Hull New Theatre
Hull New Theatre is a 1,189-seat touring house. The building was first constructed as the Georgian Assembly Rooms in 1830. Its origin as a theatre stems from a once-adjacent lecture theatre that was operated by the Hull Repertory Theatre Limited (one of the foremost, pioneer drama companies) and known as the Little Theatre from 1924. Their success attracted them to the potential of the Assembly Rooms: an arrangement with the Corporation was made whereby they extended the Fire Station onto the Little Theatre site in exchange for the theatre company acquiring the Assembly Rooms that now adjoin the Fire Station. Architects W.B. Wheatley and Robert Cromie, to allow for a complete new theatre inside the altered Georgian facades, gutted the building.
The theatre opened in 1939, with the repertory company becoming a ‘receiving’ management soon after the outbreak of war. In 1951, the New Theatre was bought by a London and provincial theatre chain, Whitehall Theatres Limited, but the present era began in 1961 when Hull City Council acquired the freehold for £50,000. Council’s saving the New Theatre, when touring theatre was in decline nationwide, was far-sighted for any local authority arts strategy: after Sunderland Empire Theatre, it was only the second council acquisition of a receiving house by any local authority in England. Following a two-year transition period under direct Council management, a Council-controlled non-profit company, Kingston upon Hull New Theatre Company Limited, was incorporated in 1964. The auditorium was redecorated and the stage deepened in 1966. The Company traded until the Council Leisure Services Department assumed total civic-management in 1985, the year of reopening after another major refurbishment. This glazed in the portico entrance to extend front of house amenities. At this time, Hull New Theatre was operated separately to that of the City Hall: the venues’ present integrated operational management structure descends from their merger in 1995.
The three crowns Council insignia surmount the moulded rectangular proscenium. In contrast to the internal magnificence of the City Hall, Hull New Theatre is a dull building, its austere auditorium especially unsympathetic for drama productions, which last year comprised as much as 25 per cent of the annual performance schedule. The theatre is better suited to musicals, which, with 29 per cent of the schedule, were the most important programming characteristic last year. The theatre functions satisfactorily for ballet and opera. The priority is to sell seats. Hull New Theatre offered 253 performances last year, when over 159,000 paying patrons attended. Total annual attendance has been remarkably stable since 1966: it has faltered only in three years.
The City Hall is a 1,643-seat concert hall, completed in 1909 by city architect J.H. Hirst in the ‘Wren’ style. The hall, that is the largest performing arts venue in Hull, is the imposing centrepiece of Queen Victoria Square, now a cultural and civic quarter comprising Hull Maritime Museum and the Ferens Art Gallery. Its Grade II* status places it in the top 17 per cent of all buildings listed for historical or architectural merit in England and Wales.
The main hall is grand. Designed for unamplified music, its form is the timeless oblong ‘shoebox’ preferred by today’s concert hall architects, and typified elsewhere by the Grosser Musikvereinsaal, Vienna (1869), the New Gewandhaus, Leipzig (1884) and the Boston Symphony Hall (1900). This is the international context of the Hull City Hall: it is a true instrument to the symphony music produced within.
The situation in 2004
Each venue is owned and operated by Kingston upon Hull City Council. Net Council expenditure for the venues was approximately £2.5 million in 2004-2005, of which £900,000 is ‘asset rent’, leaving £1.6 million for actual operating investment. Council operating subsidy per seat sold at the City Hall and Hull New Theatre combined was approximately £7.77 in 2003-2004. The venues’ combined attendance in 2004 was 206,000 paying patrons.
Following the retirement of Theatre & Halls Director Russell Hills after eighteen years, in 2004, there was acceptance at officer-level of the need for an external review of the venues’ strategic and functional operation. Mr Hills’ departure might be expected to have caused a degree of organisational turbulence, but he had trained a highly competent management team: Tony Ridley at the City Hall and Michael Lister at Hull New Theatre continued efficient management of the venues. These factors, together with Council’s appointment of Brian Hayton to the post of Head of Cultural Services – and concomitant new accountabilities under Best Value – represented an opportunity for reviewing what the venues do, prompting the Council to ask what they want they want them to do.
