Successful Funding of The Arts
Author: jdeverall
SUCCESSFUL FUNDING OF THE ARTS
by Robert Bourne
Chairman, Bourne Capital
An Open Letter to The Rt. Hon Chris Smith M.P.
Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
April 26, 1999
SUCCESSFUL FUNDING OF THE ARTS
by Robert Bourne
Chairman, Bourne Capital
An Open Letter to The Rt. Hon Chris Smith M.P.
Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
April 26, 1999
Business and the arts are two sectors that must work together for the benefit of each other. The right formula for commercial support for the arts has not yet been identified, and their current relationship is, for the most part, one of unease.
And yet, over the last fifteen years, we at Bourne Capital have consistently demonstrated that arts and business can and must work together to succeed. Our history with the arts proves that theatre can be both artistically rewarding and financially secure without any government revenue subsidy whatsoever.
Richmond Theatre
In 1985 Richmond Theatre, a Matcham house of unrivalled importance in the area was offered for sale. This building, for most of its history the central cultural jewel of Richmond, had been entirely run down by its previous owners. The building was in very real threat of non-existence, and one of the major bingo operators was showing an interest in acquiring it.
We purchased the lease of the theatre in an effort to safeguard this vulnerable building from closure. Over the next two years we developed an entirely new artistic policy for the theatre. Anthony Hopkins became Artistic Director, and through hands-on management we turned a loss-making operation into the beginnings of a successful company.
In 1987 we obtained charitable status from the Charities Commission and formed the Richmond Theatre Trust to safeguard the future of this building. We formed a board comprising five local councillors and six representatives from the commercial sector.
Our first act was to donate the lease and improvements, valued at over £250,000 to the newly formed charity.
I conducted negotiations with Richmond Council to raise the remainder of the renovation money needed to restore this dilapidated theatre. The Council agreed to underwrite the £5 million refurbishment, conditional on £1 million being raised privately. We were successful in raising this £1 million and I personally donated a further £250,000 to the Trust.
By 1989 the refurbishment was completed on time and within budget. The theatre, now Richmond's foremost cultural asset, is reinstated as an A-Class touring house meeting the needs of the local market. The combination of business expertise and artistic purpose created an asset that did not exist before.
Richmond Theatre now plays to minimum 67% audiences. It serves its community with a programme of classical and modern theatre, opera, dance, and comedy aimed at a younger audience. Since our involvement it has never been dark.
The Criterion Theatre
In 1992 the Japanese multinational company Sogo developed their huge Piccadilly Circus site, considered in property terms to be one of the most important sites in the country. Within the redevelopment they left untouched the historic 100-year-old theatre in the heart of London.
The Criterion Theatre was dark when we became involved. Its celebrated original decoration was lost behind thick brown paint.
Our first step was to establish a workable artistic policy for the theatre. This developed in the form of new writing - making the Criterion a home in the West End for the best new plays.
We then initiated a rescue operation involving a total restoration of the theatre's precious interior. We raised £1 million to fund this renovation, to improve the theatre's equipment, and to operate the artistic policy. Of this £1 million, the only funding body contribution was £70,000 from the Foundation for Sports and the Arts. £200,000 of the total was in the form of a personal donation.
The theatre's emphasis on new writing proved immediately popular, with work by Ronald Harwood (Taking Slides), Kevin Elyot (My Night with Reg), Jonathan Harvey (Rupert Street Lonely Hearts Club). In the early mid 1990s the Criterion served a function now taken on by The Royal Court and Donmar Warehouse in the West End, to support new work and cultivate new audiences.
As with Richmond Theatre, our first measure once the finances were secure was to obtain charitable status. Chaired by Lord Attenborough, the trust ensures the future of the theatre and sees that all operating surpluses are reinvested in the building itself.
Unusually for a theatre charity, the Criterion has neither sought nor obtained any revenue subsidy whatsoever. The Criterion has not been in the dark since we took over in 1992.
Collins Music Hall
The progress of the Collins Music Hall is a lesson in the possibilities of commercial and artistic partnership.
