Dear Friends,
Back in March, if we can bear to take ourselves back to the programme launch and AGM, things looked bad. Along with many other organisations, we had lost our Arts Council funding, one of the key things that underpins our Festival budget. In addition, the messages we were receiving from Lichfield District Council led us to believe that our annual grant of £15,000 a year would also be cut, probably considerably. They were unable to help with additional short-term loans, delay payment for the hire of the Garrick or split this fee into installments, as the cathedral did. This meant that payment for the Garrick (over £13,000 in total), had to be paid in full before we received any money at all from ticket sales. This was a further blow to our cash flow and, as you know, we were in a serious situation.
One option was to cancel the 30th Festival completely, a decision that would have had disastrous consequences for the future. Thankfully the Board took the courageous step to go ahead and celebrate our 30th birthday in the very best way that we could….and what a celebration it was.
As a result we now find ourselves in a very different situation, and much of the credit for this astonishing change of fortunes is down to all of you. We asked you to buy more tickets, and we lowered prices and put deals in place to enable you to do this; we asked you to encourage your friends to come along and increase our audience numbers; we asked you to spread the word and bring in new people who had never visited the festival before.
Your response to these requests has been overwhelming and can clearly be seen in figures that are truly amazing in the middle of a recession, when arts organisations everywhere are struggling.
Tickets sales were up from 9,680 in 2010 to 13,800 in 2011 – that’s a 38% increase. The number of people booking tickets also rose by 25% on 2010 and ticket income by 12%, exceeding our ticket income target by an impressive £20,000. The majority of events were full or close to capacity and if Trevor and his friends are anything to go by, people will be talking about this festival for many years to come.
It is not, however, just about money. The many cards and e-mails we received offering advice and offers of help were just as important in getting us through the dark times. And the cakes….what can I say about the cakes except that I’m looking at my dress for the literary dinner and wondering if an additional panel down the side might be a good idea after all.
There is no bad news at all and however you helped, and in whatever way, we can never thank you enough.
This year we continued to develop our programme in a way that will enable us to remain loyal to our wonderful core supporters and also to reach out to new audiences, something that we have to do. Highlights for me included Zic Zazou, the Boy with Tape On His Face, our first Lichfield Lecture, the astonishing talent in our Young Artist Series, James Rhodes, Michael Morpurgo, Ballet Black, Maggi Hambling, wonderful opening and closing concerts (not to mention the rousing performance by the Festival Chorus) and an utterly beautiful concert by our own Cathedral Chamber Choir. The two BBC broadcasts (resulting in 6 programmes in total) also did more than anything to raise our profile nationally and internationally, and generated wonderful publicity for the city itself.
In addition to this we must not forget the vital work of our Learning and Participation team, much of which quietly happens out in schools and community centres. The most obvious things were the stunning Lichfield Banner and, of course……..The Pigs! Will we ever find anything to match the interest in Trevor and his friends? They continue to visit each other, write letters to the Mercury and Trevor himself is in great demand for social engagements. If I tell you that at the end of a radio interview I was asked “So Fiona, when does the Lichfield Pig Festival begin?”, you may appreciate the mountain we now have to climb in our programme for 2012.
Having said all of this, the real highlight of 2011 for me was the wonderful atmosphere throughout the city and a sense that we were celebrating a Festival that is clearly dear to so many people. That’s the bit I will remember.
Fiona