Objectives and Brief
Council required an independent assessment of the policy, management and physical condition of the City Hall and Hull New Theatre. This study did not set out to tell the Council what it already knew. It was intended to provide a strategic overview, allowing for reflection on the functioning of the venues today, and to offer stimulus for Council discussion about some possible paths forward.
Methodology
The study began with a briefing from the Head of Cultural Services, at which timetable and methodology were agreed, written material required identified and requested, and lists agreed of individuals to be consulted directly during the study.
The specific steps followed thereafter were as follows:
· Consideration of relevant written material from within Kingston upon Hull City Council
· A search of records pertaining to the venues at the local history section of Hull City Library
· Review and analysis of City Hall and Hull New Theatre performance, including a review of programmes, financial performance, audiences
· Meetings or telephone interviews with staffs at the City Hall and Hull New Theatre, attending management team meetings, and with others such as the City Arts Officer, Arts Council England Yorkshire, East Riding of Yorkshire Council, Hull University, and companies and promoters who visit the City Hall and Hull New Theatre on a regular basis
· Visits to the venues were made on five occasions during the research period
· Some comparisons of the City Hall and Hull New Theatre to other concert halls and theatres was made, by use of The Laughing Audience archive and interviews with other managements and promoters
Summary of the report
The context for the Council’s operation of the City Hall and Hull New Theatre has a sound foundation:
1. The objectives of the Council’s arts strategy were redefined in 2004, with each venue confirmed as vital determinants of policy
2. The venues’ combined total turnover is approximately £4.6 million
3. Council’s support is munificent: the venues are a complex ‘business’ unit receiving a total annual Council operating investment, capital support and central services contributions of £2.5 million
4. Audiences at Hull are not dwindling; Council’s investment has arrested national trends
5. Council supports many amateur and community organisations by waiving rent at the City Hall
6. The two venues are bound together in a single operating structure with shared working agreements and dedicated staffs’ sense of common purpose
7. Responsibility for the venues transferred to the Department of Learning & Culture
8. A new post of Head of Cultural Services was created in 2004; this appointment helps to entwine the venues with arts strategy
9. The venues were led by an accomplished Theatre & Halls Director for eighteen years; an interregnum arrangement is managing them very well
10. With a new arts strategy in place, opportunity for recruiting the next Theatre & Halls Director is timely and important
11. There are opportunities to attract external funding, for capital refurbishments and programming partnerships
12. Hull New Theatre could be instrumental in the re-establishment of a dance agency for Humberside
However, the market for both venues is difficult.
‘High-level’ Council evaluation
Internally, the venue managers and staff have respect for budget, control costs and produce financial accounts that are received by the Council finance department; but Council’s higher-level strategic planning, monitoring, interpretation and evaluation of the City Hall and Hull New Theatre is less effective:
1. Council operating investment in the venues is £1.6 million, but the venues’ net cost to the Council is not configured to show divisions between the City Hall and Hull New Theatre
2. Costs and Council operating investment might be apportioned 45% to the City Hall and 55% to Hull New Theatre; in which case the City Hall receives Council funds of £720,000 and the theatre £880,000. Over both venues, Council subsidy per seat sold is £7.77
3. Council operating investment compared to the 17 UK touring theatres in its benchmarking group is the second highest
4. There is no properly articulated City Hall-and-Hull New Theatre strategy or business plan for their medium and longer term, nor is there a citywide theatres and festivals strategy
5. Succinct weekly and monthly progress/trading statements for paid attendance and income and expenditure, measured against budget and familiar in other theatre managements, commercial organisations and external funding bodies, are not used
6. Reconciliation of annual budgets to actual income and expenditure and results is therefore not easily interpreted in theatrical management or business terms
7. It is uncertain whether useful data and interpretation is presented to the Head of Cultural Services or elected members
8. Previous service delivery plans disregarded medium-and-longer term estimates which were expressed only in inexact aspiration terms
9. There is no standing venues’ working/advisory group above the level of Theatre & Halls Director
Functional management
On the functioning of the City Hall and Hull New Theatre today:
1. Hire charges for the City Hall are appropriate, and comparable to concert halls elsewhere
2. The staffing levels and structure are appropriate for the size of operation in a civic theatre-and-concert hall combined, but higher than Council-owned non-profit and profit-seeking leased venues of similar turnover
3. The senior management team functions very well as a mutually supportive team, especially so during the interregnum
4. Staffs are dedicated, friendly, enthusiastic and knowledgeable, but with their affinity to Hull and its markets, are understandably sceptical about the success of a new artistic ambition
5. Staffs were demoralised by a protracted Council-wide job evaluation programme; several posts were rated against unrelated municipal hierarchies
6. The vital undertaking of marketing, publicity and press relations occurs at the venues, and should remain so. This is normal theatre and concert hall custom, and is essential for maintaining the confidence of the promoters and visiting companies.