Our association with the Collins site (a disused timber-yard that had until 1958 been the home to “The Oldest Music Hall in the World”) began in 1995 as a property interest. However, in tandem with the Local Authority, we immediately recognised the significance of a site that was home to Charlie Chaplin, Gracie Fields, Vera Lynn, and many others. Most of the population of Islington over the age fifty have vivid memories of the Collins as a hub of local life.
We formed a charitable trust and put together a board that combined the most important theatre practitioners in the country with leaders of local commerce.
The Music Hall proposal quickly drew into a multi-million pound scheme to provide London with something it sorely needed: a flexible home for the greatest regional drama, designed to appeal to a new generation of theatregoers. I purchased an option on the site for £50,000 in order to safeguard the future development of the theatre.
After two years of preparation and a personal outlay of over £250,000 our lottery bid was to fail in 1997. For many projects this would have been the end of the story.
However, there is another chapter. I decided to exercise the option, and personally bought the site for £2.3 million. Through my background in commercial property development, I have been able to structure a deal with a neighbouring property company. This developer will now entirely finance the construction of the shell of a new 680-seat theatre, leaving us with only the fit-out costs to find (which are estimated at around £1 million), in return for obtaining planning permission for residential development on top of the theatre.
Through our desire to see the site restored to its former glory and through a positive link with the commercial sector, the Collins Music Hall will now represent a saving to the nation of approximately £15 million. For the lottery-funding problem there was a commercial solution, which will be made possible through negotiations with the Islington Planning Authority who are eager that this theatre should succeed.
On opening, the Collins Music Hall will house Dame Judi Dench's charitable Rose Theatre (used in the film Shakespeare in Love). This will distribute grants to underprivileged drama students, and will be true to our original aims for this project.
The Old Vic
The story of saving The Old Vic begins at the Laurence Olivier Awards in February 1998, when Chris Smith, Secretary for Culture, Media, and Sport made an emotional plea for someone to step forward and rescue The Old Vic, home to Olivier's National Theatre, from the hands of commercial developers.
Within a matter of days we had formed the essence of what was to become The Old Vic Theatre Trust. I invited Alex Bernstein to chair the Trust, and Stephen Daldry to become Artistic Director.
I personally financed and secured the £1.5 million non-refundable deposit required as the first instalment of the purchase price of £3.5 million. We are now running The Old Vic successfully without any government subsidy, and we are concurrently raising £4 million needed for the purchase and immediate improvements.
To make this a success and to save the theatre for the long term, we need to identify new ways in which this building can work for us just as we work for it. It is our aim to widen its scope, to create on the doorstep of Waterloo an engine-house of creative theatre, a living breathing building which is home and inspiration to British theatre's greatest minds.
Building on the flat roof of The Old Vic will not only provide the proper space that the theatre needs, but will also make a very powerful statement to London that this great theatre - perhaps the greatest this country has seen - is here to stay, and is looking to the future. So long under the threat of closure, The Old Vic must announce its intention to remain at the very forefront of British and world theatre.
The Old Vic is a flagship institution of this nation. Saving it is not an issue that one can take lightly. Year upon year of handout fundraising and running the operations on a shoestring will simply not be good enough. The Vic must be saved properly, with adequate provision for the future.
Government does not currently have a relationship with those few entrepreneurial individuals who are getting it right in the arts. Those people do not trouble the public purse or the bureaucratic machine with endless applications for subsidy. If the arts are to become a modern streamlined business with the speed and efficiency of contemporary industry, then this relationship has to exist.
Government policy should encourage this entrepreneurial activity, which does nothing but alleviate strain on an already capacity Arts Council. Encouragement should come in the form of reward schemes and incentive measures. Incentive schemes have been implemented successfully by Government in other areas, such as film and regional development, and the theatre needs now to be included.
The landscape for private arts financing is bleak and underdeveloped. As I can show, the skills exist for this to be turned around, but it needs the confidence of the Government to inspire change.
I have read too much from the knockers who do nothing but seek government funds. Self-help is possible - our projects are proof of this. But Government needs to provide some sort of fast-tracking for successful entrepreneurial initiatives or the current situation will remain unchanged in perpetuity.
