Royal Lyceum Theatre Company
| Organisation |
Royal Lyceum Theatre Company |
| Project |
To provide one Sunday matinee performance per production within the subscription season and crèche facilities |
| Artform |
Drama |
| Location |
Edinburgh |
| Application type |
Full project |
| Date |
2000/03 |
| Status |
Completed |
| Grant |
£39,937 |
| Total project cost |
£65,207 |
The Lyceum is Edinburgh’s mid-scale producing theatre, producing a season of plays and a Christmas show each year as well as being leased as a major venue to the Edinburgh International Festival and the International Children’s Festival for several weeks of the year. They have an Education Department which runs an extensive programme of activities for schools and for young people throughout the year. They also run an events programme for adults and community groups.
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To provide one Sunday matinee performance per production within the subscription season, with competitive pricing to encourage a family audience and to market to communities beyond the theatre’s own general geographic and demographic targets. An integral part of the project is to provide a free crèche to allow young families to attend. |
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- To encourage a new audience of young families by providing a facility to look after their children
- To provide theatre on a day when many people have ample leisure time.
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The project took place over three consecutive years during each of the Lyceum’s subscription seasons. Five Sunday matinee performances were held in Year 1, increasing to six in Year 2 and seven in Year 3.
Initially, most of the marketing was targeted at families. In year 1, there was no allocation of marketing spend specifically on the Sunday performances outwith the usual leaflets and advertising. In year 2, as targets were not being met, a specific leaflet advertising the performances and crèche, together with advertising in family-friendly publications, was introduced. In years 2 and 3, Sunday performances were sold as a subscription series, a special student ticket was introduced and website publicity increased. Following feedback from staff and customers, the title of ‘crèche’ was changed to ‘playroom’.
- Audiences were below target by about 10% in years 1 and 2 but by year 3, the targets for both audience and crèche had increased and exceeded the original targets by nearly 20%.
- A large number of students attended the performances because of the introduction of the special student ticket price. In year 3 they formed the largest group who attended (29%). The next most popular group of attenders was season ticket holders (25%) followed by full price tickets (21%) which includes parents as well as general working people.
- The crèche was run to a high standard which resulted in many repeat bookings and, in the latter stages of the project, capacity attendance.
- Although, overall, the audience numbers and crèche attenders reached expectations, the exceptionally high costs of staffing the Sunday performances meant that income targets were not achieved. The deficit could only be met with subsidy.
- Now that the Lottery funding has ended, the Lyceum is unable to continue holding Sunday matinee performances with crèches. However, a grant was awarded to enable them to run a crèche for another year and this was provided at one Saturday matinee per month.
- This was very successful with the crèche and playroom being full to capacity but when that funding came to an end again the cost of providing a crèche was going to be prohibitive without funding or sponsorship. Charging for the use of the crèche would not have been a viable option as the charge per child would have been more than the cost of a ticket for the matinee.
- The Lyceum would consider the possibility of providing a crèche facility for a matinee performance with the backing of a sponsor.
- Overall, the Lyceum believes that the project did introduce new audiences to the Lyceum and that there is demand for a crèche facility to coincide with a performance.
Shirley Monteith
Royal Lyceum Theatre Company
30b Grindlay Street
Edinburgh EH3 9AX
Tel: 0131 248 4800
Fax: 0131 228 3955
E-mail: smonteith@lyceum.org.uk
Web: www.lyceum.org.uk |