Programming
Excepting an international concert subscription series at the City Hall, programming rarely offers groundbreaking or top quality artistic attractions. Programming does not contribute to Hull’s aspiration to be a ‘Top 10’ city:
1. Programming at the City Hall is, inevitably, dominated by one-night concerts which, even though contracted mostly on share terms, contribute modest income to the City Hall overheads
2. Imaginative programming is constrained by reactive scheduling at both venues
3. Through the rental waiver at the City Hall, relations with amateur companies are good, although some users are challenged by the financial terms at Hull New Theatre
4. Historically, both venues have maintained a low-profile in the wider music and theatre fraternity in the UK and Yorkshire; this seclusion is inappropriate for the future
5. Music promoters are better-disposed than theatre promoters to Hull
6. Despite its holding capacity as nominally a ‘No. 1’ theatre and their regard for the management’s skill, theatre promoters often regard Hull New Theatre as a date of last resort; perceptions are a ‘No. 2’ theatre because annualised attendance averages rarely exceed 55 per cent of capacity
7. There is greater financial risk in programming Hull New Theatre than the City Hall
8. An education officer was a once-funded post, but since the grant expired, there has been no education, learning and outreach work at the venues, except when occasionally when organised by visiting subsidised companies and ensembles
9. Hull City Council separately promotes several imaginative festivals and outdoor concerts; there is potential to relate their programmes and organisation to year-round development at the venues
10. The opening of a new 450+150-seater Hull Truck Theatre in 2009 will challenge programming at Hull New Theatre. This new theatre will schedule visiting companies to complement its repertory company productions. There is a distinct possibility of audience displacement, ultimately to the cost of the Council
11. Programming (and the market) for both venues could be challenged by private sector casino developments at Hull, if a lyric theatre were to be constructed at St Andrew’s Dock or Kingston Communications Stadium
12. Tea dances at the City Hall were transferred to the Guildhall as Lord Mayor’s charitable events without demur; the manager would like them back
Governance options
This review identifies four different models for governance of the venues:
1. Status quo: continue direct management by Hull City Council
2. Manage the venues as a standalone operation through a non-profit distributing company, using the dormant vehicle of Humberside Theatre Trust Limited
3. Management of the venues by a private operator
4. Management of the venues by a consortium
There are good examples of the first three models in UK concert halls and theatres. However, the governance model should be a response to Council strategy for the venues, and any change should only be selected when a medium and longer-term strategy for the venues has been agreed
The buildings
The City Hall is an important Grade II* listed heritage building, but has been poorly maintained over time:
1. Rudimentary but important redecoration occurred in summer 2004
2. There is opportunity for a sensitive restoration of the auditorium, including reseating
3. There is a huge backlog of essential repairs
4. There is potential for acquiring one or more of the shops below the City Hall, for restaurant/café, kitchens, corporate hospitality and an education and learning suite
5. An historical bias towards the Hull New Theatre did not favour maintenance and development of the City Hall
6. There is now a more pressing need for wholesale and extensive repairs to the City Hall than for Hull New Theatre; but this sequence is reversed in the new Arts Strategy priorities
7. The work should also include new dressing rooms and improved physical access
8. Refurbishments would be a major project at the City Hall: the costs of which are very hard to estimate at this stage, although they might exceed £15 million, plus 20 per cent professional fees
9. A conservation statement should be commissioned
10. An architectural feasibility study should be commissioned
