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The Theatre Royal staff had to ‘break the bank’ to complete a huge refurbishment to their Newcastle home, with the help of the Gillian Dickinson Trust. As Richard Berg-Rust, Director of Development at the Theatre explained, staff at the theatre had to undertake a bank job like no other to make way for the new multi-million £ development.
He said: “We literally had to break into the bank next door to complete the new developments to the Theatre. That included taking out a four tonne door from the old building where trustee James Ramsbotham used to work funnily enough.”
The £7.2million development comprises a new cafe and ticket office/reception area, new rehearsal areas, and a new state of the art learning centre which is linked to the old theatre building by the Gillian Dickinson Way. And as Mr Berg-Rust explained, funding from the charity helped kick-start their fund raising efforts: “When we first started to apply for funding the Gillian Dickinson Trust were one of the first to offer us capital, which set the ball rolling and brought in other funding. They were there at the start and I will always remember that.” Mr Berg-Rust was also quick to praise the work of the Gillian Dickinson Trust over the past five years: “The Gillian Dickinson Trust is putting significant sums of money into the arts community in the North-East. The funding and the developments are helping us to bring new people into the Theatre.”
“The Gillian Dickinson Trust think creatively about where they distribute their funds, and it’s nice to have that local connection. We work closely with them. It’s a fitting tribute that the Gillian Dickinson Way links the old Theatre building to the new development. It was opened on Boxing Day with a big pantomime party which was good fun.”
“We have had 12,000 learning visits since the learning centre opened last August, including people from all over the world. A large proportion of the people who have been through have been young people who had never been to the Theatre before. That shows how important the funding we received was.”
The funding awarded to Live Theatre by the Gillian Dickinson Trust has been of huge benefit to a great number of young people in the North-East. A total of £90,000 has been donated to Live Theatre; £40,000 to help fund the First Draft project, and £50,000 to sponsor one of the theatre’s new writers’ rooms, now known as the Gillian Dickinson Writers’ Room.
First Draft is an innovative project which uses drama to encourage young people to write. It has been running for five years, and has introduced many children living in the most disadvantaged parts of Newcastle to playwriting and the theatre. The project is run by Paul James, Associate Director of Education and Outreach at the Theatre: “First Draft is amazing. It’s about getting young people into drama and giving them a creative voice. We go to schools and run a series of workshops over 8 weeks, teaching the young people the basics of playwriting. After that, six members of the class take part in a residency here at the Theatre. Each young person is attached to a playwright, who then helps them develop their plays. It’s a fantastic project which fits in with our mission here at the Theatre to find new talent, and that’s great.“
“Without funding from the Gillian Dickinson Trust it would not have been possible to continue running the First Draft project. Their funding, over the past three years, has enabled us to perform the plays in the Theatre over three days meaning more young people can come and watch the end product and hopefully be inspired by it.”
The Theatre also benefited from a £50,000 investment to help fund a new development at their Newcastle Quayside base. Gillian Firth, Development Manager at the Theatre praised the work of the Gillian Dickinson Trust.
She said: “We needed to raise £5.5million to complete the whole development. The majority of the funding was in place and the building work well underway when the trustees came on a site visit. It was fantastic when they made such a generous donation to name one of the Writers’ Rooms after Gillian Dickinson, and a huge step towards the final target. The room is used a lot, in fact the youth theatre are currently in the middle of their summer festival so some of them are in there at the moment.”
Over the course of the past five years, the Gillian Dickinson Trust has supported Samling (formerly known as The Samling Foundation), benefiting many thousands of young people across the North-East. Working to inspire musical excellence in young people, the projects have encompassed an Outreach programme in the Tyne Valley and two major opera education projects at The Sage Gateshead - Così Fan Tutte in 2005 and Don Giovanni in 2007.
“The Charity’s support has been absolutely pivotal to the success of these projects, ” said artistic director Karon Wright. “The money has had a direct impact on the lives of children and students in schools, bringing to many their first experience of classical music and opera in particular.”
With the first grant in 2004 Samling brought Southbank Sinfonia to the region to work alongside Samling Scholars -outstanding young international singers who are graduates of its highly prestigious Masterclass programmes. Children aged 8-18 were involved in workshops and presentations culminating in a professional concert, with hundreds of children and students taking part in the Hexham Abbey Festival.
