Richmond upon Thames Arts Council Annual Report 2006-7
Presidents 2007
Michael Frayn and Claire TomalinNew 'brand name'
emphasises openness
After a successful 'away day' in January 2007, which put forward many ideas for reaching out to the community, the Richmond upon Thames Arts Council, until then generally known as the not-easy-to-grasp 'RuTAC', decided to adopt a new working name, artsrichmond, which describes rather more accurately just what we do, and where – promoting all the arts throughout the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames.
artsrichmond (which retains the 'legal' name 'Richmond upon Thames Arts Council') is a voluntary charity, working in cooperation with the borough council, but not part of the council, and very much dependent on the support of its members - the affiliated societies and individual Friends Under the new working name, we have gone from strength to strength, with our monthly newsletter, telling about arts events in the borough in each month, reaching an increasing number of people, and with our ambition to have a bountiful supply available in information offices and branch libraries and many other places with public access.
Our events (carefully designed not to duplicate the activities of our member societies) are aimed to bring in more supporting members and draw attention to all the spectacular arts activity that goes on in the borough – almost certainly the richest in terms of quality, quantity and value of any similar community in the UK. In all this, it is marvellous to have so much support from the many eminent artists – writers, painters, musicians, performers – resident in the borough, who willingly give their time to supporting our activities and bringing us to public notice.
During the year, we have again enjoyed a successful choral workshop, an art exhibition at the Old Sorting Office Arts Centre on Barnes Green of leading painters in the borough, a book picnic on Richmond Green which attracted record numbers, a delightful evening at the Orange Tree Theatre with Alan Bennett and Michael Frayn, a garden party in Michael Frayn and Claire Tomalin's beautiful garden in Petersham, an ever-more-successful drama awards, culminating in the gala evening at the Hampton Hill Playhouse, a new competition for young writers, with the ultimate accolade of becoming youth laureate for the borough, the New Writing Competition, a book lunch with James Naughtie and Sir John Tusa, trying out a new format for a literary lunch with the Thai Square restaurant, now firmly part of the borough's Book Now! Literature festival.
With the borough's library service, we held an open forum on public libraries, working through the Friends of Richmond Libraries, which operates under our aegis.
ShowCoach, which organizes theatre visits, excursions and holidays with pick-up from points across the borough, has arranged an ever-growing programme, with the highlight the holiday to China, which attracted 17 participants.
This Annual Report includes brief reports on events and activities during the calendar year 2007.
But it is the promotion of the activities of our 90 or so member societies that is our highest priority. These societies include every form of arts activity, including professional theatre and highly professional amateur drama and dance societies, concert societies, art, photography, literature and film societies, and many more which defy classification. With our monthly mailing and newsletter, we provide an economic means of reaching audiences, and we encourage the local media to give the attention to all these events.
A highlight of the 2006 AGM was the new idea of making the principal role of the meeting a consultation with our members on their problems and what we could do to give them support. The emphasis that year was on how to get the support of local media. The meeting produced an abundance of ideas, and demonstrated how effective an umbrella body such as artsrichmond can be. If you're not a member and supporter, please join us now!
Artsrichmond (the Richmond upon Thames Arts Council) is a voluntary organization and registered charity which assists arts organizations make the most of the extraordinary cultural assets in the borough. artsrichmond is partly financed by small grants from the borough council and the bigger local charitable trusts, but at least half our income comes from the societies affiliated to us and from our Friends of the Arts and Libraries. These are people who care about the arts in the borough and support our work, contributing because they believe it is important rather than for any membership benefits they might expect to get. We are always on the lookout for new Friends and volunteers to support us and help with our own events, all of which are designed to support other cultural activities in the borough.
In brief, our objectives can be stated as:
Promotion of arts activity in the borough, most especially but not exclusively of the activities of our 85 or so affiliated societies
Stimulus to participation, in particular through competitions and exhibitions encouraging individual activity
Encouragement of accessibility to events by all parts of our society
Encouragement of diversity of participation by performers and audiences
During the past year, we have engaged in the following activities in pursuit of these objectives:
Publicity and publications RuTAC publishes 11 monthly four-page newsletters each year, promoting local cultural events, distributed to all our Friends and societies and to many other organizations. Societies wanting electronic copies for distribution to their own members by e-mail are invited to inform the office.
We publish a regularly updated artsrichmond Directory of the Arts, listing the societies active in the arts, with contact details.
We liaise with local newspapers and the borough council’s What’s On to optimize publicity and promotion, and produce a monthly article on arts events for the Richmond Magazine.
Showcoach we manage an extensive programme of theatre visits, excursions and holidays enjoying group discounted rates and the facility of transport from different points in the borough. This resource is mainly enjoyed by older people, but all are welcome to participate in a highly enjoyable cultural programme.
Music The Choral Workshop each year provides an opportunity for members of music societies to work under an expert choirmaster.
