Royal Shakespeare Company are funded by many public sponsors, trusts, councils and private funders that helps theatre to achieve their mission great art and culture for everyone.
Public Funding is also known as funding received by government. The main public body is Arts Council.
Recently Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) was funded £2.8 millions by Heritage Lottery Fund. This money was donated due to restoration of the lovely Grade II* listed Swan Wing and they are going to open up incomparable Collection and Archive that has been collected for over 130 years. They are giving an opportunity for people to see behind the scenes of world famous Globe Theatre. They are now trying really hard to open it up in 2016 in memory of Shakespeare`s death.
RSC has been getting funded by National Lottery that gave them a hand on several projects. The biggest funding National Lottery made was worth £58 million in order to redevelop the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford on Avon in 2004. It took almost four years of hard work refurbishing it but the results are amazing. Now this theatre can offer a brand-new, 1,000 seats auditorium, bigger space for drinks and eat and modern exhibition spaces. Furthermore, National Lottery was a main sponsor for The World Shakespeare Festival that was celebrated in London in 2012. Thanks to National Lottery, this festival was the biggest and greatest celebration of Shakespeare ever staged.
Another very strong source of funders are Arts Council England. Total investment received from Arts Council England is £10,845,430.
RSC are gratefully funded by US Advisory Council including Daniel and Melissa Berger, Victor and Tara Menezes, Parag and Usha Saxena.
Creative Learning partners are The Ohio State University and HM University.
Trusts and Foundations
Rich families that once had lots of money decided to establish their trust or foundation in order to maintain their memory and good heart. It gives a chance for people to donate money for trusts and foundations where later on this money are divided into theatres, clubs and companies related with theatre and arts that develops education and gives opportunity to learn skills.
They get funding by trusts and foundations including: The 29th May 1961 Charitable Trust The Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation Backstage Trust The Bernard Sunley Charitable Foundation Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS CHK Charities Limited The Clore Duffield Foundation The Constance Travis Charitable Trust DCMS/Wolfson Museums & Galleries Improvement Fund Drue Heinz Trust Esmée Fairbairn Foundation Garfield Weston Foundation The Gatsby Charitable Foundation The Grimmitt Trust h.Club Foundation.
Private Sponsorships or Donations
When private sponsors support the event, club or theatre usually you can see their logo which is a good opportunity for sponsor to be advertised and they might find a potential customer for the future.
They have a long list of private sponsors that decided to donate some money. Private Sponsorship are divided into companies and rich people. Rich people are divided into Gold and Silver patrons depending on the amount of money they have funded to RSC. Obviously, Gold Patrons are the ones who donated bigger amounts. Their names are as following: The Anson Charitable Trust Jane and Howard Epstein* Susan Hewitt Jeanie and Philip Holland Simon Keswick John Medveckis* Mr Stephen Oxley Patricia Rigby Jane Williams. Silver Patrons are the ones who were kind enough to help arts spread the world and gave some amount of money. Some of their names are: David and Elizabeth Acland Charles Alexander and Clare Mumby Sir Eric and Lady Anderson Margarita Maria Anthoine* Jeffrey and Mary Archer Richard Armitage Mr and Mrs Lawrence Banks Scott Barasch* Mrs Jacqui Beecroft Captain Peter Barnett and Mrs Sandra Billinge Matthew Bowcock Martin Bowley QC H & J Brave Dr and Mrs Douglas Bridgewater Sir Dominic Cadbury Roger and Lesley Cadbury The Cielinski Family Liz Crosoer Celia and Andrew Curran and many more.
Companies that funded RSC are corporate partners including SAMSUNG, Interbrand (Official Brand Partner) and BP Petrol. As well as corporate members including: Avon Boating Ltd Baker Tilly The Bell, Alderminster Berendsen Plc Birmingham Airport Bloomberg LP Bravissimo Bruntwood Fernox - Alent plc Foot Anstey LLP George Pragnell Honeywell Control Systems Limited Innotech Advisers Limited Lansons like minds Listers Group Lloyds Bank Urban&Civic Wright Hassall.
What kind of work do they show/do?
Royal Shakespeare Company stages performances of Shakespeare, his contemporaries and discovered new writers, making every play a memorable event for everyone.
They have trained generations of theatre makers and talented actors since they were founded in 1961 and they continue growing and expanding their talents in future.
They work starts at Stratford Upon Avon workshops and theatres and proceeds into performances seen by audience around the world through: touring and residencies, cinema broadcast, education programmes, online activity.
What facilities do they provide?
Royal Shakespeare Theatre provides many facilities for guests with access needs. These are as following:
- 12 wheelchair spaces in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre auditorium, comparing with only 4 in the old theatre.
- Lift access to all floors and levels of Royal Shakespeare Theatre and Swan Theatre auditoria.
- Lift access to 32m high Tower viewing platform.
- Toilets on all floors of the building.
- There is the accessible riverside walk and runs around the side of the theatre, rom Bancroft Gardens to Holy Trinity Church.
- Loop systems for those who have hearing problems.
- Box office, cloakroom, stage doors, fire alarm, and shop counters.
- Step free access.
- Parking
- They offer captioned and audio described performances along with Touch Tour.
- There are seats at front available at every performance for people who are partially sighted or hard of hearing.
