Start ups 2013evaluation

CONTENTS

Background 4 Old Vic New Voices Start Ups 7 Aims 8 Impact 18 Facts & Figures 19 Testimonials 20 Press Coverage 22 Summary 24 Recommendations 27

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Supported by the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation, Guildford Academic Associates, the Marina Kleinwort Charitable Trust and the Stanley Picker Charitable Trust

Start Ups is an original concept by Steve Winter

Director, Old Vic New Voices Steve Winter OVNV Officer Laura Humphrey

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Background

The Old Vic is a landmark theatre in London. It has been the home of great productions for nearly 200 years and attracts the very best creative talent as we continue to nurture and grow under the artistic directorship of Kevin Spacey.

For us, great theatre is about great plays, great performances and great nights out from the moment you step through the door. As important to us as what goes on stage is our award winning Education, Community and emerging Talent programme, Old Vic New Voices (OVNV), which supports the next generation of theatre makers, inspires young people and opens up our theatre to new and diverse audiences.

As part of the OVNV Talent strand, we are committed to nurturing the best theatre-makers and the freshest new work. We do this through our unique professional development programme, which includes the LAB, TS Eliot Commissions, Bloomingdale’s Master Class in New York and the Eversheds 20 training programme.

Start Ups were born out of our 2012 pilot project, the OVNV Production Support Awards, which offered creatives from our Talent pool financial assistance and mentoring to stage a professional production. Five productions were supported through this successful pilot scheme: The Importance of Being Earnest at The Old Red Lion Theatre and Royal Haymarket West End, produced by Henry Filloux-Bennett (OVNV 2008);

His Greatness at the Finborough Theatre, produced by Adam Blanshay and Natalie Macaluso (OVNV 2010); Step 9 of 12 at Trafalgar Studios, produced by James Quaife Productions (OVNV 2010), directed by Tom Attenborough (OVNV 2011) and performed by Ben Dilloway (OVNV 2011); The Sluts of Sutton Drive, produced by Vicky Graham Productions (OVNV 2011); and Underhero at Camden People’s Theatre, directed by Tara Robinson and performed by Alex Pritchett (OVNV 2011).

The success of these productions highlighted the need for a more flexible, widespread financial support for emerging theatre makers. A Start Up is not designed to fund an entire production, but to give a project the boost it needs to get off the starting blocks. In this spirit, we hoped to support a diverse range of projects that may not otherwise get sufficient funding.

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OLD VIC NEW VOICES START UPS

Emerging artists often struggle to get work off the ground at the crucial development stage, largely due to a lack of funds that would give them the momentum they need. Starts Ups is designed to ensure that new work and emerging artists get the support they deserve and that their work doesn’t stagnate in its early stages. We therefore invited theatre makers to apply for cash injections of up to £500 to kick their project up a gear.

Both the idea and the application process were deliberately simple. Start Ups applicants could request up to £500 per person (enabling larger companies to apply for multiple pots of money) through a form that could be downloaded from our website. Applicants were given direct access to us should they have any queries, making the process personalised to their needs from the get go. Start Ups was promoted to over 20,000 of our Twitter followers and on our website. We also held a Q&A evening to discuss the project which was attended by 72 people.

We received 120 applications in total, and selected the successful recipients based on the following criteria:

− Whether they had a clear and specific need for funds

− How far their money would go or whether it would help them generate further income

− How innovative and pioneering their project was

− How far their reach was in terms of national coverage, audience development and engaging a wide demographic of participants

We selected a diverse range of exceptionally talented artists: from risk-takers, whose projects had struggled to gain funds through more traditional channels, to young people, to shows headed to Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2013. All of them contained a seed of creativity that we wanted to see grow and flourish.

