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Business Plan2015-2018

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Welcome

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The courtyard2015-18 Business Plan

www.celticleisure.org

Welcome from the chairman 4

1. executive Summary 5

1.1 First Principles 5

1.2 mission & Vision 6

1.3 Strategic objectives 6

1.4 Values 6

1.5 Aims 7

1.6 monitoring and evaluation 7

2. organisational Summary 8

2.1 History 8

2.2 Snapshot of current operation 9

2.3 courtyard Trading company 10

2.4 Stakeholders 10

3. Artistic Plan 12

3.1 equality & Diversity in programming 12

3.2 Artistic Policy & Programming 2015-18 13

3.3 Visual Arts & Programming 2015 – 18 15

3.4 education & outreach 16

4. marketing &communications 21

4.1 Audience Development 21

4.2 SWoT Analysis 22

4.3 communications & PR 24

4.4 Digital & online marketing 25

4.5 Strategic objectives 25

5. Finance 28

5.1 Key Budget Assumptions 28

5.2 Risk Assessment 28

5.3 Fundraising 29

6. environmental Policy 32

7. long Term Vision 34

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The Courtyard has firmly established itself as theprimary arts venue in the county of Herefordshire. It isdeeply rooted in the community and serves as the hubof cultural life for everyone within the county and theregion. The Courtyard is a thriving venue, open sevendays a week, where people come to experience andparticipate in a quality programme of work, both withinthe building and through our learning, participation andoutreach activities.

This plan provides a picture of the company's activitiesand of what we hope to achieve in the coming threeyears. It attempts to address the priorities and interests of the board, the company’s staff, users andcollaborators as well the priorities of its core funders,Herefordshire Council and Arts Council England, as well as the many other funders who also support The Courtyard.

The Courtyard, as will many funded arts organisations,faces difficult and challenging times ahead. However,there are also many opportunities for The Courtyard todevelop locally, regionally and nationally. The Courtyardis addressing those challenges through creativity,imagination and entrepreneurism. From 2016/17 ourdirect funding from Herefordshire Council will come to an end. With this in mind, The Courtyard team are looking at developing The Courtyard into thecultural hub for Herefordshire through an excitingdevelopment programme.

The Courtyard’s overarching aim is to provide the very best participatory and non-participatory programme ofart and culture that endeavours to enrich the lives ofeveryone in Herefordshire.

I would like to thank the board, staff and our vast teamof volunteers drawn from the local community – not tomention our audiences, participants and key financialstakeholders - for all their support past, present and intothe future.

I will continue to help, support and challenge The Courtyard in the coming years to ensure that wecontinue to provide a robust platform from which the arts in Herefordshire will continue to flourish forfuture generations.

If you have any questions about this business plan you can contact me at chairman@courtyard.org.uk or you can contact our Chief Executive, Ian Archer, on 01432 346507 or email: ian.archer@courtyard.org.uk

Dr Roger morganchairman – The courtyard Trust

As chairman of The courtyard it gives me great pleasure to presentour three- year business plan for the period 2015-18.

Welcome fromthe chairman

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1.1 First Principles

The courtyard centre for the Arts is operated by The courtyard Trust, a charitable company limited by guarantee with a voluntary board of management. The courtyard Tradingcompany limited is a wholly-ownedsubsidiary which operates the cateringand bar functions for the venue.

The Courtyard is a large, fully-accessible, purpose-builttheatre and centre for the arts with a main auditoriumseating up to 436 in a variety of flexible styles and astanding capacity of 460 (stalls) when flat-floored. TheCourtyard also houses a studio theatre with a capacityof 130 (seated) or 220 (standing), a gallery with 2additional gallery areas, a rehearsal room/dance studio,meeting rooms and an award-winning licensed cafe bar.The theatre is well-served by modern backstage access,well-equipped dressing rooms, workshop, managementoffices and its own dedicated parking facilities.

The Courtyard is also home to a number of otherprofessional arts organisations which include The MusicPool, 2Faced Dance Company, Dance Fest and AlloyJewellers, who have a dedicated studio space fromwhich a number of resident jewellers work.

The Courtyard is proud to be a multi-genre, professionalpresentation and co-producing venue with a loyal andsizeable audience in the West Midlands region andbeyond. In terms of our programming ethos there issomething for everyone and everything for someone.This lies at the heart of the organisation as itendeavours to engage, serve and provide opportunitiesfor all the communities of the region, from whicheverethnic or social background, to engage in the arts and all its forms of expression. The Courtyard isrecognised as a National Portfolio Organisation by Arts Council England.

The Courtyard grew and developed through the needsof the community to express itself artistically. This fact isrecognised, respected and translated into a genuinedesire for community participation to be at the heart oftheatre life with presentations, productions and classesled by many local groups that complement and aresupported in turn by the varied professionalprogramme.

The Courtyard was created out of partnership betweenthe National Lottery, Hereford City Council, whichsubsequently became Herefordshire Council, and ArtsCouncil England, all of which recognised the need forHerefordshire to diversify, regenerate, embrace tourismand create a diverse dynamic local economy wherecultural expression deservedly takes its rightful placewithin the economic mix. The Courtyard was the firstLottery-funded, new-build arts venue in England,opening on September 18 1998. The Courtyard paystribute to these organisations for supporting this visionand thanks those who continue to invest in its journey.The Courtyard remains a key part of the transformationof Hereford and actively involves itself in regenerationissues within the City and surrounding area,contributing to the debate at both management andboard level, where appropriate. The Courtyard harbourscapital developmental ambitions of its own, ones thatwill further embed it in the economy of the City and as a destination of economic choice, artistic expressionand enjoyment.

The Courtyard is at the hub of the Herefordshirecommunity and plays a major role as the primaryperformance venue for the county. It is a resource, abuilding, a focal point for tourism and a key driver of thelocal economy. Most importantly, it is a place where thearts are at its heart, where individuals and groups canexpress themselves, observe and quite simply enjoy thearts. The pleasure and the benefits they can bring areThe Courtyard’s first and main principle.

1. executive Summary

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1.2 mission and Vision

our missionThe Courtyard will use the Arts to add to the quality oflife of the people of Herefordshire as a cultural hub ofthe county.

our Vision

The Courtyard is Herefordshire’s Centre for the Arts,using the arts to add to the quality of life of the peopleof Herefordshire. We will build and sustain relationshipswith the arts community and venues in Herefordshire,acting as the cultural hub of the county.

We will strive to ensure that The Courtyard issustainable over time through operational efficiency.

We will offer a wide range of artistic experiences anddevelop specialised focus through “seasons” andfestivals (eg comedy, poetry, dance, film, music etc)whilst using our own venue to provide a warm andfriendly social space for everyone.

1.3 Strategic objectivesThrough a programme of participatory and non-participatory arts we will ensure that excellence isthriving and celebrated throughout Herefordshire.

We will endeavour, through our programming andthrough the work of our Learning and ParticipationDepartment, to ensure that everyone in Herefordshirehas the opportunity to experience and to be inspired by the arts.

Through education and outreach we will ensure thatevery child and young person in Herefordshire has theopportunity to experience the richness of the arts.

To increase our national profile and recognition of the work of The Courtyard.

To increase our in-house productions.

