Annual Review 2022/23
It’s been another remarkable year for New Adventures, reaching ambitious targets and astonishing audiences all over the UK and beyond. In 2022/23, we have staged three large-scale productions. This included a spectacular production of The Car Man created especially for a two-week run at the Royal Albert Hall in celebration of the Hall’s 150th anniversary. Quite a feat to pull off in between two major touring productions. Talent development at New Adventures continues to flourish with an impressive number of alumni of our Swan School performing with the company. A highlight of our Take Part programme this year has been our work with Magic Me and St Fillans care home in Essex, leading to the creation of an exceptional film with choreographer Anjali Mehra inspired by the lives of the residents. All this, and much more, proves our commitment to building a modern company that appeals to the widest range of people, nurtures talent, while producing innovative and meaningful art.
Executive Summary
235,768 audiences attended 341 live performances
We spent 24 weeks touring 3 productions nationwide
51 dancers employed on tour
941,863 people engaged with our work online through REEL Adventures
Over 8,000 participants and audiences engaged across our Take Part activity
579 cinema screenings of 6 different productions
A message from our Chair
Staging world class productions and nurturing extraordinary talent has been the signature of this remarkable dance theatre company and I am delighted that for another year, New Adventures has held strong to this vision with a cracking twelve months of success. Critical acclaim, reaching targets and inspired audiences have all been a part of this year's success story.
Three outstanding productions have contributed to a mammoth year where we have been bowled over by of our creative team and dancers, led by Matthew and his genius.
Nutcracker! was revived and how glorious it was —as bold and bright as exploding fireworks on stage, it was indeed a spectacle of stylish entertainment. Sleeping Beauty was New Adventures' autumn offering to dance fans and our Christmas present to Sadler's Wells. The whole team were troopers —delivering over 140 performances across the country with post-show feedback strong, and positive enough to fuel confidence in everyone and affirm that all creative decisions were good ones. Away from our regular venues, New Adventures played its part in the Royal Albert Hall's 150th anniversary celebrations with the sensuous, stylish, and incomparable The Car Man.
One of the challenges when you are at the top of your game is staying there. It has been so reassuring observing how committed Matthew Bourne has been to build a legacy of supporting young talent, creating a modern company that appeals to the widest possible demographic, while continuing to produce award-winning, innovative art.
On a personal level, one of the most satisfying elements of this year as Chair has not only been the support and encouragement of the Trustees and the management team as we work collaboratively to fulfil our obligations to our audiences and the Arts Council but witnessing the incredibly ambitious raw talent working so hard to justify their place in New Adventures. The three productions have been fitting platforms to showcase and celebrate the efforts of this formidable new generation of dancers.
The company's commitment to discovering and nurturing emerging artists is a fundamental part of what we do, and our partnerships and patrons will hopefully serve to support this important work generously and graciously in the future.
One of my most memorable events of the year was our fundraising event in January on-stage at Sadler's Wells that allow us to meet our supporters and potential donors in a unique environment. What made it so special was the opportunity to hear some of our dancers share their own remarkable stories. Storytelling is something Matthew has mastered, and each company member now has their own enlightening stories and journeys which we should encourage them to share.
'Nourishing and affirmative' is how one Overture participant described their experience of the programme and it is this sort of response we must continue to thrive for. The programme is now in its 8th year assisting professional dance artists and teachers with their personal and professional development. Over 270 dancers took part in Pro-Class at Studio Wayne McGregor and Trinity Laban last year, allowing performance focused training and the sharpening of skills. Swan School was equally successful, allowing participants exclusive insight into the working practices of New Adventures. An impressive number of the Schools' alumni have gone on to perform with the company in various productions and fed back more positive responses to add to the ever-growing pile.
It has been an incredibly busy year of celebrating and collaborating; performing and building partnerships; navigating challenges and focusing on our ambitious ideals. With our Executive Director, Imogen Kinchin, on an extended leave of absence, Sue Wyatt concluded her term with us as Interim ED and we thank her for the knowledge and professionalism that she shared with us. With Sue leaving, we welcomed Jennie Green into a new position as Deputy Managing Director. Jennie is well loved and respected by the New Adventures team and will provide the stability needed as she works with Aysha Powell and Robert Noble to steer the ship.
The arts and entertainment business is a precarious one and we rely strongly on the great creative and business brains from all levels and parts of the New Adventures family —so I extend much gratitude to you all...to Matthew and all performers for your consistent brilliance; to the production and artistic teams that keep the shows on the road and communities and audiences engaged; the leadership team and staff that keep the big wheels turning; our fundraisers and partners who have a tough job of bringing in funds in this tough economy; our Trustees for their brilliant minds and expertise, and of course our audiences who at the heart of everything that we do.
With the Arts Council's 10-year strategy as a focus, and our own brazen vision as leaders in the field, let us boldly go forward into another year —Let's Create!
Brenda Emmanus OBE
Chair, Board of Trustees – New Adventures
On Stage
In 2022/23, we toured across the UK for a cumulative total of 24 weeks with 3 productions.
