Review of Achievements & Public Benefit for 2023
The trustees have referred to the Charity Commission's general guidance on public benefit when reviewing the aims and objectives and in planning future activities.
212,431 people visited the Minack in 2023 (including show audiences), 2.6% more than budgeted and 1.8% lower than the 216,23S who visited in 2022. The shows performed to 61% capacity (against 70% capacity in 2022). This drop was due to more performances scheduled in the shoulder months which were planned at a lower capacity. 4,394 tickets (2022: 2,669) had to be refunded for nineteen (2022 nine) cancelled performances as the weather significantly disrupted the experience for audiences.
The trustees are committed to taking their responsibility to visitors, the local community and other stakeholders seriously.
The achievements and public benefits that the Minack provided in 2023 against the aims of the charity include;
1. Programme a wide range of theatre and other events to engage a diverse audience and enable active community participation while maintaining standards of excellence.
a. During 2023 we programmed 272 performances including 39 storytelling shows for children and families. Of our main programme, 88 performances included community or nonprofessional players, 66 involved children, young people or students and over 120 gave employment to Cornwall-based professional companies or performers.
b. We staged 7 Minack productions and co-productions;
- John Nicholson's inspired adaptation, The Massive Tragedy of Madame Bovary opened the season as a co-production with Cornwall-based Ha Hum Ah Theatre.
- We produced the world premiere of Giants, a children's musical written by John Brolly and Ben Sutcliffe re-telling the legend of the giant of St Michael's Mount.
- We were privileged to bring Zinnie Harris' beautifully drawn re-telling of the story of Tristan da Cunha to the stage in April, Further Than The Furthest Thing. Sita Calvert Ennals made her Minack directing debut with one of the dramatic highlights of the season.
- Following its debut in 2022, the fiery fiesta of Calvino Nights returned as we worked once again in cahoots with Mike Shepherd with a developed script and two Cornwall-based actors, Mary Woodvine and Chloe Endean joining the company.
- As a Minack first, we worked in co-production with choreographer Grace Murdoch from Cheap Date and Patrick Bailey from Kevos to stage new contemporary dance performances of two iconic pieces of contemporary music, Murder Ballades by Bryce Dessner and Glassworks by Philip Glass.
- Five members of the Minack Acting Academy worked through almost all their school holidays rehearsing as part of a professional company and performing David Wood's adaptation of Philippa Pearce's book, Tom's Midnight Garden,
- We worked with Simon Harvey to bring the heart-warming Kneehigh and o-region production of EUP back to Cornish audiences as a co-production with o-region in the autumn.
c. We welcomed back 10 of our regular visiting companies along with Shake It Up Theatre for the first time. The overall quality of productions across the season was strong and after some debate, we awarded the Minack Trophy for the best visiting production to the British Theatre Academy for their production of Everyone's Talking About ramie Teen Edition,
d. We extended the diversity of the one-night music programme, with over 15,000 people watching a range of events from brass band to world music. We introduced a new partnership with The Cornish Bank to bring different musical genres to the Minack stage across four events in 2023,
e. Our audience in 2023 came from all parts of the UK, though the largest proportion were from the south-west and London. There were a small number of overseas visitors.
f. 93,789 people attended a performance at the Minack during 2023 (2022: 98,088). 12% of our audience for performances were aged under 16 (rising to 38% for storytelling shows) and we issued 644 free tickets to carers accompanying people with access needs.
g. While ticket prices varied by event, £10 tickets were available for all performances.
