Beth
Jane
Save Bristol Old Vic
Join- News:
- OCTOBER 2008
Arts Council England and Bristol City Council have renewed their funding relationship with BOV. BOV now has regularly funded status restored.
A 3 phase redevelopment plan is underway - full details on the BOV website
http://www.bristololdvic.org.uk
Essential safety work is in progress
Tickets are on sale for a series of events and performances, beginning with the Christmas show HOME.
The post of Artistic Director has been advertised
Statement from Dick Penny -
“The future of Bristol Old Vic is about making, showing and sharing theatre and the building is a unique home for creative activity. We are seeking to take an approach which is designed to be artistically exciting and attractive to audiences and artists alike. Last year the theatre shut abruptly and its future was beset with doubt. The extraordinary show of public support at the packed public meeting in January 2008 began the rebuilding process.
Having spent the last 6 months planning both an operational model and capital project, we are now very pleased to say that we are in a position to re-activate the Bristol Old Vic Theatre Company with the intention to become a major creative and collaborative force in the Bristol theatre ecology.”
Hurrah!
Juliette Taylor
July 2008 - Please help Show Of Strength Theatre Company
BRISTOL CITY COUNCIL TO CUT SHOW OF STRENGTH
...BUT YOU CAN STOP IT. READ ON...
[from www.showofstrength.org.uk]
On Thursday 31 July the cabinet of Bristol City Council will meet to ratify an officer recommendation that all funding to Show Of Strength should be cut completely from 30 September. We were told on 1 July, the day after our show TRADE IT? got four stars in the The Guardian.
Three weeks later, despite repeated requests for information, we still have no idea why this decision was taken or by whom.
Our funding was only £11,700 a year - a tiny amount for what we deliver. We requested more, as did many organisations who applied, because the amount Bristol puts into the arts is so far below other comparable cities.
If the decision is confirmed on 31 July we will then be told why -and given just two weeks to appeal. The first two weeks of August. Neither of SOS's two part time producers can attend the Cabinet meeting or make an appeal as they are taking their first holidays since Christmas. We have made a request under the Freedom Of Information Act for all material relating to the decsion to cut us, and for the report of our review meeting with the council in November. When we asked for the latter in April, to inform our funding application (the one that's been rejected with no explanation), we were told 'you need to assume that we did not have major concerns or issues that needed addressing urgently with your organisation' and that reports of review meetings were 'internal confidential reports as requested by the consultant.'
All in all we think this isn't cricket. And the more people that think the same, and say so, the better.
So please write to the Leader of the Council
helen.holland@bristol.gov.uk
and copy in the Cabinet Member for Culture:
rosalie.walker@bristol.gov.uk.
We suggest keeping it really simple, something like this:
I/We question the decision to cut Show Of Strength's funding without giving a reason. Given the lack of information, and the fact that the process appears to have been deeply flawed, I/we strongly recommed the cabinet rejects the recommendation on 31 July and reinstates Show Of Strength as one of Bristol's Key Arts Providers wtih a 3 year funding agreement.
Letters of support to us are welcome as we also need Arts Council funding, and that's more difficult if your lcoal authority has just turned you down:
info@showofstrength.org.uk
Best wishes
Sheila Hannon and Gill Loats, Producers
Show of Strength Theatre Company
74 Chessel Street
Bristol BS3 3DN
www.showofstrength.org.uk
0117 9020235
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July 2008 - posted by Ben Delfont
Dear All
In January, Bristol demonstrated its support for the Bristol Old Vic and the Theatre Royal in classic fashion by packing out a public meeting. This show of support was followed by unanimous cross party support for Bristol Old Vic from Bristol City Council and the Arts Council confirming that funding would be renewed from March 2008, initially for six months. This triggered the appointment of Dick Penny as the new Chair of Bristol Old Vic and the recruitment of a new Board. The immediate task was to review the status of the Theatre Company and the Refurbishment Project leading to the formulation of a development plan which would see the Bristol Old Vic become a power house of theatre production once more with a sustainable and exciting future.
We are pleased to say that we are now in a position to share our plans and invite all interested people to attend a Public Meeting at the Theatre Royal on Thursday 10th July at 6.30pm, six months to the day since the January meeting. We are conscious that the January meeting was very full and hope that this meeting will be equally popular and therefore we will provide an audio relay from the auditorium into the front of house areas.
To develop our thinking we have been hosting an open house event each month with a different theme for each session. At the July event we will be sharing plans for both the refurbishment project and the re-starting of theatre production by Bristol Old Vic Theatre Company.
While we have been developing our future plans we have also been undertaking small works to make the theatre useable in the short term. This has enabled us to keep the very active youth theatre going and to open for one off public events. The latest is on Sunday 29th June with a performance of Shakespeare and Stratford by Dame Judi Dench, Jane Lapotaire, Barbara Leigh-Hunt, Richard Pasco, Martin Best, Stanley Wells & Paul Edmondson, organised by the Bristol Old Vic Theatre Club as a fundraiser for the refurbishment appeal. The event is completely sold out and we are very sorry that lots of disappointed theatregoers have been unable to get a ticket.
“I am very conscious that many, many people are keen to help, keen to know what is happening, and keen to have their theatre open and active again. Everyone at the Bristol Old Vic shares the desire to be open and active as soon as possible. The public meeting will be a chance to share our plans to achieve this, to report the status of the company and to discuss the ideas which inform the development plan. Please come along and let us know your thoughts. Bristol Old Vic is an essential part of the city’s contemporary culture and together we can make it an international beacon for Bristol.”