Drama artsrichmond's Swan Drama Awards, sponsored by the Richmond and Twickenham Times, Squire's Garden Centre, St George plc, and Hampton Hill Playhouse (with generous donations from Sara Burn Edwards and Kay Williams) attracted 49 entries by local amateur dramatic societies, judged by a panel of artsrichmond judges over the year, and culminating in the Nominations Party at York House, when certificates are presented to short-listed productions and participants, and the Awards Gala at Hampton Hill Playhouse, this year introduced by David Blackburn with the awards presented by the Presidents and the Mayor. We are enormously grateful to our patron, Alan Price, for entertaining us all so splendidly at this event.
We have also been able to play an active part in the organization of the borough council’s Dramatic Edge competition, to encourage school drama.
Writing The two artsrichmond competitions over the summer to encourage young writers, the Young Poets and Young Short Story Writers, have been expanded into the new Young Writers Festival, for which Dramatic Edge arranged three workshops at the Orange Tree Theatre to encourage entrants. We are grateful to the panel judges, and to the judges for the laureate awards, four authors who live in the borough, Lee Langley, Anne Sebba, Eleanor Updale and Ian Beck, and to Ryan Sampson and Jenny Lockyer, who host the awards event at the Orange Tree Theatre so entertainingly.
Once again, our Vice President, Edie Purdue, organized the New Play Writing Competition at the Orange Tree Theatre, in memory of her husband, Roy Purdue. Five playwrights submitted six short plays produced by local drama societies. The event was generously sponsored by Joan Russell Williams.
We warmly thank all those who have given so generously of their time, experience and skill in organizing our events during the year. A special Thank You must be given to our Presidents for 2007, Michael Frayn and Claire Tomalin, who made an exceptional contribution to our activities.
Literature and reading Typically, we arrange two or three book lunches, picnics and other occasions a year. This year the Book Picnic on the Richmond May Fair weekend attracted a record audience for James Naughtie in conversation with Alexander McCall Smith, a triumph which was repeated when our President, Michael Frayn, persuaded Alan Bennett to take part in a delightful conversation with him in the Orange Tree Theatre. We also arranged a book lunch with TV and radio interviewer James Naughtie in conversation with Sir John Tusa.
Art and photography We arrange biennial photography and painting exhibitions. This year the art exhibition, which is a great memorial to our late executive secretary, Annie Stevens, attracted a large number of excellent entries at the Old Sorting Office Arts Centre in Barnes, and we are most grateful to local art critic Carol Cordrey for her expert comments on some of the most interesting entries. We also continued to run the art tent at the Richmond May Fair.
Constitution We began the process of updating our constitution in 2005, and are glad to be able to report that this reached its conclusion in 2007.
Grants We gratefully acknowledge grants from the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, via Grants Direct, Richmond Parish Lands Charity, Hampton Fuel Allotment Trust, and Ham Amenities Group.
Officers and Executive 2007
Chairman Clive Bradley CBE
Deputy chairman Pam Frazer
Treasurer Roger Kirkpatrick
Executive Officer Josie Shantonas
Elected : Sue Bell - David Blomfield - Patricia Caunter – Robert Charnock - Hilary Dodman - Barnaby Marder - Heather Morgan - Frances Neale - Greg Nicoll – Nuala Rowland - Gillian Thorpe - Gillian Wade – David Ward – Bernard Wigginton
Co-opted members Francis Bennett (Chairman –of the Friends of Richmond Libraries) - Cllr Pat Parsons
Nominated by London Borough of Richmond upon Thames: Cllr Geoffrey Acton – Cllr Jonathan Cardy – Cllr Marc Cranfield-Adams (until September, since becoming Mayor) – Cllr Bob King (from September)
Principal Objectives
The Objectives of the Council are to advance education by fostering and promoting the maintenance, improvement and development of artistic taste and the knowledge, understanding and appreciation of the arts, and the promotion, support, assistance and improvement of libraries, through the activities of Friends and user groups, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames.
Holding Trustees
[Holders of the Council’s assets on behalf of the membership]
John Coombs - Sara Burn Edwards - Sandra Green - Howard Greenwood - Edie
Purdue
Patrons of artsrichmond
The Mayor of Richmond upon Thames - Marcia Ashton - Lord
Attenborough - Lady Attenborough Sir David Attenborough OM - Lt Col Duncan Beat
- Isla Blair - Sara Burn Edwards - Dr Vincent Cable MP - Helena Caletta -
Stephen Dodgson - Clive Francis - Michael Frayn - Bamber Gascoigne - Julian
Glover - Howard Greenwood - Harry Hall - Jerry Hall - Sir Jeremy Hanley - Toby
Jessel - Susan Kramer MP - Lee Langley - Rosemary Leach - Bernard Marder QC -
Sir Trevor McDonald - James Naughtie - Lady Panufnik - Cllr Pat Parsons -
Maurice Press - Alan Price - Phyllis Sellick OBE Colin Squire - Frank Thornton -
Claire Tomalin - Sam Walters MBE
Convenor of patrons: Sara Burn Edwards
We are sad to report the death in 2007 of our distinguished patron, Phyllis Sellick OBE, the international duo-pianist with her late husband, Cyril Smith, at the age of 95.