For the past two years I have been on the fundraising committee of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. At the beginning of this year Lord Attenborough invited me to join the Council of RADA to set up a new Business Committee. This group, which gathers together young, energetic, successful people of today, will help develop the business of this famous institution.
I am determined to continue in my quest to use my commercial experience to help preserve Britain's strong cultural heritage, whilst inspiring new talent to continue our great traditions, and new audiences to appreciate them.
And yet, over the last fifteen years, we at Bourne Capital have consistently demonstrated that arts and business can and must work together to succeed. Our history with the arts proves that theatre can be both artistically rewarding and financially secure without any government revenue subsidy whatsoever.
Richmond Theatre
In 1985 Richmond Theatre, a Matcham house of unrivalled importance in the area was offered for sale. This building, for most of its history the central cultural jewel of Richmond, had been entirely run down by its previous owners. The building was in very real threat of non-existence, and one of the major bingo operators was showing an interest in acquiring it.
We purchased the lease of the theatre in an effort to safeguard this vulnerable building from closure. Over the next two years we developed an entirely new artistic policy for the theatre. Anthony Hopkins became Artistic Director, and through hands-on management we turned a loss-making operation into the beginnings of a successful company.
In 1987 we obtained charitable status from the Charities Commission and formed the Richmond Theatre Trust to safeguard the future of this building. We formed a board comprising five local councillors and six representatives from the commercial sector.
Our first act was to donate the lease and improvements, valued at over £250,000 to the newly formed charity.
I conducted negotiations with Richmond Council to raise the remainder of the renovation money needed to restore this dilapidated theatre. The Council agreed to underwrite the £5 million refurbishment, conditional on £1 million being raised privately. We were successful in raising this £1 million and I personally donated a further £250,000 to the Trust.
By 1989 the refurbishment was completed on time and within budget. The theatre, now Richmond's foremost cultural asset, is reinstated as an A-Class touring house meeting the needs of the local market. The combination of business expertise and artistic purpose created an asset that did not exist before.
Richmond Theatre now plays to minimum 67% audiences. It serves its community with a programme of classical and modern theatre, opera, dance, and comedy aimed at a younger audience. Since our involvement it has never been dark.
The Criterion Theatre
In 1992 the Japanese multinational company Sogo developed their huge Piccadilly Circus site, considered in property terms to be one of the most important sites in the country. Within the redevelopment they left untouched the historic 100-year-old theatre in the heart of London.
The Criterion Theatre was dark when we became involved. Its celebrated original decoration was lost behind thick brown paint.
Our first step was to establish a workable artistic policy for the theatre. This developed in the form of new writing - making the Criterion a home in the West End for the best new plays.
We then initiated a rescue operation involving a total restoration of the theatre's precious interior. We raised £1 million to fund this renovation, to improve the theatre's equipment, and to operate the artistic policy. Of this £1 million, the only funding body contribution was £70,000 from the Foundation for Sports and the Arts. £200,000 of the total was in the form of a personal donation.
The theatre's emphasis on new writing proved immediately popular, with work by Ronald Harwood (Taking Slides), Kevin Elyot (My Night with Reg), Jonathan Harvey (Rupert Street Lonely Hearts Club). In the early mid 1990s the Criterion served a function now taken on by The Royal Court and Donmar Warehouse in the West End, to support new work and cultivate new audiences.
As with Richmond Theatre, our first measure once the finances were secure was to obtain charitable status. Chaired by Lord Attenborough, the trust ensures the future of the theatre and sees that all operating surpluses are reinvested in the building itself.
Unusually for a theatre charity, the Criterion has neither sought nor obtained any revenue subsidy whatsoever. The Criterion has not been in the dark since we took over in 1992.
Collins Music Hall
The progress of the Collins Music Hall is a lesson in the possibilities of commercial and artistic partnership.
Our association with the Collins site (a disused timber-yard that had until 1958 been the home to “The Oldest Music Hall in the World”) began in 1995 as a property interest. However, in tandem with the Local Authority, we immediately recognised the significance of a site that was home to Charlie Chaplin, Gracie Fields, Vera Lynn, and many others. Most of the population of Islington over the age fifty have vivid memories of the Collins as a hub of local life.