11. There is plenty to interest the Heritage Lottery Fund; the City Hall is a building of intrinsic heritage quality that merits their support; providing design proposals match the quality of the building; and its future use (including shops acquisition for arts activities) would be appropriate
12. Some upgrading of the stage and technical equipment is needed
13. A refurbishment could be targeted for completion during the Hall’s centenary, 2009
Internally, Hull New Theatre is a graceless ‘cinema’ style theatre, which has nevertheless been extensively refurbished, and better maintained than the City Hall. The development of a dynamic twenty-first-century theatre is also arrested by its daytime closure, except for matinees. A second feasibility study should be commissioned, to investigate design options and costs for a consummate redevelopment, possibly leading to a rebuilt theatre, incorporating a new dance centre, opening in the 75th anniversary year, 2014:
1. The acquisition of the adjacent Fire Station site for theatre use
2. The gutting of the present Hull New Theatre
3. The design and construction of a brand new theatre in the shell of the externally distinguished Assembly Rooms
4. Rotating of the axis of stage and auditorium through 180-degrees, aligned to a new entrance from the ‘portico’
5. New wing space, appropriate for lyric theatre presentations, plus new get-in and scene dock
6. A new dressing room block
7. New ‘intimate’ horseshoe-shaped auditorium, for circa 1,200-seats
8. New foyers, with construction of a new theatre restaurant, above ground
9. The reinstatement of the original Georgian windows and other features of the Assembly Rooms
10. The construction of an integral dance centre
11. A corporate hospitality and members’ suite
12. The construction of an education room, rehearsal studios and green room
Recommendations
Council makes one the largest investments in the performing arts of any local authority. There are no absolute rules and solutions for the management of concert halls and theatres. At Hull, the key issues are the physical state of the buildings, their programming and their executive leadership. With relatively high levels of Council subsidy, it is also imperative that the venues to do all they can to expand the audience, and account for Council’s investment in a succinct, businesslike fashion. A simple new financial reporting system is required, for higher-level and external evaluation.
With the position of Theatre & Halls Director presently vacant, the venues are at a turning point. There is opportunity for Kingston upon Hull City Council to recruit a new leader, but the future requirements of the venues – to be managed more strategically than hitherto – suggest an upgrading of the post. The previous person specification is satisfactory, but should spotlight new requirements:
1. To lead on capital refurbishment plans at the City Hall and Hull New Theatre as ‘executive client’, working with architects and design team members
2. To lead on external capital and revenue fundraising, including National Lottery applications
3. To write and update a five-to-ten years business plan for the venues
4. To assist the Head of Cultural Services in preparing and implementing a city-wide theatres and festivals strategy
5. Financial delegations to the new Theatre & Halls Director should be temporarily suspended for the first six months of her/his employment. Upon this appointment, the venues should refine and improve their competent operation and, through a new programming vision and artistic mandate, have good reason for a refurbishment; firstly, at the architectural masterpiece that is the City Hall
With the advent of a new Hull Truck Theatre, the alluring programmes at competitor theatres in York, Leeds and Sheffield – and several theatres’ physical improvements in the secondary market area – it is vital that the Hull venues find, articulate and promote their place within the market, if they are to flourish. The venues need to establish clear, positive identities and a renewed sense of purpose in the minds of the public, promoters and media. This will require new partnerships with a range of agencies for mutual benefit, reanimating the venues’ role as key civic players.
