Annual Report 2013-14

2013-14 was a big year of celebration and growth for Travelling Light.

We inspire young people’s thinking, engage their emotions and

fire their imaginations

OBJECTIVES

Artistic Producer Jude Merrill and General Manager Cath Greig both received MBEs for their commitment and services to theatre for children & young people

BOING! and CINDERELLA: A FAIRYTALE returned to London for Christmas runs. CINDERELLA won an OFFIE (Off West End award) for Best Production for Young People

We secured donations from a range of trusts and foundations, and ran a successful crowdfunding campaign, all enabling us to deliver more work for young people across Bristol

CREATE

CORE VALUES

ENGAGE SUSTAIN

Children & young people are at the heart of our workWe follow our passion and belief in what we do

All aspects of our work are the highest possible quality

We strive to be bold and challenging

HIGHLIGHTS

VARMINTS

A co-production with Sadler’s Wells, Stratford Circus and East London Dance based on the book by Helen Ward and Marc Craste. We took the show to 10 venues over six weeks, including performances at Norfolk & Norwich Festival, Brighton Festival and The Spark.

Intelligent, mesmerising to look at, and shot through with top quality dance Total Theatre

Our 2010 show returned for its fourth Christmas. This time it was re-staged so that it could tour nationally to 16 venues over 10 weeks, finishing with a Christmas run at Sadler’s Wells.

BOING!

CREATE We CREATE excellent, groundbreaking and inspirational theatre

TOTAL PERFORMANCES: 25TOTAL AUDIENCE: 3,092

TOTAL PERFORMANCES: 59TOTAL AUDIENCE: 8295

Captivating, wide-eyed and wonderful London Dance

A new co-production with Tobacco Factory Theatres, SINBAD ran for seven weeks. The show proved to be very popular with audiences and broke box office records with over 90% attendance.

THE LAST VOYAGE OF SINBAD THE

SAILOR

CINDERELLAA FAIRYTALE

CINDERELLA’S third outing took place at London’s Unicorn Theatre where it ran for six weeks over Christmas. It also won an OFFIE (Off West End award) as Best Production for Young People.

TOTAL PERFORMANCES: 61TOTAL AUDIENCE: 15,471

TOTAL PERFORMANCES: 43TOTAL AUDIENCE: 11,041

Fizzing with energy, inventiveness and wit WhatsonStage

Stylish and innovative.. with extraordinary panache

The Stage

ENGAGE Anyone and everyone can ENGAGE in theatre-making

With support from The Merchant Venturers, Quartet Foundation, Boris Karloff Foundation and BBC Performing Arts Fund we introduced regualr provision for 4-6 year olds to compliment our 7-10; 11-13 and 14-19 year old groups. Each group explored devising theatre techniques to create short performances inspired by our professional programme.

We launched our free-to-access specialist summer school and youth theatre group for young people with additional needs aged 7-16, which was generously supported by The St James Place Foundation.

YOUTH THEATRE

LOUDER THAN WORDS

TOTAL SESSIONS: 111TOTAL PARTICIPANT EXPERIENCES: 1513

TOTAL SESSIONS: 25TOTAL PARTICIPANTS EXPERIENCES: 135

I can really be myself at Youth Theatre, it’s the best Participant

There is nothing else like Louder Than words on offer to young people in Bristol Parent

Based at Arnolfini, participants created a show-in-a-week inspired by the Gallery’s Seeds of Change programme, performed on Bristol’s cobbled streets, on a boat called ‘Bagheera’ and on a floating garden.

Three 16-19 year olds demonstrated their leadership, creative and entreprenurial skills through performance and production management. Supported by Live UnLtd and Real Ideas Organisation, THE TIME TRAVELLING DETECTIVE was a family show devised with a young cast that premiered at The Station Bristol.

Working with Year 3 & 4 pupils from Victoria Park Primary School we produced two original, 15-minute plays inspired by THE IRON MAN by Ted Hughes which were performed at The Station Bristol to around 400 adoring parents.

We delivered our after-school drama club at Barton Hill Primary School for Years 3, 4, 5 & 6 and Hannah More Primary School for Years 1 & 2. Around 25% of participants have now joined our Youth Theatre.