We formed a charitable trust and put together a board that combined the most important theatre practitioners in the country with leaders of local commerce.
The Music Hall proposal quickly drew into a multi-million pound scheme to provide London with something it sorely needed: a flexible home for the greatest regional drama, designed to appeal to a new generation of theatregoers. I purchased an option on the site for £50,000 in order to safeguard the future development of the theatre.
After two years of preparation and a personal outlay of over £250,000 our lottery bid was to fail in 1997. For many projects this would have been the end of the story.
However, there is another chapter. I decided to exercise the option, and personally bought the site for £2.3 million. Through my background in commercial property development, I have been able to structure a deal with a neighbouring property company. This developer will now entirely finance the construction of the shell of a new 680-seat theatre, leaving us with only the fit-out costs to find (which are estimated at around £1 million), in return for obtaining planning permission for residential development on top of the theatre.
Through our desire to see the site restored to its former glory and through a positive link with the commercial sector, the Collins Music Hall will now represent a saving to the nation of approximately £15 million. For the lottery-funding problem there was a commercial solution, which will be made possible through negotiations with the Islington Planning Authority who are eager that this theatre should succeed.
On opening, the Collins Music Hall will house Dame Judi Dench's charitable Rose Theatre (used in the film Shakespeare in Love). This will distribute grants to underprivileged drama students, and will be true to our original aims for this project.
The Old Vic
The story of saving The Old Vic begins at the Laurence Olivier Awards in February 1998, when Chris Smith, Secretary for Culture, Media, and Sport made an emotional plea for someone to step forward and rescue The Old Vic, home to Olivier's National Theatre, from the hands of commercial developers.
Within a matter of days we had formed the essence of what was to become The Old Vic Theatre Trust. I invited Alex Bernstein to chair the Trust, and Stephen Daldry to become Artistic Director.
I personally financed and secured the £1.5 million non-refundable deposit required as the first instalment of the purchase price of £3.5 million. We are now running The Old Vic successfully without any government subsidy, and we are concurrently raising £4 million needed for the purchase and immediate improvements.
To make this a success and to save the theatre for the long term, we need to identify new ways in which this building can work for us just as we work for it. It is our aim to widen its scope, to create on the doorstep of Waterloo an engine-house of creative theatre, a living breathing building which is home and inspiration to British theatre's greatest minds.
Building on the flat roof of The Old Vic will not only provide the proper space that the theatre needs, but will also make a very powerful statement to London that this great theatre - perhaps the greatest this country has seen - is here to stay, and is looking to the future. So long under the threat of closure, The Old Vic must announce its intention to remain at the very forefront of British and world theatre.
The Old Vic is a flagship institution of this nation. Saving it is not an issue that one can take lightly. Year upon year of handout fundraising and running the operations on a shoestring will simply not be good enough. The Vic must be saved properly, with adequate provision for the future.
Government does not currently have a relationship with those few entrepreneurial individuals who are getting it right in the arts. Those people do not trouble the public purse or the bureaucratic machine with endless applications for subsidy. If the arts are to become a modern streamlined business with the speed and efficiency of contemporary industry, then this relationship has to exist.
Government policy should encourage this entrepreneurial activity, which does nothing but alleviate strain on an already capacity Arts Council. Encouragement should come in the form of reward schemes and incentive measures. Incentive schemes have been implemented successfully by Government in other areas, such as film and regional development, and the theatre needs now to be included.
The landscape for private arts financing is bleak and underdeveloped. As I can show, the skills exist for this to be turned around, but it needs the confidence of the Government to inspire change.
I have read too much from the knockers who do nothing but seek government funds. Self-help is possible - our projects are proof of this. But Government needs to provide some sort of fast-tracking for successful entrepreneurial initiatives or the current situation will remain unchanged in perpetuity.
For the past two years I have been on the fundraising committee of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. At the beginning of this year Lord Attenborough invited me to join the Council of RADA to set up a new Business Committee. This group, which gathers together young, energetic, successful people of today, will help develop the business of this famous institution.