To achieve long-term sustainability through developingThe Courtyard and diversifying income streams whichare true to our core objectives.

1.4 ValuesThe Courtyard is committed to delivering excellenceand providing the very best opportunities for everyoneto engage with the arts. We believe that, as far as it iseconomically possible, the rural communities andaudiences of the area have equal right to access andexperience the very best artistic performances andpresentations that are commonly available in areas ofgreater population density.

We wish to inspire creativity amongst individuals,community groups and the professional artists andcompanies of Herefordshire and the surrounding region.

We believe in building effective collaborations andpartnerships with individuals, organisations, agenciesand stakeholders in order to achieve shared goals.

We believe the arts should fundamentally be enjoyable,memorable and enrich people’s lives.

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1.5 Aims

A commitment to diversity, quality and excellence.

To deliver an inspirational, diverse and entertainingprogramme of memorable and exciting eventsaccording to the maxim 'something for everyone,everything for someone'.

To be recognised and valued as a vital link betweenartists and audiences by ensuring that the venuecontributes to the joy and excitement of theperforming arts by providing the best and mostappropriate environment in which to experience them.

To play an active role in the cultural life of the regionby working closely with local professional practitionersand artists and championing their work, whilst alsosupporting the county’s amateur performers andcommunity groups.

To support the development of talent and skill byworking with other organisations to co-produce,collaborate and/or invest in creative enterprise.

To strive at all times to maintain a culture of entrepreneurship, to be flexible and to embrace new opportunities.

To continue to develop and seek new partners withwhom the venue can achieve its goals of artisticdiversity and excellence in order to further developaudiences and maximise the investment it receives.

To be sustainable by maximising the impact andeffectiveness of current funding, seeking out newincome streams, and being economically efficient – allwhilst maintaining artistic values.

To further develop the profile regionally and nationallywith the view of being considered as culturalambassador for delivering arts in a rural community.

1.6 monitoring and evaluation

The organisation’s strategic objectives,plans and overall progress are monitored through:

Management team meetings

Quarterly Board meetings

Bi-monthly Finance and Human Resource Sub-committee meetings

Quarterly Artistic Policy and Programming Committee meetings

Trust AGM

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2.1 History

The courtyard was designed by Birmingham-based Architects GlennHowells Associates and was the firstmajor new build Arts council funded National lottery capital project in england. It opened in September 1998with additional support from Herefordcity council prior to incorporation into Herefordshire council.

It was built on the site of the old Nell Gwynne Theatre,which itself was constructed from the original Municipalswimming baths on the same site; the Nell Gwynneopened in 1979.

The Courtyard attracts over 200,000 visitors every year,not just from within the county, but also from the WestMidlands and further afield. It was designed to beinspirational and contemporary and lead the way forfuture architectural developments in the historic City ofHereford. It is constructed to form two separate spacesinternally and is enveloped in a large, glass-constructedouter shell which creates a light and airy atmospherewithin.

The Courtyard houses a 418-seat main auditorium, a130-seat Studio, visual arts galleries, meeting andfunction rooms, a rehearsal studio with sprung floor andcafé bar and restaurant. The two auditoria can both betransformed from flat floor to traditional raked layoutswith a flexibility not seen in many venues. The mainauditorium’s facilities include both counterweight andhemp flying facilities, orchestra pit and digital projectionequipment. Both spaces are also well stocked withlighting and sound equipment and sound systems.

It is an accessible building and offers good, free ease of

access to all front-of-house areas and a passenger lift.Wheelchair users can access all front-of-house areas,and there are also accessible dressing rooms for bothauditoria located on the ground floor, each withaccessible toilet and shower facilities. The Courtyard isalso fitted with an infrared loop system and audiodescription facilities.

Like many new arts projects, The Courtyard struggledinitially to find its operational and trading levels andaudience base. After five years, it had an accumulateddeficit of £280,000. Since 2005, the organisation hasworked proactively to eradicate this deficit and byMarch 2008 achieved this goal. At the end of the 2013-14 financial year the organisation had established asurplus of just over £325,000. Throughout this period ofdeficit reduction The Courtyard has consistently grownits operation, presenting a broad, multi-genre,artistically and financially balanced, quality artsprogramme.

In 2003 The Courtyard became a Regularly FundedOrganisation (RFO) of the Arts Council and a recipientof additional revenue support from them as part of theNational Theatre Review. From 2012 it became an ArtsCouncil England National Portfolio Organisation.

Whilst directly investing in productions, The Courtyardhas offered its facilities to launch productions fortouring in return for co-production status, andpremiering productions.

The Courtyard combines its presentation programmewith an extensive participation programme of eventsand classes for all sections of the local community. It isalso home to the following arts organisations: MusicPool, 2Faced Dance Company, DanceFest and AlloyJewellery Co-operative. It is also the main presentingvenue for Borderlines Film Festival, the largest rural filmfestival in the UK. The Courtyard also hosts many local

2. organisational Summary

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community companies as part of its overall programmeof work, including Hereford Musical Theatre Company,Hereford Pantomime Society, Hereford Academy ofDance and the Hereford Gilbert & Sullivan Society.

The Courtyard runs a very successful bar and cateringoperation providing high-quality, locally-sourced andproduced food in an attractive setting. Catering at TheCourtyard provides a key element in the overall offeringto its customers and contributes significantly to theCourtyard Trust. The quality of the food provided byThe Courtyard’s catering team was recognised inwinning the 2009 category of Catering in a VisitorAttraction in the Flavours of Herefordshire Awards.

As a result of these facilities, The Courtyard provides anexcellent venue for events, conferences and meetings inHerefordshire, bringing in further valuable revenue forthe organisation.

This Business Plan is primarily for the Trust and theoverall role of its wholly-owned subsidiary TheCourtyard Trading Company. Any subsidiary operationor company will have a Business Plan detailing itsoperation.

2.2 Snapshot of current operationInspiring and engaging people in the arts is at the heart of all we do, making sure that The Courtyardprovides a medium for everyone who wishes to accessparticipatory and non-participatory activitiesthroughout Herefordshire and the region.

The Courtyard has developed in many ways through theyears and is proud to be a successful rural, multi-genre,professional presentation and, more recently, aproducing and co-producing venue that has grown withthe needs of the community. It is a highly respected andrecognised organisation that achieves excellencethrough its productions, its youth theatre, its nationally-recognised work with arts and older people, communitychoirs, writing and reading workshops, film and media

clubs, life-drawing classes, schools and colleges dramaworkshops and its newly created workshop, Drama Tots.

The Courtyard is at the heart of the Herefordshirecommunity and plays an important role as the primaryarts centre for the county. It is a resource, building and afocal point for tourism and is one of the majorcontributors to the local economy. Most importantly,The Courtyard is a place where the arts are at its heart.

We inspire passion for the arts and this permeatesthroughout the organisation and, as such, ensures thateveryone experiences the arts at its best. We use thepower of the arts to enrich people's lives by inspiration,learning and participation, entertaining and providing aplatform to encourage everyone to engage in the arts.

