and any type of road bike. The kit had to be sturdy and simple enough to be used in challenging terrain and all weather conditions. What sets the Ghost Peloton lighting kit apart from off-the-shelf bike or wheel lights is that the colour and intensity of the light is controlled wirelessly during performances, allowing for the creation of patterns and sequences that would not be possible with a static or preprogrammed system. 50% of Ghost Peloton participant cyclists said their involvement with the work had increased their cycling activity.
We continue to promote sustainable forms of transport through all of our events. We worked with Abellio/ScotRail, the official transport partner for the Festival of Architecture, to raise awareness of key train routes from major Scottish cities to Helensburgh and encourage Hinterland attendees to make use of public transport. 23% of ticketholders travelled to the event by train, with a further 13% arriving by foot.
ANNUAL REPORT 2015/16
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THE YEAR TO COME The key focus of the company over the coming year is to further develop and deliver the public engagement programmes at St Peter’s. We will continue to raise funds, establish meaningful partnerships and deliver public artworks that will increase awareness and build the project’s profile both locally and internationally. Critical to this plan is retaining and fostering financial support from the key public bodies within Scotland. We will continue to work on our fundraising strategy and deliver our business plan targets for selfgenerated income to ensure a sustainable future for the company and for St Peter’s. The capital delivery phase is now well underway and Gillian Stevenson has recently been appointed as Capital Project Manager to lead the programme and deliver the project on time and on budget, supported by the senior management team and the newly formed Capital Sub-Committee. Together we will take forward these exciting proposals to safeguard and develop the site with construction scheduled to begin in 2017. Additionally we are working with Historic Environment Scotland to contribute to a new edition of Diane Watters’ original publication St Peter’s College, Cardross. The updated edition, entitled St Peter’s, Cardross: Birth, Death and Renewal, will contain a new photo essay by our Creative Director Angus Farquhar and will be available for sale from December 2016. ANNUAL REPORT 2015/16
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FINANCIAL SUMMARY 73%
NVA GROUP
Grants & Other Project Funding
INCOME Creative Scotland Investment
£
230,000
Earned Income from Commissioned Events
£
140,669
Grants & Other Project Funding
£
982,560
Other Income
£
1,822
Total Income
£ 1,355,051
10% Earned Income
17%
Creative Scotland Investment
82% Project Costs
EXPENDITURE
13% 5%
Overheads
20
Staffing
Project Costs
£
1,175,918
Staffing
£
185,173
Overheads
£
78,244
Total Expenditure
£ 1,439,335
BALANCE SHEET AT 31.3.16
ASSETS Property & Equipment
£
249,344
Cash & Debtors
£
533,759
Total Assets
£ 783,103
CURRENT LIABILITIES Loan
£
Due to Suppliers
£ (119,906)
(11,600)
Accruals, provisions and other creditors
£ (303,603)
Total Current Liabilities
£ (435,109)
Total Assets less Current Liabilities
£
347,994
Long Term Loan
£
(52,041)
Net Assets
£ 295,953
FUNDS Unrestricted Funds
£
255,909
Restricted funds of charitable subsidiary
£
40,044
Total Funds
£ 295,953
ANNUAL REPORT 2015/16
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BOARD & STAFF BOARD MEMBERS
Brian McLaren (Chair) Business Development Director EKOS Ellen Potter Executive Director NVA Angus Farquhar Creative Director NVA Morag Bain Exhibitions Manager Architecture + Design Scotland
Nancy Braid Consultant Peter Lawson Partner Hill Brown & Co Faith Liddell Director Festivals Edinburgh
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Elizabeth Davidson Senior Project Manager Mackintosh Project Tahira Nasim Project Manager International Education Scottish Development International Damien Smith Company Director ISO
Kathleen Benham Chartered Accountant Benham Conway & Co.
Burness Paull LLP Company Secretary
Jo Cook Finance Director
Alexandra Erjavec Fundraising Assistant
Clare Simpson KSP Capital Project Coordinator
Annie Crabtree Project Assistant / Office Manager
Sirri Topping Office Assistant
David Cook KSP Capital Project Director
Claire McNaught Communications Coordinator
HINTERLAND PROJECT STAFF
Malcolm Close Projects Director Scottish Exhibition Centre
Andrea Miller Freelance TV Producer
Jude Barber Director / Architect Collective Architecture
STAFF
Peter Boyden Consultant
Cristina Armstrong Project Director
Aaron McCarthy Project Assistant
Nikki Kane Project Coordinator
Rebecca Powrie Engagement Coordinator
FUNDERS & SUPPORTERS
ANNUAL REPORT 2015/16
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NVA 15 North Claremont Street Glasgow, G3 7NR T: 0044 (0)141 332 9911 E: contact@nva.org.uk www.nva.org.uk