DNM Consultancy Limited is temporarily hosting this page whilst the Albany Theatre Trust builds its own website.
Latest news
The new Board of Trustees will meet informally this Sunday (March 25th), followed by meetings between the Associates and Advisors who have come together to form Task Groups to move the project forward. The Task Group meetings are at 3 pm in the Premier Inn at Earlsdon Park (in the same building as the theatre). See below for how you can get involved – you will be very welcome.
Background
The Albany Theatre Trust is now in existence as a legal organisation, with four founding Directors or Trustees: Sarah Boden, Jonathan Howes, David Meredith and Mike O’Sullivan. The Trust held its inaugural meeting on February 7th, and is bringing together additional Trustees, Advisers and Associates to start the task of getting the theatre reopened and operating as a going concern with a sustainable future.
In the months leading up to incorporation, a Shadow Trust operated. One of the things it did was enlist the help of The Theatres Trust to scope the work that needs to be done. Senior representatives of the Theatres Trust visited the Albany Theatre in early January: here are some photographs from their visit.
The College Theatre closed its doors behind the last audience member on Saturday 3rd January 2009 having opened within the Technical College (as it then was) in 1935. Alternatively known as the Butts Theatre in the by-then named City College it was acquired by developers MCD (Coventry) Ltd (Midland City Developers) when the College moved to the City Centre Swanswell site.
The user community fought a hard campaign to ensure the building remained available for community use as a theatre. As a result of the campaign, Coventry City Council incorporated a S106 agreement in the terms of the sale, which requires the new owners and developers of the site to retain the theatre. It also provides for the creation of a Theatre Trust to administer, develop, protect and manage the Theatre as a community theatre. This is to be known as The Albany Theatre Trust.
Have your say
The Trustees of the Albany Theatre Trust held their first Open Forum on Sunday 22nd January at the Ramada Hotel (http://www.ramadacoventry.co.uk). Following a brief presentation on the Trust’s vision for the future of the theatre, and an opportunity for everyone to feed in thoughts and opinions, the event concluded with a trip over the road to see the new-look foyer for the building. The feedback was positive and encouraging.
This was just the first such event: the room had limited capacity and demand was so high that the Trustees decided not to promote the event more widely on this occasion. As it happened, over 70 people attended so there will be more Open Forums to come – watch this space for more details.
Get involved
If the Albany Theatre Trust (ATT) is to survive and thrive, we need many committed people to help develop, deliver and sustain our vision, and to help organise, run and do all of the jobs that need doing to make the theatre a success.
Our vision, as it is developed thus far, is that ATT will be much more than a theatre building. We want to stimulate and sponsor the Performing Arts, support and encourage as wide a range as possible of performers – professional, amateur, youth (including education based) from all cultural, economic and social backgrounds. We can’t begin to do that without the help of an army of supporters.
The biggest challenge we face – and will always face – is financial. If we don’t generate enough income through sponsorship, grants, fund-raising, through the box office and from donations to meet the costs of operating the theatre, we will not survive. So we need help there.
We need to operate the building, and that needs a lot of people too: think of all the jobs that need to be done in a working theatre and you get the idea. Then there are things like marketing and promotions, finding the best ways to spread the word and build a loyal, supportive and passionate audience.
We like to think of the Albany as the theatre for the community we create. If you would like to be part of that community, please let us know what skills, experience and interests you have by downloading and returning the form below so we can add you to our register of Associates and use your skills and abilities to the full. Don’t worry if you think you haven’t got all the skills and experience you might need: our intention is to support our Associates with training wherever possible.
Associates with particular skills and expertise may be invited to become Advisors to ATT. An Advisor will be asked to take some particular responsibility for an aspect of the work that needs to be done. Associates and Advisors will always be volunteers, but the job they do will always be as valuable as if they were being paid, so we want to offer proper ‘job descriptions’ for every role that is undertaken. That way, you will know exactly what is expected of you, and if you want, you will have something tangible to put onto your CV!
To help you – and us – we’d like you to look at the list of skills, experiences and expertise set on the downloadable form and tell us what you can offer. We also want you to tell us how you would most like to get involved. Don’t be shy!
Please download and complete this form, and then return it by email to att@dnmconsultancy.co.uk.
If you would like to be kept informed about developments, then let us have your contact details – name, address, phone number(s) and email address. We will enter those details into our contact database for the purposes of communicating information about The Albany Theatre Trust. Email your details to att@dnmconsultancy.co.uk.