04) Context

The Opening section Arcola Theatre Business Plan

Introduction

 - Arcola Theatre is a leading Off-Westend producing and receiving venue in East London, with 2 performance spaces of 180 and 100 seats, rehearsal spaces and bar.

 - We stage high-calibre theatre of social and political relevance plus our annual Grimeborn Festival of new opera. Our Engagement programme includes Youth Theatre (4 groups) , Arcola 60+ and Arcola Ala-Turka (Turkish-speaking) plus regular shows and workshops for primary schools.

 - Arcola supports emerging and established artists, and is a Sustained Theatre Hub, providing a London home for diverse artists from across the UK.

 - Our environmental sustainability programme is internationally-renowned and has spun-out a rapidly growing clean-energy technology company.

Output Activities are in three areas:

 - Professional Theatre

 - Creative Learning

 - Environmental Sustainability

Supporting Activites

 - Marketing

 - Technical

 - Space Hire

 - Development

 - Software & IT

 - Front of House

 - Bar (sister company)

The guiding objectives of Arcola Theatre remain unchanged:  

 - World-class artistic excellence

 - Sustainable business development

 - Increased public benefit for the people of Dalston and beyond

Charitable Objectives

The objects for which the Company is formed are to promote, maintain, improve and advance the education and appreciation of the public in the Arts and Sciences.

Vision

Arcola Theatre’s vision is of a genuinely radical theatre constantly reinventing itself to respond to, interpret and have relevance to an ever changing contemporary Britain.

Mission

Arcola Theatre’s mission is to imagine and build a theatre that flourishes within a cultural and scientific centre for its diverse local community. One that builds new audiences, generates its own powerful productions, and creates a home for the very best of UK and international theatre companies to visit, whilst simultaneously developing, demonstrating and deploying technologies and techniques for a sustainable future.

Selected Awards

2015     Best Theatrical Performance at Hackney One Carnival

2014     Best Overall Family Welcome at Family Arts Festival Awards

2014     Best Family Venue at Family Arts Festival Awards

2014     Best Family Event/Activity (for The Three Sillies) at Family Arts Festival Awards

2014    Mehmet Ergen Best Male Role Model, Turkish Studies Centre Awards

2013    Green Build Award - Leisure category

2013    Aylin Bozok Best Newcomer in WhatsOnStage Opera Poll

2013     Best Ensemble Award at Empty Space and Offies Awards for Simple8’s

2012     Whatsonstage.com Best New Music Award

2012-14    Offie Awards for Most Welcoming Theatre and Best Theatre Bar

2012    Learning Trust Educators’  Award

2011    Sustainable Cities Awards

2009    Best Social Enterprise, Mayor of Hackney Business Awards

2008     South Bank Show Awards 'Diversity Award' Nominee

2006    Peter Wolff Theatre Trust Award

2003-06    Time Out Live Awards (special award, best ensemble, favourite fringe venue)

2002-03    Peter Brook  Empty Space Awards (special commendation, winner)

History (2000 – 2011)

 - Arcola Theatre was founded in September 2000 by Artistic Director Mehmet Ergen and Executive Producer Leyla Nazli.

 - Arcola has staged work by some of the best and most acclaimed actors, writers and directors working in Theatre today, this includes productions involving: William Gaskill, Timberlake Wertenbaker, Ariel Dorfman, Sean Holmes, Dominic Dromgoole, Max Stafford-Clark, Frank McGuinness, Jack Shepherd, David Farr, Bonnie Greer, Adam Rapp, Sam Shepard, Eric Schlosser, Helena Kaut-Howson, Greg Hicks, Lia Williams, Bill Bryden, Rebecca Lenkiewicz, Kathryn Hunter and Toby Jones.

 - Around acclaimed Theatre productions we developed our Creative Learning programme, which now hosts regular participatory performance arts opportunities for a very diverse set of users with an age range from 8 to 75.

 - Since 2006 we have introduced environmental sustainability as a new development pathway for the company. With the ambition to become the world’s first carbon neutral theatre, the company has committed to being an exemplary sustainable business. Internationally recongnised, Arcola Theatre has been one of the leaders of the Green Theatre movement.

 - Key to the success of Arcola Theatre is its emphasis on socially and politically relevant programming, appealing both to the local Hackney audience and to a wider public.

 - In fourteen years of operation, in line with the masterplan for economic and social regeneration of the area, Arcola has become the only world-class easily accessible professional theatre venue for a large slice of North and East London’s residents. The company’s development has gone hand-in-hand with the critical support of Arts Council England which shares Arcola’s vision of access, diversity, artistic excellence and sustainability.