The Courtyard seeks to present a programme of showsthrough various performance deals, guaranteed fees,box office splits, first calls and hires. Hereford is a small,relatively isolated city with limited transport links,especially in the evening. Visiting companies aretherefore not keen to enter financially risky deals in theway they may be prepared to in larger metropolitancities, or more densely populated areas. In order tosecure a quality programme, The Courtyard has toguarantee some of its programme through a fixed feeand this then becomes a financial risk. Thus the choiceof programme with the right artistic and financial mixcontaining the right margins for profit is integral to thesuccess of the business.

Programming is done 12 months in advance. In thecurrent economic times, monitoring the success of theprogramme and being prepared to adjust the contentaccordingly for the next season is essential.

In essence, The Courtyard presents as much risky,challenging artistic work as possible in order to developits audiences and the core arts market for the future,but balances this with work that has merit, but that willalso cover the costs of running the organisation.

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For a number of years The Courtyard has managed tobalance its core professional programme expenditurewith increasing the net box office income. Theprogramme choice and balance is always high quality,but also pragmatic and realistic from a businessperspective. Genuine risks are taken on a high-qualityartistic programme that both develop the artform andaudiences; this is then balanced with high-qualitycommercial work where applicable. However, ArtsCouncil funding allows us to develop our programmefor drama, contemporary dance, opera, classical musicetc and to develop new audiences for these genres.

The activities on the stage are complemented by a large learning and participation programme with many enthusiastic participants of all ages, a busyoutreach and education programme, and an extensivecatering operation, plus meetings and conferences on a weekly basis.

2.3 courtyard Trading companyWe strive to provide a complete experience at The Courtyard for all of our customers with the Trading operation providing quality, locally-sourced and produced food and drink to complement a visit to the venue.

The Courtyard Trading Company is a company limitedby guarantee with a voluntary board of management.This is a wholly-owned subsidiary of The CourtyardTrust, with the primary function of operating the catering functions for the venue.

The Courtyard Trust is paid an annual management feefrom the Trading Company and any profits, after themanagement fee, from the Trading Company are covenanted to The Courtyard Trust.

2.4 StakeholdersThe two key financial stakeholders in The Courtyard’songoing success are:

Arts council englandRevenue funders

Herefordshire councilOwners of the building freehold and revenue fundersuntil 2016

The Courtyard’s operation currently remains reliant onongoing public investment. We maintain strongrelationships with our key stakeholders and thecompany works hard to maintain this through regularcontact and performance reporting.

From 2016, it is envisaged that Herefordshire Councilwill no longer revenue fund The Courtyard. TheCourtyard Trust Board and CEO are currentlynegotiating with the Council for alternative ways offunding and income generation.

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Other key stakeholders (listed alphabetically) are:

Audiences (participatory and non participatory)

Business community

Other community-based arts organisations that use The Courtyard

Local community

Partners with whom we share our venue, which include the Music Pool, 2Faced Dance Company, Alloy Jewellers

Partners with whom we co-produce

Staff

The Board of Trustees

Touring companies which rely on The Courtyard to reach Herefordshire audiences

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3.1 equality and Diversity in Programming

As the primary provider of performing arts activities in the county, The courtyard is committed to providing a balanced programme to the communities of Herefordshire and beyond.

At the heart of our approach is a commitment tovaluing diversity, treating people with dignity andrespect, eliminating discrimination and promoting socialcohesion through our organisation and programming.

We value the individual contribution made by all peoplein our communities and are committed to eliminatingdiscrimination on the grounds of:

Age

Disability

Ethnic or national origins/race

Colour

Nationality

Religion or Belief

Gender

Gender re-assignment status

Sexual orientation

Marriage and civil partner status

Being a single parent

Pregnancy and maternity

our Aims

The courtyard aims to:

Promote equality of opportunity in all that we do and promote good relations between people in ourdiverse communities

Ensure that the needs of our diverse communities areidentified and taken into account in the planning anddelivery of our work and services

Work towards increasing the representation ofresidents from hard-to-reach groups in customerinitiatives to develop new audiences

Ensure that the information we provide is accessible tousers of The Courtyard in languages or formats thatthey can understand

Ensure that membership of the Board and itscommittees adequately reflects the local community

Provide an accessible service by removing or alteringany physical barriers to access wherever feasible

The Courtyard strives to achieve a balanced programmefor the local and wider market, with a view to: sellingmore tickets, attracting new audiences and increasingthe regularity of existing patrons with the overall aim ofselling out all performances.

Whilst we appreciate that this may not be achievablefor all events, it is a goal for the venue to aspire to. Tosucceed, the programme needs to maintain its varietyand high quality, but it is also accepted that it needs totake risks and present the very best artists andcompanies available and to achieve a diverse range of product.

3. Artistic Plan

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The Courtyard’s approach to Diversity is a consciousingredient in our artistic programming and audiencedevelopment strategy. We will build on our core valuesto underpin all we do through diversity of skills, peopleand organisations. Diversity for us means that we curateas many different voices into The Courtyard and to ourprogramming and projects as we can.

3.2 Artistic Policy & Programming2015-2018

As an organisation, it is our key objective to ensure thateveryone within the county and region has theopportunity to experience quality within everything thatwe do. We believe that from the moment that theyarrive or book a ticket at The Courtyard, our customersexperience excellence. Audience feedback, bothqualitative and quantitative, is invaluable in assisting usin our future audience development programmes.

We inspire passion for the arts and this permeatesthroughout the organisation and, as such, ensures thateveryone experiences the arts at its best. We use thepower of the arts to enrich people's lives by inspiration,learning and participation, entertaining and providing aplatform to encourage everyone to engage in the arts.

In addition to our presented and produced work, we willcontinue to provide a comprehensive programme ofwork through our Learning and ParticipationDepartment. We will continue to develop our alreadysuccessful work in nurturing new talent through ourYouth Theatre programme and Outreach projects.

We believe that the arts are inclusive and ourprogramme of live events will reflect the diversity ofmodern England whilst understanding Herefordshire'sdemographic. We are committed to increasing our

collaborative work with companies such as Afrovibes,Dancefest's Jigsaw and Hereford College of Arts, as wellas our work with Arts and Older People. We willcontinue to develop relationships with other arts-relatedorganisations including Arts Alive, 2Faced Dance, RuralMedia Company and Pentabus to support ourprogramme of inclusivity.

We are committed to developing and showcasing newwriting through a programme of workshops andperformances by developing a new writing festival.

The Courtyard has very strong links with educationestablishments through its work with local schools andcolleges. Our work over 2015-18 will offer access totraining schemes, mentoring programmes andinternships for working in the arts.

The artistic programme is the core element of our venueand cements trust with our audience. The choice ofprogramme dictates the success of our venue throughits box office receipts and through our audienceremaining loyal to our endeavours. Our artisticprogramme is supported, discussed and evaluated byour Artistic Policy and Programming Committee,chaired by Chris Green, and supported by members ofThe Courtyard Board.

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AimsTo provide a balanced quality programme ofentertainment and education.

To increase Courtyard productions and to introduce anannual Christmas children’s production utilising theskills of newly-trained actors in order to enhance theiracting ability and experience.

To ensure quality of programme through measuringcustomer satisfaction and evaluation.

To actively encourage participation.

To work in partnership with other arts organisations,local educational establishments, the community andsupport organisations.

To support and encourage artists with their professional development.

To reach all sectors of the community.

core ProgrammeTo provide a core programme of a wide range of artsevents and activities.

