Stewart drew everyoneanartist_301015

www.dlwp.com

Stewart Drew, Director & CEO Twitter @fob51

www.dlwp.com

CULTUREDe La Warr Pavilion, the largest creative ‘arts’ centre east of Brighton.

Over 500m2 of Gallery Space – facing the sea.1500 Capacity live venue featuring national & international acts.Dedicated education studio.Lunch, Shopping, Weddings and Tea & Cake.

Fully accessible and mostly free.

Earl De La Warr, May 1935

“A modernist building of world renown that will become a crucible for creating a new model of cultural provision in an English seaside town which is going to lead to the growth, prosperity and the greater culture of our town”

The People’s Palace

Chronology

• 1970s - Bexhill declines as a resort• The building begins to fall into disrepair• 1986 – Building listed - Grade One• 1998 - Weatherspoon’s proposal / threat• 2003 - Charitable Trust established• 2000 to 2004 – Refurbishment• 2005 - DLWP reopens as centre for

contemporary arts

Chronology

2015 –

10 Years since refurbishment80th anniversary

www.dlwp.com

CULTURE390,000 visitors50,000 tickets sold per annum

130 Evening Performances

6000 Participants in L&P programmes

We are the original South Bank!

4 Years ago…

• Previously known as the People’s Palace, we were seen as “elite” – with our back to the town, sitting on our “lofty perch”.

• We were wary of our local audiences and defensive in our communications.

• Struggling catering and retail business.

• Irregular live programme attracted limited audiences. We were seen as “never open”.

• No audience engagement outside the Learning and Participation Programme which concentrated on young people, alienating the older demographic, which make up the majority of the population of the town.

We didn’t understand….

• Mis-match between DLWP aspirations and those of local people

• People had built their own connections and created their own, sometimes collective, memories of the Pavilion

• People’s relationships with DLWP were complex, multi-faceted , intergenerational, personal, historical

• £9 million, new management and contemporary art was seen as a threat to those memories and relationships

…I’ve got a great idea

Social Capital Study

• How could we take the best of 2012 and use it to help us build a new, sustainable and resilient future?

• Enter East Sussex County Council, who commissioned three studies to inform a new Cultural Strategy. We were invited to be the subject of a Social Capital Study –perfect timing for us as an organisation who were primed to take a fresh approach to understand and grow our audiences.

East Sussex Cultural Research Project

De La Warr PavilionAnalysis of Generation of Social Capital

Reportby Nick Ewbank, Stephanie Mills and Fred Gray

Cultural Change

• Cultural Change is a slow process – this was just the start…

• The Social Capital report identified the work we need to do to keep people connected with the fabric of the building.

• Most importantly, the report gave us the confidence to put relationships with our audiences back into our business plan.

Of Monsters & Men

www.dlwp.com

SOCIETYHealth & Wellbeing

Five Ways to Wellbeing:

Connect - with people around you Be active – walk, run, cycle, dance Take notice – catch sight of the beautiful, savour the moment Keep learning – makes you more confident as well as being fun Give – do something nice for a friend or a stranger.

Centralised

Distributed

“Whether they like it or not, cultural organisations are social objects – they're places where we make social capital.”

Dan Thompson, Revolutionary Arts (2014)

We learnt:

By strengthening how people connect with us we can:

• Increase our business• Build relationships with our audiences• Enrich our programme without compromise• Increase opportunities for DLWP and audiences• Become more resilient and sustainable• Become more relevant to people’s lives

www.dlwp.com

CULTUREVariety of access points for audiences, from family theatre to experiemental art.

We are in the business of providing experiences for people…

Inspiring peopleCreating OpportunitiesProviding social space

Stewart Drew, Director & CEODe La Warr Pavilion

www.dlwp.com/about-us/Twitter @dlwp @fob51