“Through working with world-class, classically trained young singers and musicians, they have experienced at first hand the discipline and hard work behind the public performance and been exposed to the influence of some of the finest artists working in the world today - people like our Patron, Sir Thomas Allen, who directed both our opera projects and who took an active part in the education projects that ran at the heart of them,” Karon Wright said.
Eighty students from seven high schools across the region took part in the opera education projects, learning about the opera from the inside out. Long before the cast and production team assembled the students engaged with the story and music, took part in workshops and improvisations and then wrote their own version of the opera, which they performed to the cast, family and friends on the same stage with the same technical crew as the professional production.
“The outreach educational programme was central to the project. Seven high schools were involved and none of the students had seen an opera before. Thanks to the funding from the Gillian Dickinson Trust, we were able to show them that opera, and Mozart in particular, is pretty cool and very relevant to them and their lives today.”
This investment from the Gillian Dickinson Trust is already coming to fruition, after one of the youngsters introduced to opera by the Samling outreach programme won the TalentStar competition at Newcastle City Hall. Chris Mole 15, will now record an album thanks to his success. Chris is also due to perform in the youth opera at The Sage. Chris said: “It is my favourite sort of singing now. Before the project I hadn’t been exposed to the world of opera - I am so glad the project came along. It’s what I want to do now. I’m aiming to go to the Royal Scottish Academy when I have finished school.”
“Also crucially for Samling, thanks to the support of the Gillian Dickinson Trust, we were able to offer around 1500 free places to a performance of each of the operas, both of which were an outstanding success. The atmosphere was incredible and the response from the schools was overwhelming. They loved it”, Karon Wright said.
Now Samling are set to benefit from a further investment of £50,000 over the next two years, which will go towards Samling’s Outreach programme beginning in November with a project based around Belmont School Community Arts College - the first time Samling has worked in Durham.
It is often said that there is no better way to learn new skills than to perform them yourself, so funding from the Gillian Dickinson Trust proved hugely beneficial to 17 North-East youngsters who were able to attend a five day residential in Yorkshire earlier this year. The trustees have provided the cinema’s Northern Stars project with £33,000 in funding over the past three years, which includes a recent £10,000 investment for next year’s project. And as Holli McGuire, Head of Learning, Engagement and Development at the cinema said, the funding from the trustees was vital to the project going ahead: “We couldn’t have managed the Northern Stars project without the continuous support of the trust.
“This year they have directly supported our training programme, which ran from January to the end of August over weekends. We brought a different professional in every week to help teach the children in different areas. The funding from the Gillian Dickinson Trust is crucial to us. There wouldn’t have been a Northern Stars without the Gillian Dickinson Trust.”
“It’s lovely to see how the Charity has grown over the past five years. They’re becoming increasingly important to the engagement of young people in the arts in the North-East.”
The 17 youngsters were split into three groups, with each group producing a six minute film to a specific brief, and as McGuire added, the work produced was of a high standard. She said: “The three groups work was really, really good. They came up with good stories and we were very, very pleased with the end products. To see them develop their skills and then take them further is brilliant. At least three people have gone on from Northern Stars to work on professional sets.”
Tom Davidson, aged 17, has been working at the cinema as part of the Northern Stars project, and commented on how much he enjoyed the residential. He said: “The residential to Great Fryupdale was really good; it was a great way to spend the half term. It was good to get everyone together, and to live and breathe the job.”
Charlotte Reed, 18, also attended the residential: “It was a great trip, probably the best week of my life. We met an amazing actor named Ken, and it was good to get out on set and work with real actors.”
The films produced by the Northern Stars on the trip to Great Fryupdale were shown at the Gateshead Old Town Hall, and later at the cinema itself.