The programme strives to be a balance of professionalactivities of the highest creative excellence andinnovation alongside an amateur programmeencouraging participation and creativity.

To provide a quality creative environment to nurtureparticipants enabling them to emerge and growcreatively.

To provide a well maintained venue in which localgroups and societies will participate in their activities.

To research the market and, through audiencedevelopment, carefully select the programme,ensuring it is monitored regularly in order to maintainquality and diversity.

Areas of Principal ActivityChildren and young people

Older people

Emerging artists

Diversification through new audiences & audiencedevelopment

To research and develop activities based on needs ofthe community

To work with sectors of the community that do notpresently access The Courtyard

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3.3 Visual Arts Policy & Programming 2015-2018

The Courtyard has a dedicated gallery and additionalexhibition space. To date, the programming of visualarts has focused on community exhibitions andsubmissions by emerging artists. We recognise thatvisual arts plays an important role in developing newaudiences, and further development has been identifiedthat will see visual arts integrated and complementingour artistic programming.

From 2015 emphasis will be placed on professionalcontemporary exhibitions, education, community andsupporting new and emerging talent. The Courtyard willdevelop relationships with other contemporary galleries,such as the Ikon Gallery and seek to collaborate withexhibitions and funding opportunities.

The Courtyard will remain a major venue for H.Art,Hereford Photography Month (formerly HerefordPhotography Festival) as well as working closely withother local and regional visual arts organisations such as Meadow Arts.

In addition to our visual arts, The Courtyard, throughdigital arts, programmes live screenings from theNational Theatre, Met Opera, Royal Opera House, RSC,Royal Ballet etc. This forms a significant part of TheCourtyard’s programme and will continue to play amajor part of our programming ethos.

The Courtyard has now implemented a Visual Arts Panelwhich is made up of Board Members and practitioners.A submission call out is now made for artists to submitsamples of their work and this is then assessed by thepanel for future exhibition within The Courtyard.

Aims

To showcase a diverse range of work from local,national and international artists.

Gallery exhibitions to be selected for their excellence and contemporary qualities.

To exhibit a broad range of work, ranging fromestablished artists to those at the start of their career.

To be involved in and show the resulting work fromcommunity projects.

Provide interpretation specifically designed for thetarget audience.

Evaluate exhibitions success in reaching the targetaudience.

To achieve 3 areas of exhibition space – ground floor(education), 1st floor (community), 2nd floor (profes-sional). The outside area is also to be considered as anoptional display area for appropriate sculpture.

To partner with other contemporary galleries such as Ikon

To provide a platform for digital arts including Live Screenings.

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3.4 education and outreach

Since 2004 The Courtyard has extensively developed itsEducation & Outreach programme. There are five keystrands to the department's work.

Lifelong learning

Community arts

Schools & colleges

Young Courtyard

Arts & older people

The overarching aim is to implement a creative partici-patory and non-participatory programme to enhanceand enrich the lives of young people in Herefordshire.

Over the past three years our schools and collegesprogramme mix has diversified greatly and this has ledto a substantial increase in the number of participants.This has been important for the organisation in helpingthe department become more sustainable while beingable to work with an extensive younger audience.

Since 2009, we have worked with 73 of the 84 primaryschools in the county and 12 of the 18 secondaryschools.

Over 2650 young people have participated inworkshops in 2013 with an attendance of 10,122.

The Courtyard is committed to its work with schoolsand our programme for 2015-18 will continue to developour already successful relationships with them. Ouraspirations are to further develop our work with highschools and colleges and create a programme of workaround the National Curriculum resulting in theopportunity for pupils to work with a professionalartistic and production team.

Our objectives are to develop our work with primary,secondary schools and colleges, particularly HerefordCollege of Arts and Arts Alive, to create a programmeof work around the National Curriculum. We currentlyhave extremely strong relationships with primaryschools within Herefordshire and we endeavour toincrease our activity with drama-led projects thatpromote sustained learning and personal development.

Our annual Shakespeare Project has given us theopportunity to work with over 30 primary schools andhas engaged over 1000 young people. We will developthe project throughout 2015-18 and seek to work withthe majority of schools within Herefordshire andproduce an education pack. The education pack will bea resource for schools that will promote sustainedlearning in the classroom and will include a ShakespeareDVD, presented by The Courtyard's Honorary Patron, SirDerek Jacobi. From this we will create an arts forum forprimary and secondary school teachers, engaging in thearts to equip them with hands-on practical advice toimprove literacy through Shakespeare.

We will also create a toolkit specifically based aroundthe Shakespeare Project which will be available to otherarts organisations to help them set up similar projectswithin their locality. This will reinforce the curriculum'screative writing strands and cover a multitude of theattributes that Ofsted look for in Key Stage 1 & 2 pupils,ie willingness, openness, problem solving, seeing thingsfrom another person's point of view, resilience andperseverance.

In addition to our Shakespeare Project, we will furtherdevelop our Roald Dahl Literacy Project which forms alarge part of our current schools activity. Thisendeavours to improve literacy and creative writingthrough a performance-led project. This will bedeveloped as part of our work with younger people

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throughout 2015-18 and will promote creativity in theclassroom and enhance young people's confidencethrough the power of drama and performance.

We currently work with 425 young people participatingin classes each week at The Courtyard. Our work withyoung people is a combination of youth theatre, danceclasses, film-making clubs and Family Music Makers inassociation with the Music Pool. All our courses run for36 weeks of the year.

We also work in areas of least engagement andfacilitate community youth theatre programmes in ruralmarket towns such as Bromyard, Kington andPeterchurch. We will develop our work in thecommunity by looking at other areas which are in needof arts activities and programme a series of classes foryoung people in Wigmore, Ledbury and Ross on Wye.

From 2015-18 we will increase the frequency ofproductions to an annual staged presented work. Wewill develop our Shakespeare Project to schools withinHerefordshire and meet the needs of the curriculum bycreating a week-long Shakespeare Festival to celebratein performance the work of the young people inschools.

Our Youth Theatre forms a core part of our work withyoung people from Drama Tots to Senior Youth Theatre.Not only are they our future audience but our work is atraining ground for emerging talent and personaldevelopment.

As part of our commitment to developing new skills inthe arts and for developing future talent we will beginnew writing workshops for young people aged 14 - 19.We will work with experienced script writers who willdeliver the sessions and equip the young writers withthe skills and knowledge to showcase their work at The Courtyard.

Inspiring and engaging people in the arts is at the heartof all we do, making sure that The Courtyard provides amedium for everyone who wishes to access partici-patory and non-participatory activities throughoutHerefordshire. In addition to our comprehensivelearning and education programme, we are renownedfor our work with arts and older people.

The programmes we offer build on the existingexamples of good practice where artists, arts andcultural organisations are making a real difference topeople’s lives and providing a bridge between olderpeople and the wider community.

Arts Award

The Courtyard offers the opportunity to enrichchildren’s artistic experience and enliven their list ofachievements through Arts Award.

Arts Award inspires young people to grow their arts andleadership talents: it's creative, valuable and accessible.This is an excellent way learn something new aboutdrama and the arts. The Courtyard will continue to offerthe opportunity to obtain Bronze, Silver and GoldAwards

Artsmark

The Courtyard works with 87% of schools withinHerefordshire. The Courtyard will actively promote and champion Artsmark to schools within the countyand work with participating schools to meet the criterianecessary to achieve the award. The Courtyard will work with Arts Connect, Elmley Foundation, Music Pooland arts organisations to enable schools to achieve the award.

