Fundraising

Sheffield Theatres Trust 711

Exhibit 4

Fundraising

As a charity, Sheffield Theatres has been active in various forms of fundraising over the years. A Programme Development Fund generated around £100,000 over four years in the mid-1990s, from individuals supporting the development of new Crucible productions. A number of charitable trusts make occasional grants to the theatres, but such grants are usually only for one-off projects. Certain capital projects have also been supported by fundraising, for example £400,000 was raised in 1994 for the enlargement of the Studio Theatre from 250 to 400 seats and improved auditorium access for disabled people. But the need for major upgrading of the Crucible building means that a new fundraising project in the region of £15m will soon be launched.

Snooker

The most long-standing source of external income has been from hosting the World Snooker Championships, and to many people in the UK the Crucible became synonymous with the World Snooker Championships which have been held there over three weeks every April/May from 1977. Although the snooker brought in substantial revenue including extra catering profits as well as the basic hire charge, this decision was not without its critics. One of the board members commented in 1996: ‘I don’t like snooker. I really object to my theatres being used as a snooker hall and it breaks up the theatre season. But it does mean that five or six times a day the Crucible Sheffield is men- tioned on prime time TV. And we do need the money!’ Although the net revenue from hosting the snooker has fallen over the years, the overall view of the board has been that the monies received remain important to Sheffield Theatres. It is uncertain whether the Crucible and Studio Theatres will continue to host the World Snooker Championships on a yearly basis as at present, but the Crucible is being used to near capacity for other sports events such as the Squash Championships.

Grant funding

Since the beginning of subsidised theatre in Sheffield in 1960 – 61, income had shifted from purely com- mercial sources towards a heavy dependence on

Employees at Sheffield Theatres, 2002

Technical (stage crew etc.) Sales/front of house Maintenance/security Administration

Freelance cast/production

Total

Offstage Ltd

Total

No. employed

41 69 23 13

(av.) 17 163

56 219