‘This is a tough economic climate to make work in, and it is fantastic that there are these Start Ups available to emerging artists who want to make ambitious and challenging theatre’Director

‘Start Ups are a fantastic opportunity for creative people to get the kick start they need to make a project become reality’Producer

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Aims

The project had four clear aims:

1. To spread £10,000 across 20 emerging theatre makers for any aspect of their project

2. To support projects with a national reach

3. To support projects with an audience development or community focus

4. To offer Start Ups in conjunction with the LAB

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To spread £10,000 across 20 emerging theatre makers for any aspect of their project

From the outset we wanted to make Start Ups a flexible and versatile opportunity. Whereas many funding bodies place restrictions on what they will and won’t invest in, we made it possible to apply for funding towards any aspect of theatre-making; from marketing, to equipment, to transport costs. 100% of Start Ups recipients said that Start Ups were either ‘very flexible’ or ‘flexible’.

Some of the emerging theatre makers we supported were:

For Short Theatre, who used their Start Up to create an investors pack for their production of Anatomy of a Murder by Elihu Winer. This intense trial-based play drama was performed in a courtroom in Blackfriars in keeping with the company’s up-close style of performance.

Folie á Deux Productions was founded in 2012 and have already received great critical acclaim for their production I am a Camera. They used their Start Up for production costs on a double bill of Noël Coward plays Red Peppers and Still Life at the Old Red Lion Theatre, London. Produced by Rebecca Humphries (OVNV 2010).

All the Pigs Theatre Company put their Start Up towards a deposit on their venue (New Diorama Theatre) for their latest venture: Gizmo Love in conjunction with First-Time-Writers’ Initiative. Gizmo Love ran for three weeks in December 2013. Each week it was twinned with a brand-new short play from a First-Time-Writer, which was performed just before the main production, offering audiences access to brand new work as well as a full-length play.

A group of OVNV alumni developed Cinderland, a new play by Jon Barton (OVNV 2012) which was born out of The 24 Hour Plays: Old Vic New Voices 2012, directed by Richard Fitch (OVNV 2012) and produced by Liz Eddy (OVNV 2012). Their Start Up paid the fees for the actors and creative team for two days of intensive script development.

Late in the Day, a new play by Sharon Kanolik was staged as the inagural production for The Reckless Moment Theatre Company at the Hen and Chickens Theatre in Islington. Their Start Up covered the fees for a designer, lighting designer and sound designer for the production.

‘This financial support is absolutely crucial to the realisation of this ambitious project, and it is brilliant that OVNV are so keen to support risk-taking work’Director

‘Sufficient funds is often the only thing holding creatives back from producing great work. It is also in my experience the one thing creative people are bad at obtaining!’Actor

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To support projects with a national reach

Start Ups enabled us to invest in exceptional projects with a nationwide scope in order to extend our support to theatre makers and audiences outside of London.

We supported the following projects that had a national reach:

Peculius Theatre Company used their Start Up for a mechanical engineer and spare parts to ensure their bikes carried them and their costumes on a 926-mile journey around 31 heritage venues and museums as they performed The Handlebards: Twelfth Night and Romeo and Juliet to 3,500 audience members across the UK.

Jack Holden is adapting Earnest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea for children. The production will embark on a UK-wide tour early in 2014, making this classic twentieth century novel accessible and exciting for children across Britain.

Jack Monaghan (OVNV 2009) was awarded a Start Up to launch New Audio, a new radio drama company. The money funded all the equipment and software needed to set up the company, so that they can start creating and recording work.

Start Ups supported three companies staging productions at Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2013: Happy Never After, produced by the award-winning James Quaife Productions (OVNV 2008), directed by Luke Sheppard and written by Hannah Rodger (both OVNV 2011); PIT Productions’ award-winning new play Kubrick3 by David Byrne (OVNV 2012) and Dirty Laundry by Rachel Hirons.

The Edinburgh productions in receipt of a Start Up put the money towards venue hire and production costs ensuring the best possible chances for their success in a ferociously competitive environment.