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Arts & older PeopleOur work with arts and older people is a significant partof what we do within the community of Herefordshireand regionally. At the Courtyard we believe in theintrinsic value in engaging older people in the arts. Thisdemographic still have so much to offer and engagingtheir talent, experience and enthusiasm is vital to ourlocal community. Participatory art is a powerful tool thatnot only benefits the individuals taking part but cancontribute towards challenging and breaking downstigmas of being older. We have been investing in thisarea since 2010 and have seen the effects this can haveon the lives of older people.

We are working with a wide spectrum of partner organi-sations including Arts Council of England and theBaring Foundation, the University of Worcester, Age UKHereford & Localities, the Alzheimers Society, YoungDemetina Group, Healthwatch, Together Trust andCarers support, The Big Skill. Working effectively inpartnerships helps to mazimise effectiveness by utilisingexisiting infrastructures and enabling us to attractbeneficiaries.

The Courtyard has an established arts and olderpeople’s advisory group which supports us in helpingdecide on the content and structure of our projects.This is made up of people living with dementia, artspractitioners, carers support, representatives from carehomes/supported living facilities, and members of TheCourtyard Trust Board.

In addition to the external oversight our advisory groupoffers we have an embedded, creative and relevantevaluation framework which allows us to reviewindividual projects to ensure that we are achieving ouroutcomes. These are monitored regularly and we workwith our arts practitioners to address any issues in atimely fashion.

children and Young People – Goal 5

Action The Courtyard, through itsShakespeare and RoaldDahl Projects, provides theopportunity to all schoolchildren to develop theirskills in literacy andcreative writing throughproject led workshops

Responsible Associate Director /Education Team

When Annually from 2015

Purpose

measurable Through attendance and schools records

outcomes Success of achieving theArts Award

Record of Achievements

Pass on artsskill/knowledge to others

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Artistic objective Settingchildren and Young People – Goal 5

The Courtyard willprovide the opportunityto all children and youngpeople to develop theirskills through Arts Award.To increase members to30 in 2015, 35 in 2016 and40 in 2017

Responsible Associate Director /Education Team

When Ongoing workshops

Purpose

measurable Record of attendanceand certification

outcomes Stage performance onmain stage at TheCourtyard and Schools(pupils and teachers)feedback forms

Artistic excellence – Talent Development Goal 1

Action The Courtyard will producean annual Christmaschildren’s production(Studio) and pantomime(Main House). Actors/dancers will be paid at UKTheatre rates. Musicianspaid at MU rates plussubsistence, whereapplicable.

Responsible CEO / Associate Director /Director

When In addition to the annualpantomime, The Courtyardwill utilise the Studio toproduce an annual Children’sChristmas production with aview to touring it in futureyears.

Purpose

Who The Courtyard will auditionand cast, when possible,actors, dancers, musiciansand designers with no morethan three years’ experience.

outcomes A successful productionwhich exceeds its financialand audience satisfactiontargets. Actors will begiven feedback to aid theirpersonal development.

Action

To reinforce the curriculum'screative writing strands andcover a multitude of theattributes that Ofsted lookfor in Key Stage 1 & 2 pupils,ie willingness, openness,problem solving, seeingthings from anotherperson's point of view,resilience and perseverance. To encourage and nurture

future talent

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Artistic excellence – Talent Development Goal 1

Action The Courtyard will workcollaboratively withPentabus to encourage newwriting and the opportunityto stage the artists’ work atThe Courtyard. Nick Lane(Writer – Hull Truck Theatre)will run workshops for TheCourtyard’s Write-OnFestival

When The Courtyard will invest inworking with Pentabus andthrough The Courtyard’sWrite-On Festival toencourage newplaywrights

Who New script writers

Purpose

Responsible Associate Director / CEO

outcomes

To encourage and nurturefuture script writing

Artistic excellence – Talent Development Goal 1

Action The Courtyard will producean annual professionalproduction with a view totouring the production toother venues regionally andnationally

When May 2016 and thereafterannually

Responsible CEO / Associate Director

Purpose

Who The Courtyard will seek toengage actors of no morethan 5 years’ experience

outcomes

To encourage and nurtureacting skills and to helpdevelop their careers

The Courtyard will collectfeedback from writers andmentors and providedetailed feedback from thementors and audiences.

The Courtyard will collectfeedback on personalexperience from the actorsand work with them toenhance their futurecareers.

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4.1 Audience Development

The Courtyard has a wide and varied programme ofevents that appear on the main stage and the studio.Programming the shows, exhibitions, films andworkshops is not an exact science. The Courtyard’smarketing department has been restructured to focuson audience development and to deliver on thestrategy. The Courtyard aims to look at the ‘weaker’genres and the customers that already attend thesegenres as a way to find new customers to attendthrough programming and marketing initiatives.

Stage one of The Courtyard’s Audience DevelopmentStrategy has been designed to provide a detailedunderstanding of The Courtyard’s audience across sixgenres of live events;

Classical Music

Contemporary Dance

Folk Music

Comedy Clubs

Drama

Pantomime

The Strategy is an expansion on the previous work andsuccess that has been achieved with our film audiencedevelopment. The Strategy will look at the following keypoints:

Existing audience behaviours

Programming desires

Requirements from a venue

Audience buying patterns

Adding the following attributes:

Genre crossovers

Success of different types of marketing across audiences

Audience crossover with other venues

The Film Audience Development Strategy was launchedin November 2013 and the Live Audience DevelopmentStrategy in March 2014. Both of these documents will beevaluated and revisited to benchmark improvementsand new ways of working. To deliver on the objectives afull time Audience Development Manager has beenappointed and will see through changes.

Main objectives from the live audience development plan:

Increase additional income through ticket sales

To balance an artistic and commercial programme to generate money from ticket sales

Encourage customers already associated with The Courtyard to come more often (converting firsttime bookers to regular attendees)

Work in partnership with other local providers of all art forms

Focus on postcode areas cold spots and warm spots

Trying to penetrate new bookers from cold postcode spots

Trying to make warm postcode spots hot!

Finding patterns of attendance to intelligently plan marketing activity

Focus attention through market research on thefollowing six strands: Classical Music, ContemporaryDance, Comedy/Comedy Clubs, Pantomime,Folk/Nightjar Music and Drama (Contemporary and Classical)

4. marketing & communications (see Audience DevelopmentStrategy)

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4.2 SWoT Analysis

Strengths Weaknesses

The past two years have been avery successful time in TheCourtyard’s history for ticket salesbucking the trend of sales withinthe arts during a difficult financialtime

The Courtyard has achievedsuccess on co-productions recently,sharing cost and risk of theprogramme (Vamos & Pentabus)

The Courtyard currently has a verydiverse programme of events tosuit the needs of many groups ofpeople

There is a lot of local support forThe Courtyard, and lots ofcustomers will come and supportwhatever the organisation does

There is not an ‘artform’ audienceat The Courtyard and a largecrossover between film and liveevents

A strong database of intelligentdata in Box Office system Spektrixgoing back 18 months

Heavily reliant on a high proportionof sales through regular attenders

Ticket sales have leveled out andhave not been increasing year onyear – this has not been effectivelyforecast

Sometimes there is a strongimbalance when programming forthe needs of the customers vsprogramming to meet the needs ofspecific funders – these two needto work more effectively together

Niche programming demandshigher resource from the marketingteam

Stretched education team meansnot exploiting outreach activity tohighest effect

Currently a strong reliance onfunding

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opportunities Threats

This Audience Development plan has raisedsome new ways of thinking and working aprogramme to benefit ‘quick wins’providing what our customers want andwill come and support

More potential community and partnershipwork to bring risk and costs down

More funding opportunities available fromexternal funders, incl. BFI.