With support from The Ernest Cook Trust, John James Foundation and SFIA we launched a project focussing on the transition between primary and secondary school

We offered bespoke Work Experience placements to students from local schools, Bath Spa University, Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, University of Bristol, University of Surrey and University of West of England

SCHOOL PLAY PROJECT

WORK EXPERIENCE

T-LIGHTS

LIGHTBULBS

THE BUZZ

SUMMER SCHOOL

Youth Theatre Louder Than Words Summer School The Buzz Lightbulbs

TOTAL SESSIONS: 11TOTAL PARTICIPANTS: 150

TOTAL SESSIONS: 10TOTAL PARTICIPANT EXPERIENCES: 285

TOTAL SESSIONS: 100TOTAL PARTICIPANTS: 15

TOTAL SESSIONS: 50TOTAL PARTICIPANTS EXPERIENCES: 398

TOTAL SESSIONS: 28TOTAL PARTICIPANT EXPERIENCES: 351

TOTAL SESSIONS: 52TOTAL PARTICIPANT EXPERIENCES: 782

I felt so encouraged to do something completely out there. It was so supportive that I could just try something that I don’t think I would have been able to try anywhere else Participant

We ran creative RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT for SINBAD and VARMINTS, which received direct input from a Year 5 class from Sefton Park Primary School

10 professional practitioners, producers and promoters shared five performances in two days with 10 young people in the fifth edition of our family theatre festival BRISTOL FEAST

Audiences were able to further engage in our productions through our HAVE A GO programme which included Sinbad Saturdays; the Boing! Christmas Stocking Challenge, Varmints Online and Theatresight

7134 children & young people

had an arts experience

50% of participants were from

BS5

We delivered 815 hours worth of activity

375 sessions

Four shows

Two national tours and two

Christmas runs

37,899 people saw our work

Two new productions

and two remounts

Our trustees reviewed the company’s performance for 2013-14 and agreed that we had a good year in terms of delivering our charitable aims and achieving our financial targets. A particular goal was to diversify our income streams. In 2013-14 we increased our income from sources other than Arts Council England and Bristol City Council to 37% compared to 29% in 2012-13.

SUSTAIN We aim to SUSTAIN ourselves, be well-managed and well known

£201,291 £30,690 £12,000

OUR MAJOR CORE FUNDERS

TOTAL EARNED INCOME

£95,625 (£76,414 2012-13)

(£871 2012-13)£4,101INDIVIDUAL GIVING

DONATIONS TRUSTS & FOUNDATIONS

£30,550 (£8,117 2012-13)

Our new General Manager will have started and our board will be moving focus on succession planning for the Artistic Producer.

Programme plans include:

Co-producing 101 DALMATIANS for Christmas, with the Tobacco Factory Theatres. As with CINDERELLA in 2011 and SINBAD in 2013, we will be an equal investor in the creation of this show.

Supporting new talent by developing two solo performer plays by emerging playwrights, STRICTLY BALTI by Saikat Ahamed and SAMMY AND THE SNOW LEOPARD by Brad McCormick. These will tour to schools with a national tour planned for the following year.

Delivery of 30FEST a community arts festival to celebrate Travelling Light’s 30th anniversary.

Further expanding our Youth Theatre provision to include 4-6 year olds and young emerging professionals.

Co-producing a new play for young performers to explore Bristol’s heritage in partnership with Bristol Old Vic and MShed.

Building on the success of our School Play project to deliver more collaborations with Bristol schools.

PLANS FOR 2014-152014-15 involves further growth and evolution, while celebrating our 30th anniversary.

PEOPLE We are indebted to the staff, associates and volunteers who made everything possible in 2013-14

STAFF

Cath GriegGeneral Manager

Debs MachinParticipation Assistant

Jude MerrillArtistic Producer

Georgina TrevorYoung People’s Producer

Nick WhiteParticipation Director

Jo WoodcockProduction Manager

ASSOCIATESCamilla Adams Saikat Ahamed Mike AkersCatherine BootChris BianchiBenji BowerIzaak BrandtWilkie Branson Gemma BrooksSita Calvert-EnnalsMariana Camiloti

Lucy CassidyChelsey CliffSally CooksonRachael CrossJoel DanielZoe DaviesCraig EdwardsEmma EarleEve GarrettMatt GrahamLiz Hague

Molly HollandJoe HornsbyToby HulseSam JeffsJesse JonesPete JudgeDavid LaneVic LlewellynSarah MoodyAlice NicholasFemi Oyewole

Aaron ParsonsEd PatrickAdam PeckWill PegnaShantala PepeChris PirieNic PriorTim PriorRachel PryceZara RammLetitia Simpson

Zoe SquireLaura StreetDean SudronKatie SykesRemi TawoseLucy TuckAlex VannCharlotte WrightEmma Williams

TRUSTEESRachel Adams Jane ArmstrongMegan Donovan Jenny EtchesMerlin Goldman Jack LaceyStuart MarrinerRob Porteous Carla Shepherd

AUDITORSGodfrey Wilson Ltd Chartered Accountants & Registered Auditors Unit 5.11 Paintworks Bath Road Bristol BS4 3EH

PATRONSPhilippa LowethorpeDr Richard PendleburyVanessa StephensonSir Nick Williams

Company Number 02539087Charity Number 1065012Registered Office Barton Hill Settlement 43 Ducie Road Lawrence Hill Bristol BS5 0AX

COMPANY INFORMATION

just bring your imagination

PHOTOSCamilla Adams PhotographyPaul BlakemoreFarrows CreativeCamilla GreenwellManuel HarlanNick White