2. Provide a wide range of creative opportunities to inspire people, particularly Cornish children and students, to learn and develop all skills associated with live performances.
a. In 2023 we expanded our educational programme to provide more creative opportunities and activities for young people,
b. The Minack Acting and Musical Theatre Academies continued to provide opportunities for young people to develop their skills, including workshops with established professionals in the sector. Our Acting Academy students all achieved either Merit or Distinction in Trinity Acting exams.
c. Students of the Musical Theatre Academy took part in Songs Under the Stars and members of the Acting Academy took leading roles in Tom's Midnight Gorden. The Acting Academy also performed Antigone at the Minack and in three other venues across Cornwall.
d. Our academy students also came together and performed 4 plays commissioned from new writers as part of our Emerging Writers scheme.
e. In September we auditioned entrants for both Academies and have been able to maintain more than 24 places in each with an extended offer for the older students in the groups to support their progression to the next stage of their education.
f. We worked again with Cornwall Music Service Trust to produce Jan Stroud's song cycle, Lullaby of the Tides. Once again this brought together over 200 students from schools across Cornwall, plus students from the Lockwood Urban School of Dance, the Minack Academies and Cornwall Youth Chamber Choir.
g. We created a successful education programme for Shakespeare week, based on Twelfth Night or Macbeth. This was offered to schools throughout Cornwall resulting in 916 children from 26 schools plus a home educated group experiencing a workshop based on the play all within one week.
h. We worked with students from 25 schools across west Cornwall (not including those who participated in Shakespeare Week) plus the Isles of Scilly and delivered a total of 19,142 student hours of engagement.
We continued our outreach work to engage hard to reach children in deprived areas. Working with Three Villages, Trelya and Leam 2 we delivered over 5,500 student hours of engagement. We also continued to support Creativity Club, a weekly arts club for children age 7 to 11, based in The Centre, Newlyn.
We ran a series of eight 'Play in a Day' workshops which were free to the public, enabling people to enjoy a creative experience without the commitment of our more in-depth programmes. While most of these were offered to specific age ranges of young people, two provided an opportunity for adults to participate. One of these ran in partnership with PK Porthcurno as part of their Earth Day project in April.
k, We staged two joint productions with the British Theatre Academy. 24 Cornish students age 13 to 18joined a similar size group from across the south east to rehearse and present 13 at the Minack in August, and a further 12, age 8 to 14, joined to make a company of 65 to perform Madagascar Junior in October half term week,
Following a change in local provision in Penzance, we formed a new musical theatre group, Rising Stars, in late 2022. This group meets weekly in Penzance and is open to anyone age 7 to 14. Having successfully staged Annie Junior in 2023, over 50 young people will be staging Aladdin Junior in St John's Hall in Penzance in February 2024.
3. Educate visitors about Rowena Cade, her story and that of the Minack.
Inspire them through creative presentation of exhibitions, live narration and digital interpretation.
a. We ran a series of five guided tours to tell people the story of the Minack in a variety of imaginative ways, from the story of Billy Rawlings and Miss Cade to an escape room style treasure hunt. These tours proved popular and were delivered to a total of 963 people throughout the year.
b, We continued to offer a digital audio tour, downloadable onto a mobile phone for people to use to view the theatre at their own pace.
4. Develop and nurture the natural environment of the Minack, especially the garden, to enhance the experience of visiting the theatre and inspire people through its unique balance of natural and human art.
a. Throughout 2023 our garden team continued to work to make the Minack garden more accessible and appealing to the public, remodelling paths to create easier access and putting particular emphasis on keeping pathways clear and bedding areas weeded and trimmed.
b. We were delighted to be invited into the Great Gardens of Cornwall group during 2023. This invite is testament to the hard work of Jeff Rowe and Claire Batten, Head Gardeners over the last four years.
c. An extensive project to remodel the pedestrian route along the main entrance drive was completed early in 2023 with the previous timber fence being removed and a new footpath created, bordering new areas of planting. This work was extended through the year with a new bank bordering the road to St Levan Church meaning the unsightly chain link fence could be removed.
d. The garden team continued to deliver the plan for the garden to enable plants to thrive and to give a better viewing experience to the public. This includes grouping plants in the same area, so it is easier to see the differences within plant families such as Eryngiums (Sea Holly) and Agapanthus.