A dedicated Audience Development teamcan build relationships and bookings withinterest groups, businesses etc.

The Courtyard’s strong digital presenceallows for expansion of the organisation’sprofile and is a good starting point forfurther digital growth.

Good reputation/brand that can be used todevelop and promote education andoutreach work incl. Making of Me (nationalarts & older people project)

Good brand can be used to developtouring opportunities/new work

Future thinking and potential developmentof the building as a Cultural Hub forHerefordshire

Relaxed performances can be a window tonew hard-to-reach audiences

Government changes have impacted thearts nationally

Core funding cuts impending for 2015

Audiences generally have less disposableincome

There are some big competitors in theregion with provision for niche genres(classical music)

Public perceptions can mean people feelThe Courtyard ‘is not for them’.

Stretched resources due to high turnover ofevents/content can result in missingopportunities

Ageing Herefordshire population meansloyal audiences will start to grow smaller ifevent culture is not encouraged

Lack of commercial product means repeatprogramming

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4.3 communications & PRThe strategic aim of The Courtyard’s public communi-cations work is that it reaches a wide external audiencevia a range of channels using an identifiable style andrecognised branding.

The Courtyard has branding guidelines which aremonitored and maintained by the marketing team, andwhich have also been communicated widely to the staff.

Activities that are undertaken by the marketing teamare mainly community and customer led, which alsoaims to try and communicate to Herefordshire’s (andthe surrounding counties’) rural communities and hubsfor activities.

The Courtyard’s main printed communication is throughbrochures. These are split into four sections: Live Guide,Film Guide, Education and Participation Guide and theWhat’s On Guide. The Live Guide and the EducationGuide are distributed to 7,500 customers three times ayear. The Film Guide and What’s On Guide aredistributed to 4,100 customers six times a year. Thesepublications mainly communicate about shows, filmsand workshops. Alongside these publications themarketing team produces a newsletter which is a‘behind the scenes’ look at The Courtyard throughcustomers’ reviews, competitions or staff profiles.

Media coverage is key in shaping the reputation of TheCourtyard in the eyes of the public and its stakeholders.The venue takes an open, honest and, at the same time,forthright approach to dealings and relationships withthe media and manages all interactions to make thebest of all opportunities available.

The venue seeks to enhance its reputation by placingpositive stories, features and quotations with local,national and specialist media. The Courtyard has, ingeneral, enjoyed good press relations with excellent

coverage of major events and regular listings. TheCourtyard maintains an active press contacts list, whichincludes local newspapers (Hereford Times, MalvernGazette, Worcester News, Ledbury Reporter, TheForrester), national newspapers (Daily Mail, DailyTelegraph, The Guardian), national listings, specialistpress (The Stage, Arts Professional), local TV & radio,and magazine features.

Typically, around 400 and 500 press releases are issuedto the media, and coverage is monitored monthly andaverages around 60 printed articles a month (both artsand main news stories) and about 4000cm² columncentimetres a month.

Press launches and press nights take place for shows,mainly for Courtyard-produced productions.

Managing media relations is a key part of the communi-cations strategy. Media coverage has a major effect onthe venue’s reputation in the community. In many ways,its success is dependent on its performance and itsreputation. A good reputation helps The Courtyardachieve its goals more effectively (eg to attract externalfunding and building new audiences).

Our assumptions are that the keys to successful mediarelations are openness, a willingness to engage with themedia on their terms, timeliness, swift responses, clarity,using plain language and relationship-building with keyjournalists.

The Courtyard takes swift and direct steps to redressinaccurate or ill-informed coverage about its activities.

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4.4 Digital and online marketing

The Courtyard is very active at communicated withcustomers through online channels which include email,the website and social media.

Social media channels (Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest,Wordpress, YouTube & Flickr) are mainly updated by themarketing team as and when. Communication andcompetitions are part of a marketing plan. Twitter is alsoused by various members of the organisation, withpersonalised work twitter accounts set up so differentdepartments can communicate what is happening withintheir world/department.

The marketing team trains new staff on the DigitalMarketing Strategy, with training on how to use socialmedia, good case studies and bad (what to do or not to do).

The website use has been rising year on year withactivity and click rates. The ‘new look’ website waslaunched at a similar time to the new branding, so thereis a consistent feel to how The Courtyard communicates.

On average courtyard.org.uk gets about 1,000,000 pageviews to the website a year (which has risen by 300,000in the last two years), and 289,000 visits (which hasrisen by 70,000 visits in the last two years). Online saleshave improved for the customer with the introduction ofSpektrix ticketing system, with the average onlinebooking rate of 24% (online sales have risen by 11%within the last year).

Weekly emails are sent out in a targeted fashion,depending on the customers registered interest orbooking behaviour. The average open rate for the emailsis currently 26%.

4.5 Strategic objectivesThe Courtyard has seen a significant growth in ticketsales and within our outreach and education work. Itis important that we formulate a plan to retain andnurture existing customers, as well as attracting newones. Although The Courtyard has a very high profilewithin the county and is considered to be a majorcultural asset, it is important that we keep building onour profile locally, regionally and nationally.

The following key points will be at the heart of theMarketing and Audience Development Strategy:

1. Increase additional income through ticket sales

2. To balance an artistic and commercial programmeto generate money from ticket sales

3. To balance an artistic and commercial programmeto generate more engagement with existingcustomers, and new audiences

4. Increase communication with diverse and hard-to-reach audiences and the organisation’s depth ofknowledge

5. Increase the depth of experiences for audiences

6. Encourage customers already associated with TheCourtyard to come more often (converting firsttime bookers to regular attendees)

7. Work in partnership with other local providers of allart forms and museums

8. Finding patterns of attendance to intelligently planeducation, marketing and programming activity

9. Finding new events/activities to try and attract anew audience

10. Breaking down all The Courtyard offers andprioritise risk based on financial income andexpenditure, attendance figures and communityfocus

11. Regularly analysing audiences and benchmarkingthe analysis 

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marketing – objectives

GoAl 1 Leading by example and learningthrough others. The Courtyard aims tolead on and set up meetings with otherlocal (West Midlands and Wales) artsorganisations, community venues,museums and galleries to share ‘bestpractise’ and insights into who are weall engaging with.Some organisations to approachinclude: Theatre Severn in Shrewsbury,Malvern Theatres, Artrix in Bromsgrove,Conquest Theatre in Bromyard,Worcester Swan Theatre, Phoenix inRoss, Ludlow Assembly Rooms,Hereford Cathedral, Market Theatre inLedbury, Vamos Theatre Company,Hereford Library and Museum, CiderMuseum, Berrington Hall, Croft Castle.

measurable The group will consist of about 8 to 12organisations. Each venue will be askedto provide existing information abouttheir audiences in initial discussions,then each organisation will take a leadrole in their area. From this a missionwill be communicated, which could beto find out what our customers wantand any parallels through an arts venueand a museum.