Changing the governance structure may be desirable, but without a new programming vision and a citywide theatres and festivals strategy, is unlikely to be effective. Other principal recommendations follow from this:
1. A City Hall and Hull New Theatre working group should be formulated for a role equivalent to that of a board of directors in a standalone concert hall and theatre, regardless of whether there is a change in governance
2. A monthly statement of summarised, headline income and expenditure is required, delineating the City Hall and Hull New Theatre turnovers as separable ‘entities’ within the Division, with costs of operating the joint box office apportioned in the ratio of venues’ annual attendance
3. A statement of detailed artistic policy and programming ambition should be adopted
4. Council should look at examples of well-run and refurbished heritage concert halls and theatres
5. A five-year strategic business plan should be written
6. A twenty-year maintenance plan for the buildings should accompany the business plan
7. Increased utilisation for occasionally more ambitious attractions should be a priority within a new artistic policy; attracting more high quality dance and opera for part-weeks, and continuing to sign musicals is the best policy for Hull New Theatre; the theatre might investigate membership of the Dance Consortium and other, informal, consortiums
8. Formulation of a ring-fenced entrepreneurial programme budget for occasional ‘new’ work and ambitious productions, at Hull New Theatre
9. New partnerships are required with more promoters and companies; a PR offensive is required
10. Relations with amateur companies and hirers might be bettered through a ‘User’s Group’, convened annually by the Theatre & Halls Director
11. Occasional programming that is exclusive to Hull should be considered
12. The potential of the new Hull Sinfonietta as a ‘resident’ professional chamber orchestra at the City Hall, expanding to symphony orchestra forces over time, should be examined
13. With the advent of a new theatre for Hull Truck Theatre Company, and the poor stage-audience relationship at Hull New Theatre, drama programming should be a low priority
14. Council should consider mechanisms for future cooperation between Hull New Theatre and Hull Truck Theatre, because the new theatre will widen its presentations to include touring productions
15. Council should monitor private sector planning applications from casino operators, to ascertain the likelihood of a lyric theatre component within developments at St Andrew’s Dock and/or Kingston Communications Stadium
16. The marketing and PR function is competent but unexciting: but it must remain at the venues
17. Consideration should be given to dropping the Gold Card scheme in favour of reformulating the Friends of Hull New Theatre, expanded to include the City Hall; this could attract individual giving during the years’ of refurbishment, improving direct community involvement and a sense of ‘ownership’
18. Many other civic and non-profit trust theatres and concert halls have followed profit-seeking theatre managements by charging booking fees, often as a percentage of the ticket price; the managers should review the appropriateness of levying booking fees at Hull
19. A corporate membership and sponsorship scheme should be reintroduced
20. The weddings’ market would be improved with a delegated organiser to keep in regular contact with prospective clients, especially for menus, decorations, dates, costings, registrar availability and venue selection.
21. To assist external fundraising and accountability, Council should consider publication of an annual review and accounts for the venues
22. An education, learning and outreach programme should be reinstated, with or without external funding, and launched across both venues: this should be recognised as integral to the objectives of the venues, rather than an optional add-on, or an adjunct of marketing strategy
23. In the years before a possible makeover of Hull New Theatre, an exhibition of Hull’s rich theatrical heritage could improve the ambience of the front of house areas
24. Two new fulltime posts should be considered by the next Theatre & Halls Director: an education-and-learning manager and a sponsorship/development manager
25. The venues’ accounts should be credited with bank interest earned from box office advance takings; in future, promoters may seek to negotiate their share
26. A revised suite of performance indicators should be adopted, including new programming targets for different art forms, set by the next Theatre & Halls Director
27. The potential for the improved generation of secondary spend through catering should be a priority
28. Efforts to attract external funding and new partnerships with the arts funding system and other bodies should be made
29. Overtures to the Heritage Lottery Fund, Yorkshire Forward, European Regional Development Fund and Arts Council National Lottery should be made, for capital grants; the assistance of Cityventure may be important
30. A conservation statement for refurbishment of the City Hall should be commissioned
31. A feasibility study for architectural improvements at the City Hall should be commissioned from an experienced conservation architect
32. An economic and social impact study should be commissioned
33. The upgrading of the City Hall should be targeted for completion during its centenary, 2009
34. Upgrading of stage and technical equipment at both venues should be planned and prioritised
35. Reconstruction of the existing orchestra pit at Hull New Theatre remains a priority, but may await Council’s determination for rebuilding Hull New Theatre for an opening in 2014