I am determined to continue in my quest to use my commercial experience to help preserve Britain's strong cultural heritage, whilst inspiring new talent to continue our great traditions, and new audiences to appreciate them.
by Robert Bourne
Chairman, Bourne Capital
An Open Letter to The Rt. Hon Chris Smith M.P.
Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
April 26, 1999
SUCCESSFUL FUNDING OF THE ARTS
by Robert Bourne
Chairman, Bourne Capital
An Open Letter to The Rt. Hon Chris Smith M.P.
Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
April 26, 1999
Business and the arts are two sectors that must work together for the benefit of each other. The right formula for commercial support for the arts has not yet been identified, and their current relationship is, for the most part, one of unease.
And yet, over the last fifteen years, we at Bourne Capital have consistently demonstrated that arts and business can and must work together to succeed. Our history with the arts proves that theatre can be both artistically rewarding and financially secure without any government revenue subsidy whatsoever.
Richmond Theatre
In 1985 Richmond Theatre, a Matcham house of unrivalled importance in the area was offered for sale. This building, for most of its history the central cultural jewel of Richmond, had been entirely run down by its previous owners. The building was in very real threat of non-existence, and one of the major bingo operators was showing an interest in acquiring it.
We purchased the lease of the theatre in an effort to safeguard this vulnerable building from closure. Over the next two years we developed an entirely new artistic policy for the theatre. Anthony Hopkins became Artistic Director, and through hands-on management we turned a loss-making operation into the beginnings of a successful company.
In 1987 we obtained charitable status from the Charities Commission and formed the Richmond Theatre Trust to safeguard the future of this building. We formed a board comprising five local councillors and six representatives from the commercial sector.
Our first act was to donate the lease and improvements, valued at over £250,000 to the newly formed charity.
I conducted negotiations with Richmond Council to raise the remainder of the renovation money needed to restore this dilapidated theatre. The Council agreed to underwrite the £5 million refurbishment, conditional on £1 million being raised privately. We were successful in raising this £1 million and I personally donated a further £250,000 to the Trust.
By 1989 the refurbishment was completed on time and within budget. The theatre, now Richmond's foremost cultural asset, is reinstated as an A-Class touring house meeting the needs of the local market. The combination of business expertise and artistic purpose created an asset that did not exist before.
Richmond Theatre now plays to minimum 67% audiences. It serves its community with a programme of classical and modern theatre, opera, dance, and comedy aimed at a younger audience. Since our involvement it has never been dark.
The Criterion Theatre
In 1992 the Japanese multinational company Sogo developed their huge Piccadilly Circus site, considered in property terms to be one of the most important sites in the country. Within the redevelopment they left untouched the historic 100-year-old theatre in the heart of London.
The Criterion Theatre was dark when we became involved. Its celebrated original decoration was lost behind thick brown paint.
Our first step was to establish a workable artistic policy for the theatre. This developed in the form of new writing - making the Criterion a home in the West End for the best new plays.
We then initiated a rescue operation involving a total restoration of the theatre's precious interior. We raised £1 million to fund this renovation, to improve the theatre's equipment, and to operate the artistic policy. Of this £1 million, the only funding body contribution was £70,000 from the Foundation for Sports and the Arts. £200,000 of the total was in the form of a personal donation.
The theatre's emphasis on new writing proved immediately popular, with work by Ronald Harwood (Taking Slides), Kevin Elyot (My Night with Reg), Jonathan Harvey (Rupert Street Lonely Hearts Club). In the early mid 1990s the Criterion served a function now taken on by The Royal Court and Donmar Warehouse in the West End, to support new work and cultivate new audiences.
As with Richmond Theatre, our first measure once the finances were secure was to obtain charitable status. Chaired by Lord Attenborough, the trust ensures the future of the theatre and sees that all operating surpluses are reinvested in the building itself.
Unusually for a theatre charity, the Criterion has neither sought nor obtained any revenue subsidy whatsoever. The Criterion has not been in the dark since we took over in 1992.
Collins Music Hall
The progress of the Collins Music Hall is a lesson in the possibilities of commercial and artistic partnership.