Who

Achievable Each of the interested parties will beencouraged to try something newwithin their organisation to try andbenchmark against other parties. Allagreeing to survey with one consistentsurvey and then share the data at theend of the project.

outcomes

Curtis Fulcher / MarketingCustomer and Audience Feedbackwhich will determine future collabo-rative marketing.

oBJecTIVe: to collaborate with

community partners to buildThe courtyard and

Herefordshire’s reputation asa place for families by running

a family fun day duringoctober half-term 2015,

resulting in 5% increase offamily attendance.

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GoAl 2 Family Fun Day! Creation of an eventaround the audience, encouragingengagement with new audiences aswell as existing ones. Aiming to givemore people the opportunity toexperience and participate in free ofcharge entertainment. The specific audience targeted will befamilies.

measurable The Courtyard knows from initialfindings that there has been a lack ofengagement with families apart fromthe annual pantomime.

This event will involve other externalcommunity groups to both provideactivities but also to bring along withthem their contacts/customers. Theoverall event will be free with somepaid- for elements but data will becaptured from attendees to free andpaid workshops and events as well asvia more creative data capturetechniques.

Who

Achievable The Courtyard will ensure that activitiesand programming are inclusive andrelevant to audiences. Herefordshirefamilies already engaging with thevenue are loyal and happy to crossartforms and participate. However, thisproject would also help to engageharder-to-reach communities inHerefordshire and make the Courtyard‘a place for them’ as well as ensuringgrowth of family audiences across theboard, particularly in light of the newOdeon which has seemingly impactedfamily film attendance.

Marketing / Associate Director

When To fit in with the Family Arts Festivalthe event will aim to take place on aday in October Half Term 2015 and,subject to the success of the event,annually thereafter.

outcomes Customer and Audience Feedback anddata analysis to inform future projectsto increase family audiences

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5.1 Key Budget Assumptions

The key assumptions for the period 2015 – 2018 are thatThe Courtyard will continue to receive funding from itscore funders until 2016 and thereafter will continue tobe funded by Arts Council England and supportedthrough development by Herefordshire Council.

The funding for 2015-18 from the Arts Council has beenagreed at a rate of £212k per annum as a NationalPortfolio Organisation. This Business Plan assumes suchsuccess with funding and through alternativefundraising and commercial enterprises over theplanned period.

As a consequence of reduced funding, the organisationwill be required to increase its earned income in orderto maintain current levels of operation.

In order to maintain our current levels of operation, theorganisation will increase:

a) its earned income through increased commercialactivity and increase in profit margins from shows

b) from 2017, develop The Courtyard by creating acultural Hub for the County (see Risk Assessment)

c) income from its trading subsidiary will increasecommensurately with increased commercial activityand through an increase in ticket buyers

d) additional fundraising income, including corporate,individual and fundraising events, across the threeyears of the plan.

5.2 Risk Assessment The Courtyard’s operation is inherently risky. Eachseason, large sums of money are committed to risk asthe theatre invests in productions and develops artsprovision/audiences. The organisation is thereforecomfortable with, and has great experience of, cash-flow forecasting, the management of risk and theuncertainty of outcomes on a daily, weekly, quarterlyand annual basis.

The key is to ensure that such risk is well managed risk.It recognises that there are opportunities and benefitsto be had from risk but that this must be balancedwhere possible by a safety net.

The Courtyard’s Finance & Human ResourcesCommittee meets regularly to review the monthlyManagement Accounts and provide a financial healthcheck on behalf of the Board.

The Courtyard’s Risk Register is regularly updated andreviewed to ensure that risk is managed within theorganisation.

The Courtyard considers its request for additionalfunding to be realistic. However, it accepts theconstraints faced by the public sector both now and inthe future with an uncertainty of Herefordshire Councilfunding from April 2016. It is an organisation thatoperates very efficiently as demonstrated by industry-recognised benchmarks. Over the past seven years, TheCourtyard has demonstrated the financial managementcapability of its current team through its elimination ofthe accumulated deficit of £280,000 in 2005 to thecurrent position of surplus in the reserves.

However, The Courtyard recognises that future fundingis uncertain and is now seeking to develop TheCourtyard by extending its current operations and

5. Finance

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building an extension to the existing building to create a ‘Cultural Hub’ for Herefordshire. This, when built,would be home to other arts and cultural organisationswithin the region. Herefordshire Council is committed to working with The Courtyard by transferring the assetof the building (subject to Secretary of State approval)and ensuring that The Courtyard remainsHerefordshire’s Centre for the Arts for generations to come.

The currently anticipated reduction in support fromHerefordshire Council from 1st April 2016 may beameliorated by decisions made by the incomingmajority party following May 2015 elections. In the event that The Courtyard is unsuccessful in creating its Cultural Hub development and Herefordshire Council does not provide funding from April 2016 we remain confident that The Courtyard will still be financially resilient.

5.3 FundraisingFundraising is co-ordinated by the BusinessDevelopment Department and fundraising is, in essence, divided into two areas, one beingCorporate and the other Individual Giving and Trusts & Foundations. The Corporate side encompasses The Courtyard’s Business Club, advertising andsponsorship, with Individual Giving incorporating the Friends scheme, legacies, donations, charity partnerships and applications to trusts & foundations.

Much of the department’s success in the last few yearshas been due to the initiation and development of key,high-level relationships within the wider community (egbusinesses and other charities). These are crucial to theongoing success of the department and to the growthof revenues for The Courtyard in the future.

One of our key aims is to raise the profile of TheCourtyard as a charity in its own right, in order toengage with local communities and maximise givingopportunities at all levels.

courtyard New Development

The Courtyard Trust Board, in the event of the loss ofHerefordshire Council funding, is committed toreplacing the current revenue funding fromHerefordshire Council by undertaking a capitalprogramme to extend the building and to receiveincome from rents and ancillary activities.

The Trust will set up a new, wholly-owned subsidiary‘Courtyard Development Ltd’ which would beresponsible for raising the capital funds, managing theproject and the income from the development. Boardmembers of the subsidiary would be the existingmembers of the Development sub-committee in thefirst instance.

The Board will set up a Development FundraisingCommittee with the aim to raise the required sumsneeded for the capital programme.

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corporate

The current strategy is focussed on attending andhosting range of local and regional networking eventsfor and with the business community, enabling us topresent these key messages:

As a registered charity, we welcome opportunities towork with businesses to secure commercial support

We can offer a range of direct marketing and brandingfor businesses to reach their target markets via ouraudiences

We undertake a wide range of successful activitiesboth in the building but also in the wider community,eg education and outreach work

Given that Herefordshire is not a major business centre,we have spent the last 12 years cultivating anddeveloping our links with the business community at alllevels.

We currently have 29 Business Club members and aimto maintain and grow this over the next three years. Wewill continue to promote and develop our staff incentivescheme for staff of Business Club members which, inturn, encourages new audiences to develop.

