The below correspondence is posted here by kind permission from the Society of London Theatre
The Society of London Theatre (SOLT) is an organisation that works with and on behalf of their Members to champion theatre and the performing arts.
Kids Week
Last week, Kids Week was featured in the Government’s Help For Households campaign, highlighting deals supporting families over the summer holidays.
SOLT President Eleanor Lloyd said; “Theatre and the arts has an immeasurable impact on people’s wellbeing and is often vital during difficult times. The theatre industry is proud to play our part in ensuring the widest possible access to world-class culture, especially during this cost of living crisis. We are delighted that Kids Week, a much-loved and longstanding audience development initiative in the West End, will now be brought to even more families this summer through Help for Households – and we look forward to working with the campaign on further initiatives giving everyone a chance to experience the magic of live theatre for less.”
Kids Week has also been featured in TfL’s Summer In The City campaign which launched this week, marked by a photoshoot in a London Underground stationfeaturing some of the West End’s most iconic characters.
Official London Theatre Venue Pages
We’re refreshing our venue pages! Please send a recent landscape photo of your venue to Kitty so that we can update our venue pages and show off the beauty of your theatres!
Posters for Schools
We are building a collection of theatre posters to share with schools for classroom displays and projects. If you have any spare theatre posters from past or present productions, please get in touch with Megan.
UK Theatre’s Upcoming Conferences
There are three brand-new conferences to look forward to in our Autumn / Winter programme.
October sees our first full-day LEARNING & PARTICIPATION CONFERENCE on 5 October. In this webinar participants will hear from Learning, Engagement, Participation & Outreach experts in theatres across the UK. They will give insights on how to make the most of your audiences, young people, and local communities by developing and implementing engagement and learning schemes that will help you reach new audiences and really get them involved with your work.
In November’s webinar, BUSINESS RESILIENCE CONFERENCE on 10 November, executive, senior, finance and business leads have a dedicated space to examine their business models, funding approaches, and finance practice to strengthen their organisation’s resilience. It’s also an opportunity to network, learn and be inspired by speakers working in and outside the theatre industry, and with colleagues from across the UK.
The REVENUE GENERATION SUMMIT takes place on 30 November. This new webinar builds on the success of our previous Box Office Conference and widens its brief to look at all areas of the theatre business in response to the challenges of the last couple of years. Income generation and financial resilience is top of the agenda more than ever and every department in every theatre organisation is being tasked with finding innovative solutions to maximise revenue. Our speakers will share their insights on what works and what doesn’t to inspire and provoke rigorous discussions on entrepreneurial approaches to revitalising.
Find more information and book here.
Inspiring Future Theatre – Thank you!
Thank you to all our members who joined in by sharing content for #InspiringFutureTheatre on Thursday 14 July.
150 primary school students got the chance to go find out all about jobs and making theatre at Nottingham Playhouse. The students watched an extract from a production of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, enjoyed a Q&A with cast members and workshops finding out about backstage departments integral to the show, including stage management, participation and scenic painting. The day also included theatre games and a careers talk from the Nottingham Playhouse production manager and Chief Executive.
If you haven’t done so already, please do sign up to be a theatre ambassador, donating one hour of your time to a local school to tell them about your role and encourage the next generation.
We aim to showcase all roles in theatre, particularly those off stage, so please share with all your staff. We anticipate will enjoy the experience as much as the students do!
Job Opportunity – Training & Events Manager
The Training and Events Manager will be responsible for the organisation and delivery of a programme of conferences, training courses and events both online and in-person.
Managing a variety of online platforms used to promote and run our training and events programmes, the successful candidate will oversee all aspects of events from planning and delivery through to evaluation.
They will develop training courses that meet the needs of our members and enable individuals to learn valuable new skills.
Deadline for aplications: 15 August 2022 at 12pm.
Please share with anyone who might be interested.