Our association with the Collins site (a disused timber-yard that had until 1958 been the home to “The Oldest Music Hall in the World”) began in 1995 as a property interest. However, in tandem with the Local Authority, we immediately recognised the significance of a site that was home to Charlie Chaplin, Gracie Fields, Vera Lynn, and many others. Most of the population of Islington over the age fifty have vivid memories of the Collins as a hub of local life.
We formed a charitable trust and put together a board that combined the most important theatre practitioners in the country with leaders of local commerce.
The Music Hall proposal quickly drew into a multi-million pound scheme to provide London with something it sorely needed: a flexible home for the greatest regional drama, designed to appeal to a new generation of theatregoers. I purchased an option on the site for £50,000 in order to safeguard the future development of the theatre.
After two years of preparation and a personal outlay of over £250,000 our lottery bid was to fail in 1997. For many projects this would have been the end of the story.
However, there is another chapter. I decided to exercise the option, and personally bought the site for £2.3 million. Through my background in commercial property development, I have been able to structure a deal with a neighbouring property company. This developer will now entirely finance the construction of the shell of a new 680-seat theatre, leaving us with only the fit-out costs to find (which are estimated at around £1 million), in return for obtaining planning permission for residential development on top of the theatre.
Through our desire to see the site restored to its former glory and through a positive link with the commercial sector, the Collins Music Hall will now represent a saving to the nation of approximately £15 million. For the lottery-funding problem there was a commercial solution, which will be made possible through negotiations with the Islington Planning Authority who are eager that this theatre should succeed.
On opening, the Collins Music Hall will house Dame Judi Dench's charitable Rose Theatre (used in the film Shakespeare in Love). This will distribute grants to underprivileged drama students, and will be true to our original aims for this project.
The Old Vic
The story of saving The Old Vic begins at the Laurence Olivier Awards in February 1998, when Chris Smith, Secretary for Culture, Media, and Sport made an emotional plea for someone to step forward and rescue The Old Vic, home to Olivier's National Theatre, from the hands of commercial developers.
Within a matter of days we had formed the essence of what was to become The Old Vic Theatre Trust. I invited Alex Bernstein to chair the Trust, and Stephen Daldry to become Artistic Director.
I personally financed and secured the £1.5 million non-refundable deposit required as the first instalment of the purchase price of £3.5 million. We are now running The Old Vic successfully without any government subsidy, and we are concurrently raising £4 million needed for the purchase and immediate improvements.
To make this a success and to save the theatre for the long term, we need to identify new ways in which this building can work for us just as we work for it. It is our aim to widen its scope, to create on the doorstep of Waterloo an engine-house of creative theatre, a living breathing building which is home and inspiration to British theatre's greatest minds.
Building on the flat roof of The Old Vic will not only provide the proper space that the theatre needs, but will also make a very powerful statement to London that this great theatre - perhaps the greatest this country has seen - is here to stay, and is looking to the future. So long under the threat of closure, The Old Vic must announce its intention to remain at the very forefront of British and world theatre.
The Old Vic is a flagship institution of this nation. Saving it is not an issue that one can take lightly. Year upon year of handout fundraising and running the operations on a shoestring will simply not be good enough. The Vic must be saved properly, with adequate provision for the future.
Government does not currently have a relationship with those few entrepreneurial individuals who are getting it right in the arts. Those people do not trouble the public purse or the bureaucratic machine with endless applications for subsidy. If the arts are to become a modern streamlined business with the speed and efficiency of contemporary industry, then this relationship has to exist.
Government policy should encourage this entrepreneurial activity, which does nothing but alleviate strain on an already capacity Arts Council. Encouragement should come in the form of reward schemes and incentive measures. Incentive schemes have been implemented successfully by Government in other areas, such as film and regional development, and the theatre needs now to be included.
The landscape for private arts financing is bleak and underdeveloped. As I can show, the skills exist for this to be turned around, but it needs the confidence of the Government to inspire change.
I have read too much from the knockers who do nothing but seek government funds. Self-help is possible - our projects are proof of this. But Government needs to provide some sort of fast-tracking for successful entrepreneurial initiatives or the current situation will remain unchanged in perpetuity.
For the past two years I have been on the fundraising committee of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. At the beginning of this year Lord Attenborough invited me to join the Council of RADA to set up a new Business Committee. This group, which gathers together young, energetic, successful people of today, will help develop the business of this famous institution.