History (2011– 2013)

 - In January 2011, Arcola Theatre moved from its original premises on Arcola Street to a C19th factory a few steps away from the new Dalston Junction station, with a 7 year peppercorn lease from LB Hackney.

 - The move and initial redevelopment were carried out with virtually no money, the majority of tasks being achieved by mobilising nearly 1,000 volunteers over nine months in late 2010-11. The minimal intervention approach enabled the building to be immediately useable while keeping its industrial feel.

 - In 2012 Arts Council England invested  £1m in capital to enable a major refurbishment, improving accessibility, deploying energy efficiency measures, and extending the café/bar in order to increase revenue. This investment triggered the granting by LB Hackney of a 25 year peppercorn lease.

Business Model - Activities

 - Arcola Theatre operates as a Charity, but we are known for our entrepreneurial approach.

 - Art: We programme challenging work, chosen more for its social relevance and artistic value than for its simple commercial entertainment value. Thus the work we produce is not always an easy-sell. For this reason we operate relatively small studios and rely on both internal and external subsidy of our artistic programme to supplement box office income.

 - Community: We deliver an extensive community engagement programme, usually delivered at below cost-price in order to reach our target participants. We have recently expanded use of participation fees to reduce dependence on external subsidy, but it remains a key enabler of our Creative Engagement programme.

 - Green: We are renowned locally and internationally for our environmental sustainability in the arts programme. At times this programme has contributed significantly to our turnover. But in recent years most activity, apart from building infrastructure projects, has been diverted in to a separate company Arcola Energy which gifts profits to the theatre. Arcola Energy is a clean-tech company which has grown very rapidly since 2010 and will likely now enable us to achieve our wider theatre ambitions by providing a vehicle for significant new building developments.

 - Venue: We operate a theatre venue which provides space for our own professional and community activities, as well as hosting professional and community activities delivered by others. Revenue fron hiring our spaces is a key component of our income.

 - Café/Bar: We operate our own bar within the venue to serve both our theatre customers and passing trade. The bar is run through a separate company which gifts profits to the theatre. We previously planned to expand our bar operation to become a major source of revenue, but in light of rapid changes in Dalston which have attracted large numbers of food and beverage operators in to the area this is now unattractive. Instead we are reducing our daytime café/bar activities, focusing on our theatre customers and a highly profitable late-night programme.

Business Model - Income

To ensure resilience we limit our dependence on any single source/type of revenue to 25%. With our existing premises we expect to earn approximately 50% of our required income, with  the remainder coming from grants and donations.

Targets below are based on business-as-usual operation with turnover of £1.2m growing to £1.4m over 3 years.

Earned Income:

Box Office Sales – tickets, programmes and merchandise from our in-house and co-produced shows. Target 25%

Theatre, Rehearsal, Office and Event Hire Income – rental income from the hire of theatre and rehearsal spaces. Fees include boxoffice, marketing and technical services. Includes Arcola Energy and Bar rental. Target 20%

Talent Development fees – income earned by providing training and creative engagement classes. Income from this source must be carefully managed in order to avoid creating financial barriers to participation. Target 5%.

Grant & Donation Income:

Arts Council England NPO Grant – core funding from Arts Council England. Secured 3-yearly, most recently for 2015-18. This supports all of our activities and is awarded on condition of delivering a full programme of activities. Target 25%.

Trusts, Foundations & CSR – generally project grants for specific productions or community activities. Target 18%

Individual Giving -  a relatively new and fast growing area of activity for Arcola. As it develops it will reduce our dependence on public funding for our core programme. Target 7% and increasing.

Business Model - Expenditure

At our present scale we have a high percentage of fixed costs due to the requirements of running and venue and the tight budgets on which we deliver our shows & projects.  Budgets below are based on business-as-usual operation with turnover of £1.2m growing to £1.4m over 3 years:

Professional Theatre – our budget for producing and co-producing shows. Includes direct costs only, i.e. excludes internal staff and facilities costs. Budget 30%.

Creative Engagement (community) & Green – our budget for delivering workshops and related shows. Includes direct costs only, i.e. excludes internal staff and facilities costs. Budget 5%.

Staff – our budget for our regular and casual staff to manage the organisation, deliver shows and projects and run venue operations. Budget 40%

Venue costs & Overheads – our budget for running the company, the venue and servicing our visiting companies. Budget 25%