- Nursery. They offer a nursery facilities which is really amazing. It is located only a mile away from Stratford-upon-Thames city centre. The nursery cares for children from the local community and RSC workers. They provide excellent children caring since 1963.
- Safeguarding. Offer safeguard to the children, young people and professionals working at RSC. It helps to maintain professionalism and high standards of practise.
- Rehearsal space.
- Workshops
Who uses them?
They target is to make the performance memorable for all kind of audience. They offer cheaper tickets for students and children. There are accessible facilities for disabled people and people in need. For those adults who drove down Royal Shakespeare Theatre there is a possibility to leave their car in a parking slot. Plus no time restrictions that allows people to relax an enjoy their performance. Also the nursery is designed for small children from 0 to 5 years of age.
What services do they provide for the public/their target audience?
They provide more services than you can think of. First to my notice came commercial hire which gives people an opportunity to hire a venue in an amazing Shakespeare`s home town in a beautiful countryside Stratford-upon-Thames, Warwickshire. They offer rooms for meeting and event, wedding, parties and community events. Their spaces can be hired for film or photography shoots, Arden Hotel and other recommended suppliers for flowers, food and drinks.
They not only hiring venues but costume hire is quite popular as well. They offer more than 30,000 costumes available to hire that was made special for Royal Shakespeare Company`s productions. In case people want to hire a costume but not sure about the size or look they are more than welcome pop in and try it on as RSC offers a holding service to ensure your selection is available, fitting rooms, fast, reliable and cost effective courier. They also offer a discount rate which is 50% off for a second week, and then 25% from weeks 3 to 12, and then 10% after that. So the prices can be accessible for public people and huge companies. It is open for everyone from amateurs to professionals.
What is the public benefit of these?
The public benefit of this is that customers are welcome to look around and get inspired for their own productions. Costume and venue hire services offer quite relevant and affordable prices for schools, colleges and other organizations. In that case, young generations have a chance to be involved in a creative side of life and can develop their skills further more by being inspired by RSC. Moreover, it is very entertaining and fun.
RSC organized workshops, events and exhibitions are very informative for all ages people. Usually, the exhibitions are closely connected with the life of Shakespeare which is important to know if you live and walk on the land of legendary plays and poems.
They also offer spaces for hire which can be used for rehearsals, performances, workshops or meetings. Keep in mind, that one space can hold from 20 up to 100 people. RSC also offers a workshops for students and teachers to get involved with Shakespeare`s plays and life which is very informative. RSC let visitors feel like they would be real actors and directors.
Royal Shakespeare Company is also a registered charity that provides money to create performances / programmes and seek the widest audience in the world that is suitable for everyone.
Do you think the venue justifies its public subsidy?
I would say yes and no. At the moment there shows about King & Country season. Ticket prices : £55, £45, £35, £25, £10, plus premium seats also available. As my research shows the price for upcoming play Midsummers`s Night Dream which will be shown at Royal Shakespeare`s Theatre in London price starts from £10 per ticket with a restricted view and can be up to £55 for seats in stalls (section A). However, they offer a discount for elderly people who is 60 and over where price starts at £8 for a same seat with restricted view and may reach the price of £44 in stall section A. There is also a Family Rate (under 18s) that offer nearly half cheaper tickets. The price for the same seats starts at as less as £5 and raises up to £27.50. So those middle age people has to pay more and I would say not everyone can afford it. Theatre is a very important thing for people to stay creative in their mind. Even though they don`t understand how important this is, people should afford to go to a theatre at least once a month. Just try imagine people doing same routine day by day (sleep, work, eat, repeat) it would kill them. Theatre is a food for our brain and we need it as much as we need eggs, bread, milk, meat in order to stay alive. Of course, there are plenty of other theatres that offer cheaper theatre tickets but you cant compare the quality with the Royal Shakespeare`s Theatre. Nevertheless, I stand by their side as they do huge discounts for elderly and young people, that are obviously are not able to work in full force as most of young people are students and elderly people are not able to work many hours. In that case, money from the government are really helpful. It gives an opportunity to enjoy the life of theatre for everyone.
There a day time seats available for a fare of £10 stalls which has to be purchased on the same day as a performance and collected only from a box office. It is valid for all performances.
There is an offer for adult groups of ten and more people to get tickets for £35. Offer is valid only Monday to Thursday for the whole November and December excluding the week commencing 28 Dec 2015. This is a great way to celebrate a Christmas party with your colleagues.
RSC offers cheaper tickets for disabled visitors and their companion. The price for a ticket is £16 per person. However, this offer is only applicable for performances in Stratford-upon-Avon. For London performances you have to call Box Office and ask for further information.
Probably everyone has heard of £5 theatre tickets at RSC. This concession if for young adults age 16-25. All you have to do is sign up for the RSC Key. By joining RSC Key you will be informed about upcoming performances and events near you. They offer £5 tickets for all their productions. Normally, there are 40 tickets per evening performance that has to be booked in advance and collected only from the box office. There are two ways to book this concession tickets either calling the Ticket Hotline or booking online and using a promotion code which is 1625. This is a good way for students, especially for those studying performing arts, to see and be up to date with most recent productions. Mostly, all students cannot afford going to watch West End shows but RSC productions are as good as West End shows.
No comments:
Post a Comment