The De La Warr Pavilion reviews 2014/15 for Rother District Council
Stewart Drew , Director and CEO of the De La Warr Pavilion presented his annual report for April 2014/April 2015 to a full council meeting of Rother District Council on Monday evening.
The presentation outlined the programme of activity throughout the year in the galleries, the auditorium and emphasised a key partnership with the Hastings and Rother Arts Education Network (HRAEN). Out of 17 exhibitions in 12 months the highlights included Ladybird By Design – a record-breaking exhibition in terms of attendance with over 54,000 visitors, pages of press coverage and a transfer to the House of Illustration in London. Ivan Chermayeff’s Cut and Paste exhibition revived our association with Ivan, son of one of the Pavilion’s original architects Serge Chermayeff and leading graphic designer responsible for the Mobil/Pan Am/National Geographic and NBC logos amongst many others. Ivan has since designed our 80th anniversary logo and become an Honorary Patron of the Pavilion.
The De La Warr Pavilion has attracted headline music and comedy acts with 48,000 ticket buyers in 12 months over 120 evenings. The diversity of the programme is key to our business and events range from independent films to sold out gigs such as Elvis Costello and Suede who appear in Bexhill before they performed at the Glastonbury Festival. We have produced 98 of our own productions and hosted 22 community shows.
An investment from Arts Council England of £412k levered a total of £500k investment in the auditorium – the first investment in the auditorium for over 20 years.
We have delivered over 30 community events including four exhibitions in the studio, sold 4000 tickets to family shows and 5000 to our community events and school productions. The learning and participation programme has seen over 5500 participants in workshops, courses and classes.
The Pavilion has supported the attainment of 28 Arts Awards for young people, 20 through the Hastings & Rother Arts Education Network. We are a leading partner in this important new network, working with most schools in Bexhill, Hastings and Rural Rother.
Approximately 50% of our daytime visitors live within 30 mins drive time of the Pavilion and approximately 80% of our evening audiences come from Bexhill, Rother, Hastings and Eastbourne.
97% of our staff live locally and we work with over 30 volunteers and work experience students.
A door count of 390k visitors illustrates the extent of our contribution to the economy of Bexhill and Rother through secondary spend on food, drink and accommodation. We continue to work closely with local partners such as the Town Team, the South England Local Enterprise Partnership, Rother’s regeneration team and 1066 Country to name a few to remain a key play in the future of Bexhill and Rother.
Posted by Ryan Coleman on Thursday 2 July 2015