I am determined to continue in my quest to use my commercial experience to help preserve Britain's strong cultural heritage, whilst inspiring new talent to continue our great traditions, and new audiences to appreciate them.
And yet, over the last fifteen years, we at Bourne Capital have consistently demonstrated that arts and business can and must work together to succeed. Our history with the arts proves that theatre can be both artistically rewarding and financially secure without any government revenue subsidy whatsoever.
Richmond Theatre
In 1985 Richmond Theatre, a Matcham house of unrivalled importance in the area was offered for sale. This building, for most of its history the central cultural jewel of Richmond, had been entirely run down by its previous owners. The building was in very real threat of non-existence, and one of the major bingo operators was showing an interest in acquiring it.
We purchased the lease of the theatre in an effort to safeguard this vulnerable building from closure. Over the next two years we developed an entirely new artistic policy for the theatre. Anthony Hopkins became Artistic Director, and through hands-on management we turned a loss-making operation into the beginnings of a successful company.
In 1987 we obtained charitable status from the Charities Commission and formed the Richmond Theatre Trust to safeguard the future of this building. We formed a board comprising five local councillors and six representatives from the commercial sector.
Our first act was to donate the lease and improvements, valued at over £250,000 to the newly formed charity.
I conducted negotiations with Richmond Council to raise the remainder of the renovation money needed to restore this dilapidated theatre. The Council agreed to underwrite the £5 million refurbishment, conditional on £1 million being raised privately. We were successful in raising this £1 million and I personally donated a further £250,000 to the Trust.
By 1989 the refurbishment was completed on time and within budget. The theatre, now Richmond's foremost cultural asset, is reinstated as an A-Class touring house meeting the needs of the local market. The combination of business expertise and artistic purpose created an asset that did not exist before.
Richmond Theatre now plays to minimum 67% audiences. It serves its community with a programme of classical and modern theatre, opera, dance, and comedy aimed at a younger audience. Since our involvement it has never been dark.
The Criterion Theatre
In 1992 the Japanese multinational company Sogo developed their huge Piccadilly Circus site, considered in property terms to be one of the most important sites in the country. Within the redevelopment they left untouched the historic 100-year-old theatre in the heart of London.
The Criterion Theatre was dark when we became involved. Its celebrated original decoration was lost behind thick brown paint.
Our first step was to establish a workable artistic policy for the theatre. This developed in the form of new writing - making the Criterion a home in the West End for the best new plays.
We then initiated a rescue operation involving a total restoration of the theatre's precious interior. We raised £1 million to fund this renovation, to improve the theatre's equipment, and to operate the artistic policy. Of this £1 million, the only funding body contribution was £70,000 from the Foundation for Sports and the Arts. £200,000 of the total was in the form of a personal donation.
The theatre's emphasis on new writing proved immediately popular, with work by Ronald Harwood (Taking Slides), Kevin Elyot (My Night with Reg), Jonathan Harvey (Rupert Street Lonely Hearts Club). In the early mid 1990s the Criterion served a function now taken on by The Royal Court and Donmar Warehouse in the West End, to support new work and cultivate new audiences.
As with Richmond Theatre, our first measure once the finances were secure was to obtain charitable status. Chaired by Lord Attenborough, the trust ensures the future of the theatre and sees that all operating surpluses are reinvested in the building itself.
Unusually for a theatre charity, the Criterion has neither sought nor obtained any revenue subsidy whatsoever. The Criterion has not been in the dark since we took over in 1992.
Collins Music Hall
The progress of the Collins Music Hall is a lesson in the possibilities of commercial and artistic partnership.
Our association with the Collins site (a disused timber-yard that had until 1958 been the home to “The Oldest Music Hall in the World”) began in 1995 as a property interest. However, in tandem with the Local Authority, we immediately recognised the significance of a site that was home to Charlie Chaplin, Gracie Fields, Vera Lynn, and many others. Most of the population of Islington over the age fifty have vivid memories of the Collins as a hub of local life.
We formed a charitable trust and put together a board that combined the most important theatre practitioners in the country with leaders of local commerce.