One recipient used their Start Up on an international scale. Emerging director Richard Fitch (OVNV 2012) was awarded a Start Up for a return flight to New York for him to research the prospect of transatlantic collaboration with Daniel Pearle (OVNV 2012) on his play A Kid Like Jake which was originally developed as part of the TS Eliot US/UK Exchange and has since gone on to win the prestigious Laurents/Hatcher Award.

35% of Start Ups recipients were working on a project that was based outside of London, indirectly extending OVNV’s national reach and ensuring that regional as well as urban audiences have access to top quality theatre.

‘OVNV eradicates the impossibilities that often block ethereal aims from becoming tangible and therefore creating new and exciting performance opportunities. It is schemes like Start Ups that must continue in order to nurture not only the ideas, but also the people behind the ideas’ Writer

‘Anyone looking for a kickstart to their theatrical events or campaign should definitely look to Start Ups, as it really will set your ball rolling’Director

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To support projects with an audience development or community focus

OVNV actively sought out Start Ups recipients who would also strive to reach out to young people, members of the local community and to a wide demographic of participants. The projects we supported in this area were:

No Ball Games Allowed, who created a summer theatre workshop series called 6 Sense 13 that saw ten young people from south-east London share their battles with mental health with the aim of using their experiences to create a piece of forum theatre. Their Start Up covered marketing material, workshop resources, and uniforms for workshop facilitators. 47 people in total participated in the project, and No Ball Games Allowed are now rolling this important scheme out to other London boroughs.

Tristan Fynn-Aiduenu was awarded a Start Up for his first play, SKEEN! created by and for young people. Their Start Up funded a marketing campaign that would raise further investment for this comedy drama about a warped, stereotypical, ‘urban’ school production. Directed by Che Walker, the production included a youth festival, workshops, open mic nights, showcases and panel discussions. Involving 123 participants, SKEEN! fulfilled Tristan’s vision of a community youth project in which young people aged 16–30 took creative control of the piece.

fanSHEN Theatre Company used their Start Up to cover the premises licence for Cheese by Nikki Schreiber, an absurdist adult fairy tale set inside a giant Emmental powered by electricity generated in local gyms. This new play, directed by Rachel Briscoe and Dan Barnard (OVNV 2008) is a smart analysis of the banking crisis and was staged at a pop-up venue on Oxford Street as well as community centres local to the main venue.

THEATRE 4 is a new way to combine live theatrical performance with raising money for social, global and environmental causes. In an evening of script-in-hand performances four actors perform eight short plays. Each evening the theatre is for a cause, so all of the money raised from ticket sales will be donated to the relevant charities and organisations. Founded by Kieran Lynn (OVNV 2011).

24% of Start Ups recipients were working on a project with an audience development or community focus component.

‘Pockets of money such as this are invaluable to emerging theatremakers, and are often the difference between the work being made and not being made’ Director

‘£500 goes a very long way not only to ensuring the development of great new work, but also increasing its chances of realising a full production that we are passionate about bringing to a new audience’Producer

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To offer Start Ups in conjunction with the LAB

OVNV aims to provide opportunities that empower emerging artists to be self-motivated and to facilitate their projects in their early stages.

We therefore actively encouraged applicants to apply for both Start Ups and the LAB. The LAB is a free rehearsal, development and devising space open to emerging artists seeking to create new work. Competition for the LAB was stiff as we had twice the amount of applicants than we could house, making the award of a Start Ups in conjunction with the LAB space something that we awarded to the most exceptional work.

We gave the ‘double award’ to seven companies that we knew would make the most of the space and money we were offering. Most of the companies we selected included OVNV alumni to whom we offer continuing support and professional development mentoring, though we also invited some new talent to join us.

For example, Jon Brittain (OVNV 2010) was given a weekend-long R&D phase in the LAB on his play My Imaginary Friend Patrick Stuart, with the Start Up funding actors’ wages.

Vicky Graham Productions, one of the companies behind the OVNV Edinburgh Season 2012, staged a rehearsed reading of a new play Pangaea in the LAB, directed, performed and produced by OVNV alumni. Their Start Up went towards actors’ wages.