Dick Penny
Executive Chair
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April 2008 Posted by Juliette Taylor
Dick Penny has written to BOV supporters with the following news:
Following the extraordinary demonstration of support at the public meeting in January we have made steady progress. With renewed support from Arts Council South West and Bristol City Council we have moved from seeking to ‘Save’ the Bristol Old Vic into developing the future ‘Vision’. There are two major interlinked elements to the future – the Theatre Company and the Theatre Building .
The future of the Theatre Company will be led by artistic vision, underpinned by sound management and grounded in financial sustainability. We are developing a new operating model and business plan through consultation and discussion. This includes an ongoing series of events with an online blog to keep you up to date with news and progress of all these conversations. Our intention is to formulate this plan for stakeholder agreement in summer 2008 leading to the company re-commencing producing activities in 2009.
Throughout this period our Education Department will continue to provide high quality experiences and productions for hundreds of young people from all parts of Bristol . Expanding these activities will be an integral part of our future vision. The website will also keep you up to date with their performance schedule.
The future of the Theatre Building will be led by the needs of the producing company whilst remaining sensitive to the living heritage of the Theatre Royal which has adapted to the needs of theatrical invention in the 18th, 19th, 20th and now the 21st century. The refurbishment element of the capital plans is well developed and we are now working on aspirations for facilities to extend participation beyond the programme of high quality theatre. These include public access to in depth interpretation of the living history of the country’s oldest theatre, and facilities which will enable more opportunities for young people to engage in developing their talent at Bristol Old Vic .
To date the appeal has raised over £6 million and on behalf of all theatre supporters we thank you all for your support. This allows us to begin the first phase of refurbishment, and the design team is working on detail design planning with contractors scheduled to begin in the Autumn of this year. This first phase will deal with repair of the building fabric, renewal of main electrical and mechanical installations, refurbishment of the Studio Theatre and main Coopers Hall entrance with new lift. The refurbished Studio (with brand-new seating and state-of-the-art technical facilities) and new Basement bar are planned to open mid 2009.
We are making progress but we have much still to achieve. We also have substantial sums to raise so that we can complete the refurbishment of the Theatre Royal complex and create facilities suitable for the next stage of theatrical life in King Street . We therefore need your help to ensure that we can maintain progress.
Bristol Old Vic Theatre Club is playing a leading role and we are delighted to announce that the Club have arranged a performance of Shakespeare and Stratford, celebrating the world and works of the Bard, to be performed by Martin Best, Dame Judi Dench, Jane Lapotaire, Barbara Leigh-Hunt and Richard Pasco, in the Theatre Royal on Sunday 29th June at 7.30.
We are very grateful to all the performers and the Theatre Club for supporting the appeal, and we also hope you’ll consider supporting this very special, one-off event (please note that booking is by post only - no internet, telephone or personal sales).
Finally, our website will give you all our latest news, and the dates of our regular Open House events (coming soon: 15th May, focusing on New Writing; and 21st June, considering the building’s Heritage) - we hope to see you there.
With best wishes,
Dick Penny
Executive Chair
Bristol Old Vic
Friday 1st February 2008
Dick Penny's proposal for the future of the Bristol Old Vic has impressed the Arts Council. Today the Arts Council announced U turns on many of their previous funding cuts to Arts organisations around the country.
Bristol: The theatre will get £578k immediately and £672k has been held in reserve pending further discussions. The exact wording is;
· Bristol funds are reserved to support the development of new ways of initiating and nurturing theatre production. The focus of this work is Bristol Old Vic, working with the widest possible range of other artistic and funding partners.
£1,283,750 is available in 2009/10 and £1,318,411 in 2010/11
Juliette Taylor
Friday 11 January
http://www.thisisBristol.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=145365&command=displayContent&sourceNode=145191&contentPK=19519666&folderPk=83726&pNodeId=144922
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Wednesday 9 January
News from the meeting today with Peter Hewitt from ACE, Equity, Equity members and theatre professionals at the Young Vic.
The following is taken from Equity website -
Theatre industry declares no confidence in Arts Council
In a packed meeting at the Young Vic Theatre, London, today (9 January 2008) representatives from across the England’s theatre industry declared they had no confidence in the work of the Arts Council England (ACE) and its proposals to cut funding to more than 190 arts bodies from April this year.
The meeting, organised by Equity, was addressed by Peter Hewitt, Chief Executive of ACE, but his attempts to explain the rationale behind the decisions taken by the funding body were rejected by an audience of almost 500 at the standing-room only event. The gathered audience of performers, creative workers and representatives from many of those theatres facing cuts were particularly angry about the very brief consultation period (just five weeks which included Christmas and New Year holidays), the secrecy with which the proposals had been produced and the failure of the Arts Council to make explicit the criteria by which some theatres had been chosen over others.
Amongst the speakers were actors Malcolm Sinclair, who criticised the culture of over-management of the arts, and Patrick Malahide who criticised ACE for lacking a coherent intellectual strategy and actor/director Sam West, who made an impassioned plea for a number of smaller companies whose work would be curtailed by these cuts.
Addressing the meeting, Christine Payne, General Secretary of Equity, welcomed the extra money the government had made available to the Arts Council over the next three years, but said:
“We have a right to know how that money is being spent. We are extremely concerned about how these decisions are being made. Who are the judges? And what criteria are being used? There appears to be a distinct and perhaps deliberate lack of involvement from professional theatre practitioners in the decisions process currently used by Arts Council England. The process is not open, it’s not transparent, there is no dialogue with the theatre community.”
“Unless Arts Council England not only listens to the concerns of people here today but actually takes action to respond to them then the credibility of Arts Council England could be fundamentally and possibly irreparably damaged. We demand a thorough review of the process and procedures used by the Arts Council in reaching funding decisions, and until that review is completed the status quo should apply and the current funding process should cease.”
The meeting ended with a vote of no confidence in the Arts Council England moved by veteran actress Miriam Karlin, which was passed unanimously.