The Durham Assembly Halls have been facilitating performing arts and theatrical associations at Durham University since the early 1950s, when the Hall was converted from its former use as a drill hall. A donation of £75,000 from the Gillian Dickinson Trust has helped the University to undertake a thorough refurbishment of the Hall, including a full inspection and repair of the ceiling plaster mouldings, general decoration, new carpets throughout and a total of 223 refurbished seats. Sally Wrangham, Donor Relations Co-ordinator with the University said: “If we hadn’t received the money from the Gillian Dickinson Trust the theatre may have closed due to health and safety regulations, which would have been a shame. These kinds of buildings are often hard to get funding for, so big thanks must go to the trustees.” The Assembly Hall has been a part of the University since it was acquired in the 1930s. It was used as a drill hall until the early 1950s, when it was restored for use as a theatre and drama facility. Nicola Coatsworth, Facilities Manager at the University revealed the students were now planning further changes to the Hall. She said: “The students are now working towards renovations in the foyer area. It is quite dark and unwelcoming at the moment and they are working on changes that can be made. The room is always in use during the term time. Societies and clubs book the Theatre out to put on shows. There are 16 colleges within the university, 14 based within Durham, and I do not know of any that don’t have theatre societies.”
A £10,000 investment from the Gillian Dickinson Trust allowed children from three North Tyneside schools to attend Calvert Trust Kielder whilst picking up some important new skills at the same time. The investment allowed children from Balliol, Spring Gardens, and Appletree Gardens schools to visit Kielder for two nights, in order to pick up the necessary skills to complete the second part of the scheme, the quiet garden project. The children who took part went back to their schools and started to work on their own quiet garden area. The remaining £1,000 of funding from the Trust was used to allow for a professional gardener to visit each school to advise and help the children on their quiet area.
Catherine Little, fundraising manager at Calvert Trust Kielder said: “In November last year we were able to accommodate children from three schools thanks to a generous grant from the Gillian Dickinson Trust. Children from three North-East schools came to us and enjoyed the outdoors, while picking up the new skills necessary in order to complete phase two of the Be Spirited scheme, which involved the children going back to their schools and creating their own garden and quiet area. The children that took part in the project were from deprived backgrounds, some had never been further than Newcastle city centre, which was quite upsetting.” Children from Balliol Primary later held a garden party to celebrate the opening of their quiet area, which was attended by trustees Alexander Dickinson and James Ramsbotham. Mrs Little added: “Without the funding from the Gillian Dickinson Trust, the project wouldn’t have gone ahead. We have a limited amount of funding, so the funding definitely helped us a great deal.”
After the Gillian Dickinson Trust awarded Seven Stories with a £10,000 investment for their educational programme - Amazing Archives - we caught up with Catherine Wynne at the foundation, to see how the money has benefited young people in the North-East.
How much funding did the Charity provide you with?
We received £10,000 from the Gillian Dickinson Trust in the summer of 2008.
Where was the funding channelled?
Seven Stories proposed a project to push out the boundaries in relation to engaging children and young people with writing. We aimed to provide creative inspiration for writing and the use of words by giving young people the opportunity to work with the local writer, Tommy Donvaband.
How did the project work then?
In the spring of 2008 Tommy and the Seven Stories staff delivered a schools project called Amazing Archives. Pupils from two North-East schools - St. Matthew’s Primary in Jarrow, and Whickham School from Gateshead - wrote their own stories, keeping their plot notes, character biographies, maps, diagrams and early drafts in an archive file. The aim was to show that writing is much more than just the end product found in a library or a bookshop. The project explored the journey involved, and showed that the journey is often as fascinating as the completed story.
What was the end product of the project?
Both schools came together at Seven Stories in March 2008 to share their drama pieces based upon a selection of the stories the pupils had written. They also heard the first reading of Tommy’s own piece - Ghostwriters - inspired by his experiences at Seven Stories.
Have you seen the benefits of the money that has been spent?
The funding has been a real benefit to us on top of the aims of the project and how much the participants got out of it. The funding really enabled us to do something totally ground breaking in terms of author participation and direct handling of an archive. The feedback of the project was very positive. Tommy was a key player here, providing experiences that stimulated creative responses through drama and discussion. The pupils relished the opportunity to develop an extended piece of creative writing.
How vital to your organisation, and the schemes your organisation runs, was the funding given to you by the Charity?
The simple answer to this is ‘very’. We would never have been able to undertake this project. The resulting findings have given focus and direction to our future work and set a new standard in the industry.
Do you think the Charity is achieving its aims and aspirations to get people in the North East involved in the arts?
Without doubt! We hope to be able to continue working together in the future.