Lucinda Burnett (OVNV 2010) was awarded a Start Up to cover actors’ fees for a four day intensive script development in the LAB for her new play, Talking to Alice.

The other successful applicants to LAB space in conjunction with Start Ups were: Jack Holden’s The Old Man and the Sea adaptation for children, Dirty Laundry by Rachel Hirons, Still Life and Red Peppers, staged by Folie à Deux Productions and Happy Never After by Hannah Rodger (OVNV 2011).

Several companies noted that Start Ups and the LAB were ‘integral’ to their production and that their project would not have happened without this unprecedented level of support.

‘As a first time producer, the Start Up has not only supported me financially. Their backing and faith in my project has been truly motivational. I owe them big time’ Producer

‘Start Ups ... has been fundamental in starting our journey as a new emerging company’ Producer

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Impact

Start Ups has had a significant impact on the people and projects we’ve supported.

The projects we supported reached approximately 8,000 people in total and performed in 43 different venues across the UK, including Scotland, Cumbria, East Anglia and London.

By specifically seeking to support productions that engaged new and regional audiences, we were able to fulfill our primary aims for this successful new project.

Moreover, our support enabled emerging artists to raise their profile, as highlighted by the positive press coverage they have received.

Start Ups recipients with an audience development or community focus enabled us to combine our aim of supporting emerging talent with our intention to engage and inspire diverse new theatre audiences and young people who will be the future theatre makers and goers. For example, No Ball Games Allowed plan to repeat their project on youth and mental health in four other London boroughs between August 2013 and August 2014. The young people that took part in this project have automatically been accepted onto the No Ball Games Allowed youth committee and will continue to receive mentoring over the next year, merging theatre and social empowerment.

100% of Start Ups recipients are taking their projects forward to a future life and 100% applicants said they would apply again for a Start Up in the future, highlighting the continuing need for such a resource.

‘Thank you for your support, it has honestly enabled me to fulfil this vision fully’Producer

Facts & Figures

General figures

− 1 production was staged at Latitude Festival 2013

− 1 was a flight to New York to foster transatlantic collaboration

− 1 production was carbon neutral

− 1 was a pioneering way of combining charity fundraising and new writing

− 2 were youth theatre projects

− 2 productions were site-specific

− 3 enjoyed successful runs at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2013

− 4 were professional productions at respected London theatres

− 7 companies were awarded a Start Up in conjunction with the LAB

− 15 Start Ups invested in new plays

− Start Ups recipients have so far performed at 43 different venues across the UK

− 106 individuals benefitted from Start Ups

− £10,000 was awarded to 20 emerging theatre artists/companies

− Approximately 8,000 audience members have seen the work made by Start Ups recipients

Key Statistics

− 24% of Start Ups recipients were working on a project with an audience development or community focus component

− 35% of Start Ups recipients were working on a project that was based outside of London

− 83% of participants said they thought the application process was ‘perfectly clear’

− 83% of participants said their project ‘may not have happened without Start Ups’

− 100% of participants said our approach was ‘very flexible’ or ‘flexible’

− 100% of participants said their project benefitted from Start Ups

− 100% of participants said they would apply for Start Ups again

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TESTIMONIALS

‘This financial support is absolutely crucial to the realisation of our ambitious project, and it is brilliant that OVNV are so keen to support risk-taking work. Pockets of money such as this are invaluable to emerging theatremakers, and are often the difference between the work being made and not being made’Actor

‘As a producer it is so important to me to be able to pay actors and creatives for their time at this vital early stage so projects can be worked to a full production. I’m thrilled to have the support from OVNV, not only financially but also their expertise within the industry’ Producer

‘Without the investment of OVNV, my idea would be little more than a nice idea. My Start Up will enable me to make my idea happen and for that opportunity I couldn’t be more grateful’Writer