Show sponsorship remains a key objective and we willencourage businesses to sponsor specific shows andevents and to sponsor activities based in their owncommunities, with the longer term view of engagingthem with the venue itself.

We will maximise all current advertising opportunitiesand explore a range of new advertising vehicles andcurrent sales remain good. We aim to positivelypromote the need for businesses to ‘try somethingdifferent’ with their limited marketing spend. TheBusiness Development Department continually explores

new income streams; a recent is the installation of aplasma screen (with advertising and show information)in the cafe bar, launched two years ago. New opportu-nities are being identified in other areas of the building.Product placement also continues to provide anadditional source of income, for example, cardealerships placing vehicles outside the building forpatrons to view.

It is vital for The Courtyard to maximise opportunities tocelebrate our success in the corporate sector, wheneverpossible, and at a regional and national level too; withnominations being made to schemes such as the Arts &Business West Midlands Cultural Champions and ThePrince of Wales Philanthropy Medal. Opportunities forus to provide these high-profile networking events forlocal businesses to meet Ministers and other significantfigures add to the value of the relationships that wedevelop with them, at the same time as demonstratingthe benefits the arts can bring to their business too.

Individual Giving

Individual giving continues to grow and it is anticipatedthat steady growth will continue in the foreseeablefuture. The current strategy is therefore to develop ourdonor giving at all levels. Over the next three years weaim to maximise a range of individual giving opportu-nities through the development of relationships with awider range of donors, and through the identificationand targeting of different market segments withappropriate asks. This will involve tapping into ourcurrent supporters as well as developing new philan-thropic supporters who have never donated before. Keyareas for development will include creating a detailedstrategy, developing our donor database, legacyprogramme and initiating a range of relevant campaignsthat will generate financial support for The Courtyard.

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The Friends of The Courtyardscheme, with an ongoingmembership of over 1,000, is a vitaltool in developing core supportersfor the venue, as well as bringing inregular membership revenues.Much work has been done toensure that members feel part ofThe Courtyard, with the result thatmany of them actively support theorganisation in many ways, whetherthrough volunteering their time orgiving donations. A steady growtharea is in our Patrons membershipscheme and this will be a majorfocus for the next three years,through personalised targeting andcreation of specific Patrons’ events.

In recent years, The Courtyard hasalso built up a programme ofpartnerships with a range of localcharities, resulting in a variety ofcommunity fundraising events. Oneof the objectives of these events isto help us raise our charity profilethrough PR opportunities, as well as tap into the resourcesand skills of other charitableorganisations.

A particularly good example of thisis an annual Christmas Appealrunning alongside our pantomime,which partners each year with aselected local charity. During theChristmas period, Courtyardpatrons are encouraged to donateat the end of performances or via

the Box Office to jointly supportour work and that of the nominatedcharity. This raises an average of£8,000 each year which is thensplit equally between the twocharities.

We also co-ordinate a number ofother events and performancesduring the year which also act asfundraisers. Some of these arefundraisers exclusively for TheCourtyard, such as ‘an audiencewith’ style evenings. Eveningperformances and privatereceptions with Honorary PatronsJo Brand and Sir Derek Jacobi havealso raised income for the organi-sation.

Targeted, finite campaigns relatingto specific needs within the venue,such as encouraging donations tosupport the refurbishment of theStudio, or to support ourcommunity work, will also beorchestrated regularly. These havebeen run on an ad hoc ‘needs-must’basis, as opportunities arise - suchas our 10th Anniversary in 2008 -with considerable success.

Trusts & Foundations

This is a growing area of workwithin the Business DevelopmentDepartment and one which isbecoming vitally important for usto develop. More time will be

dedicated to the submission ofsubstantial bids focusing on thedevelopment of our education andoutreach activities, whilst at thesame time continuing to developfunding streams to support bothproject and capital appeals forother areas of The Courtyard.

Summary

With the Government’s desire tosee a more philanthropic approachbeing taken by arts organisationsover the coming years TheCourtyard recognises howimportant fundraising of all typesand at all levels will be in helping toclose the funding gap left byreducing public subsidy.

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The courtyard is an iconic building inHereford and having a high profilemeans that we must ensure we set agood example to the community to inspire others to follow. We aim to provide 'green leadership' in the arts,seeking a model of operation that minimises our environmental impactwhilst maximising our cultural opportunities. Aside from any moralobligations, there is also a strong business case to reduce waste and energy use, especially with energy and waste costs increasing well aboveinflation and future levels of publicfunding uncertain.

our Impacts

The nature of our business means that our activitieshave a negative impact on the environment due to theresources we use and the waste we produce. We arecommitted to reducing this negative impact byreviewing and adjusting our approach to our activities.In particular we will focus on the following areas:

Our building: energy consumption, water use andwaste generation/disposal

Our activities: energy use, water use, waste generation,materials (stage sets, marketing print, office materials)

Procurement: choice of materials and products, energyefficiency of new electrical equipment, food and drinkprocurement and transport efficiency/wastage

Business travel: staff commute to work and impact ofstaff travel for work activities

Customer travel: impact of customer travel to ourevents and activities

our commitments

The Courtyard is committed to understanding andgathering information about its energy use and environ-mental impact. Using this information, we will put inplace initiatives to improve and communicate ourenvironmental performance, engaging withmanagement, staff and our stakeholders as part of thisprocess. The key areas that we aim to focus on toreduce our environmental impact will include:

Identifying actions to reduce building energyconsumption and water use, reduce waste generationand increase recycling

Identifying actions to minimise waste and maximiserecycling for our own productions and marketingactivities

When procuring equipment and supplies, to considerthe environmental effect of what we are sourcing andhow it is supplied. Also to consider the ongoingenvironmental impact during the life of the equipmentand the effect of disposal at the end of its life. Thisapproach is relevant to everything we procure, fromthe daily milk delivery or supply of stationery to asignificant capital purchase

Encouraging staff to use the most environmentallyefficient form of travel to work. When travelling forwork, to minimise this where possible and toencourage the most efficient form (for example,walking, use of public transport or car sharing)

To publicise and encourage our customers to useefficient transport methods to reduce or eliminatecarbon emissions

6. environmental Policy

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The main aim of our approach is toreduce our environmental impactby reducing waste, energy andwater use. However, we will alsoseek to explore options to helpoffset our environmental impactwhere this is feasible, such asthrough onsite solar powergeneration.

We are committed to embedding aculture of environmental awarenessamongst our staff and the peoplethat we work with. We will workwith our Board, seniormanagement team, staff, suppliersand stakeholders to communicateour environmental performanceand progress in reducing ourenvironmental impact.

7. long-Term Vision

The long-term vision for The courtyardis to have sufficient resources to maximise its artistic output, whilst ensuring that the whole community has access to a thriving programme,where all performances achieve maximum capacity.

From a financial perspective The Courtyard will have areserve equivalent to three months’ operating costs andan ongoing capital investment programme to renew andreplace ageing equipment.

The Courtyard is currently looking to extend anddevelop the building in order to realise the aspirationsof the Board, staff and the public as a cultural hub forHerefordshire recognised locally, regionally andnationally as a model of best practise in delivering artsin a rural community.

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36The courtyard centre for the Artsedgar Street HerefordHeReFoRDSHIRe HR4 9JR