The Music Hall proposal quickly drew into a multi-million pound scheme to provide London with something it sorely needed: a flexible home for the greatest regional drama, designed to appeal to a new generation of theatregoers. I purchased an option on the site for £50,000 in order to safeguard the future development of the theatre.
After two years of preparation and a personal outlay of over £250,000 our lottery bid was to fail in 1997. For many projects this would have been the end of the story.
However, there is another chapter. I decided to exercise the option, and personally bought the site for £2.3 million. Through my background in commercial property development, I have been able to structure a deal with a neighbouring property company. This developer will now entirely finance the construction of the shell of a new 680-seat theatre, leaving us with only the fit-out costs to find (which are estimated at around £1 million), in return for obtaining planning permission for residential development on top of the theatre.
Through our desire to see the site restored to its former glory and through a positive link with the commercial sector, the Collins Music Hall will now represent a saving to the nation of approximately £15 million. For the lottery-funding problem there was a commercial solution, which will be made possible through negotiations with the Islington Planning Authority who are eager that this theatre should succeed.
On opening, the Collins Music Hall will house Dame Judi Dench's charitable Rose Theatre (used in the film Shakespeare in Love). This will distribute grants to underprivileged drama students, and will be true to our original aims for this project.
The Old Vic
The story of saving The Old Vic begins at the Laurence Olivier Awards in February 1998, when Chris Smith, Secretary for Culture, Media, and Sport made an emotional plea for someone to step forward and rescue The Old Vic, home to Olivier's National Theatre, from the hands of commercial developers.
Within a matter of days we had formed the essence of what was to become The Old Vic Theatre Trust. I invited Alex Bernstein to chair the Trust, and Stephen Daldry to become Artistic Director.
I personally financed and secured the £1.5 million non-refundable deposit required as the first instalment of the purchase price of £3.5 million. We are now running The Old Vic successfully without any government subsidy, and we are concurrently raising £4 million needed for the purchase and immediate improvements.
To make this a success and to save the theatre for the long term, we need to identify new ways in which this building can work for us just as we work for it. It is our aim to widen its scope, to create on the doorstep of Waterloo an engine-house of creative theatre, a living breathing building which is home and inspiration to British theatre's greatest minds.
Building on the flat roof of The Old Vic will not only provide the proper space that the theatre needs, but will also make a very powerful statement to London that this great theatre - perhaps the greatest this country has seen - is here to stay, and is looking to the future. So long under the threat of closure, The Old Vic must announce its intention to remain at the very forefront of British and world theatre.
The Old Vic is a flagship institution of this nation. Saving it is not an issue that one can take lightly. Year upon year of handout fundraising and running the operations on a shoestring will simply not be good enough. The Vic must be saved properly, with adequate provision for the future.
Government does not currently have a relationship with those few entrepreneurial individuals who are getting it right in the arts. Those people do not trouble the public purse or the bureaucratic machine with endless applications for subsidy. If the arts are to become a modern streamlined business with the speed and efficiency of contemporary industry, then this relationship has to exist.
Government policy should encourage this entrepreneurial activity, which does nothing but alleviate strain on an already capacity Arts Council. Encouragement should come in the form of reward schemes and incentive measures. Incentive schemes have been implemented successfully by Government in other areas, such as film and regional development, and the theatre needs now to be included.
The landscape for private arts financing is bleak and underdeveloped. As I can show, the skills exist for this to be turned around, but it needs the confidence of the Government to inspire change.
I have read too much from the knockers who do nothing but seek government funds. Self-help is possible - our projects are proof of this. But Government needs to provide some sort of fast-tracking for successful entrepreneurial initiatives or the current situation will remain unchanged in perpetuity.
For the past two years I have been on the fundraising committee of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. At the beginning of this year Lord Attenborough invited me to join the Council of RADA to set up a new Business Committee. This group, which gathers together young, energetic, successful people of today, will help develop the business of this famous institution.
I am determined to continue in my quest to use my commercial experience to help preserve Britain's strong cultural heritage, whilst inspiring new talent to continue our great traditions, and new audiences to appreciate them.
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