‘The Old Vic New Voices Start Up allowed us to realise the best possible vision for Anatomy of a Murder, whilst giving us a strong foundation for future development. Invested, interested and encouragement is exactly the sort of help small companies need’ Director

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‘Folie á Deux excels in capturing the complexity of Coward’s characters … The talented cast reflect the honesty of Coward’s writing and create emotionally moving and memorable performances’The Stage on Still Life/Red Peppers, produced by Folie á Deux

‘Deftly-played combination of tenderness, heart and real edge-of-your-seat drama’Scotsman on Happy Never After, produced by James Quaife Productions

‘It is no mean feat to give a sense of urgency to a fifty year old text but For Short successfully present this piece in a fresh manner and show that the issues of ethics, morality and justice surrounding the legal system still abound in today’s society’WhatsOnStage on Anatomy of a Murder, produced by For Short Theatre

‘A spectacularly funny show with a brilliant plot twist that, judging by audience reaction, no-one saw coming at all… Dirty Laundry is an outstanding, well-paced dark comedy’ ★★★★★ Fringe Guru on Dirty Laundry, by Rachel Hirons

‘As well as practising what they preach, fanSHEN Theatre Company’s dedication to sustainability is reflected off every facet of their work, both informing and supporting it. This is theatre that recognises its role in making as well as showing, enacting at the same time as it represents’Exeunt Magazine on Cheese, produced by fanSHEN Theatre

‘One of the top open-air Shakespeare experiences of the summer’ Metro on Peculius Theatre Company’s The Handlebards

Press coverage

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Summary

Start Ups is a new way for us to support emerging artists. It grew out of the pilot 2012 Production Support Awards and enabled us to contribute towards a wide array of theatre projects. By spreading £10,000 over several companies and individuals we were able to support a range of productions, diversifying and broadening our reach.

We awarded Start Ups to applicants who had innovative, risky ideas and the motivation to pull them off. We also supported those with a broad artistic perspective who we knew would use the funds to take them a long way. 20 projects were supported by Start Ups, reaching approximately 8,000 audience members.

By placing very little restriction on how a Start Up could be used, we encouraged the widest possible array of uses for Start Ups money: actors’ wages, props, radio recording equipment, website design, sound design, fundraising films and marketing material were some of the aspects of productions that we invested in.

As a result of Start Ups, two theatre tours were completed, two young peoples’ theatre projects were created, four London theatre productions and three Edinburgh productions enjoyed successful runs, a transatlantic collaboration began and two pioneering new companies were launched.

Start Ups awarded in conjunction with the LAB have supported the development of four new plays in the space, two productions have gone on to have successful Edinburgh runs, and one double bill production has had a critically acclaimed run in London.

Our intention with Start Ups was to empower emerging theatre makers to pursue their artistic vision and to give their project the boost it needed to realise that vision. 100% of participants said they would apply for a Start Up in the future, indicating the continuing need for such a programme.

‘The Old Vic New Voices Start Up fund is an essential new resource for theatre makers. There are few places to go to for that crucial first injection of money that every new creative project needs’Writer

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Recommendations

Areas that could be improved in the future are:

To offer larger pots of money rather than £500 per person Some found this corollary confusing, and it may be clearer to offer a certain amount of £500 funds and perhaps two-to-three larger pots of £1,000.

To open applications quarterly rather than twice yearly This would spread the project out and give potential applicants more regular chances to apply for Start Ups.

To include all Start Ups beneficiaries in the proposed ‘OVNV Talent Awards’ With OVNV’s unparalleled reputation as a Talent discovery and development programme, we are planning to set up an annual competition that covers all disciplines and offers awards across several categories such as best new play, best emerging Director, best set design etc. Start Ups beneficiaries could be included automatically in the nominees, raising the profile of Start Ups and giving the beneficiaries the chance to win an award from one of the world’s best known and loved theatres.

Old Vic New Voices The Old Vic The Cut London SE1 8NB

oldvicnewvoices.com