e. In more exposed areas where high levels of damage occur, they continue to use hardy annuals and annual bedding plants that are a cheaper alternative when it comes to being replaced. They have also continued to plant more hardy perennials, which suffer less damage as they are dormant in the harsher winter months. This also reduces the necessity to replace plants in spring.
g. The garden team have thinned out the existing planting to give individual plants more space, making them stronger and more able to cope in winter. This is essential to preserve succulents and South African plants.
h. The turf on the well-used grassed seating was renewed as usual in the autumn of 2023 ready for 2024,
i. The Minack was awarded Plastic Free status during 2021 as part of Planet PK's bid for the village to be designated Plastic Free and has continued to operate with minimal use of single use plastic products.
5. Provide sustainable, modern facilities for audiences, visitors, staff and performers that are suitable to the unique environment of the Minack and reflect its status as an attraction of international repute.
a. The Estate Management Strategy is now in place. This is a framework within which the buildings and grounds can be developed in order to accommodate the medium to long term strategic aims of the Minack as a theatre and a visitor destination.
b. Further progress has been made through 2023 to ascertain the structural integrity of Rowena Cade's original work which dates from 1932 to the late 1970s. A detailed survey has been received from a concrete specialist and a maintenance and replacement strategy is now in place to protect the iconic features of the Minack stage and auditorium.
c. The Visitor Centre was fully refurbished and re-equipped to provide a cafe for visitors that complements the unique environment of the Minack.
6. Develop and support an outstanding team of versatile people to ensure visitors, performing companies and participants enjoy a life enhancing experience at the Minack.
a. The Minack is one of the area's biggest employers with a total wage and salary bill of £1,095,930 in 2023 (2022: £937558).
b. The Minack employed 46 people year-round and 64 people during the height of the performing season.
c. In 2023, all staff over the age of 21 were paid at least 10p above the 'Real Living Wage' (£10.90 per hour) and were offered flexible working. Over 85% of staff live in the rural area to the west of Penzance. From 1 January 2024 the minimum wage for all staff over the age of 21 will be £12 per hour which is the 'Real Living Wage' as determined by the Living Wage Foundation.
d. Staff training through the year focussed on training in operational aspects such as first aid, safeguarding, fire safety and terrorism awareness. Members of the management team are undertaking Equity, Diversity and Inclusion training and Zoe Curnow was awarded a place on the Oxford Cultural Leaders residential programme for 2023.
e. Over 150 freelance practitioners were engaged on Minack productions and the education programme during the year. Over 70% of these are based in Cornwall. We recognise the challenges for people working on short term contracts and always work to treat them fairly, offering paid development opportunities and being conscious to ensure planning time is factored into contract arrangements.
7. Develop retail and catering strategies to meet the reasonable expectations of visitors given the nature of the site and generate funds to support aims 1 to 6.
Retail and catering provision was affected by the refurbishment of the Visitor Centre which meant the cafe and shop were closed until the end of November. Despite this, the takeaway outlets performed well achieving a spend per head on catering of £1.66, a slight drop on 2022's £1.72.
The Minack continued to source almost all goods for resale from within the Cornish economy and continued to minimise use of single use plastics within this area of operation.
8. Generate sufficient funds through core activities to achieve aims 1 to 6 in a viable manner for the very long term.
Unlike most theatres in the UK, the Minack depends almost exclusively on earned income. In 2023, despite a planned investment in the event programme and a season of unusually poor weather we still achieved a surplus to maintain our ongoing programmes and help protect the historic fabric of the Minack Theatre.
In 2023 the Minack made a direct annual contribution to the Cornish economy of over £2m. It attracted 212,431 visitors, of whom 90% had home addresses outside Cornwall. The majority of these visited as part of their holiday in Cornwall, staying locally and spending at other businesses on their way to and from the theatre.
Wherever possible, the Minack sources goods and services from within Cornwall. Cover the last twenty years, using Cornish companies, it has completed building projects costing more than £2,000,000.