We haven’t returned to international touring, but we have still delighted audiences across the globe:
- TV Broadcasts: 643,000 Worldwide
- Online Streaming: 111,818 Worldwide
- Cinema screenings: 17,970 Worldwide
- Online Engagement: 370,989 Worldwide
Nutcracker! Remount, UK Tour
‘A witty, wonderful, rip-roaring spectacular’ – Daily Telegraph
This highly successful 30th anniversary tour came to an end. Nutcracker! follows Clara’s bittersweet journey from a darkly comic Christmas Eve at Dr. Dross’ Orphanage, through a shimmering, ice-skating winter wonderland to the scrumptious candy kingdom of Sweetieland, influenced by the lavish Hollywood musicals of the 1930s.
- 33 dancers, 17 of which came through one or more of New Adventures’ talent development programmes.
- 16 offstage workers and crew
- 14 venues over 23 weeks
- 164 performances
- 149,703 audiences
The Car Man UK Performance, Royal Albert Hall
‘A Sizzling Bourne Adventure. Sultry Perfection.’ – The Observer
As part of the Royal Albert Hall's 150th anniversary celebrations, New Adventures brought a new staging of the multi-award-winning production of The Car Man to the Royal Albert Hall's stage for the first time in 2022. This was the first time New Adventures performed a full production at this historic and iconic venue. The show was completely reimagined for the gladiatorial arena of the Royal Albert Hall, featuring an expanded company of 65 dancers and musicians, a live orchestra, and epic new designs.
- 39 dancers and 26 musicians
- 19 offstage workers and crew
- 14 performances over 2 weeks
- 26,844 audiences
The show received a rating of 92% for ‘Captivation’ and 88% for ‘Excellence’ from audiences, 324 of whom responded to the post-show survey sent using Arts Council England’s Impact and Insight Toolkit.
Sleeping Beauty Remount, UK Tour
‘Clever, Clever Storytelling’ – Independent
Matthew Bourne’s Sleeping Beauty reawakened in 2022, celebrating 10 years since its premier at Sadler’s Wells, when it became the fastest selling production in the company’s history.
This large-scale tour, opened at one of our key partner venues, Theatre Royal Plymouth, before it transferred to Sadler’s Wells, and then toured throughout the first half of 2023. New Adventures continues to establish itself as the Sadler’s Wells Christmas show and this regular presence has mutual far-reaching benefits for both organisations, including a level of financial security for both parties.
- 29 dancers
- 19 offstage workers and crew
- 13 venues over 19 weeks
- 140 performances
- 186,265 audiences
The show received average ratings of 91% for ‘Captivation’ and 93% for ‘Beauty’ from audiences at Alhambra Theatre, Bradford, 396 of whom responded to the post-show survey sent using Arts Council England’s Impact and Insight Toolkit.
Digital
New Adventures is committed to increasing the reach of our shows through broadcasts, cinema, digital downloads, and online collaborations. We continue to create innovative digital content that provides engaging insights into the unique world of New Adventures on and off stage and experiment with new ways of communicating that reflect our company ethos and ambition.
We have increased the ways in which audiences can watch our shows online through continued partnerships with broadcasters and other content providers, including a recent partnership via Illuminations with BroadwayHD to stream our productions on demand.
BBC
- Nutcracker! was broadcast on the BBC during Christmas 2022 with 443,000 views and was then available to watch on demand via BBC iPlayer, with 107,326 views.
Sky Arts, Other Broadcasts & Online Streaming
- Sky Arts New Zealand broadcast The Red Shoes and Swan Lake, reaching approximately 100,000 viewers.
- Our shows were streamed alongside multiple international partners from theatres to broadcast networks to online platforms to their audiences via the Kanopy, Films Media Group/Infobase, Theatre HD, Arts VOD, Theatrix and Amazon Prime.
- Our work was seen in countries including Australia, USA, Mexico, Japan, and Mexico.
Cinema Screenings
- Five of our productions – Nutcracker!,The Red Shoes, The Car Man, Cinderella, and Swan Lake - were screened 579 times in cinemas worldwide, seen by 17,970 people.
Online Engagement
We continue to create high quality film and photography content across our digital platforms to reach audiences both in the UK and internationally, many of whom are unable to see our live shows.
We began the year creating a range of content around The Car Man at the Royal Albert Hall. The highlight piece of content was our Making History film. This included interviews with Matthew Bourne, Etta Murfitt, Projection Designer Duncan McLean, Orchestrator Terry Davies, and Dancer Zizi Strallen and discussed how the production would be reworked to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Royal Albert Hall. The film was part-funded by the Royal Albert Hall. The film reached over 15,000 people on our platforms and more on Royal Albert Hall’s own channels. The time investment in this film was not reflected in the reach of this piece of content, however it has spurred us explore the objectives, expectations, and overall value of more in-depth filmed content, including who we are making this for and how it is distributed.
Interestingly, the online engagement with our content around The Car Man, clearly demonstrated the value of straight-forward, non-composite dance clips. An extended dance clip of Zizi Strallen from the DVD recording of The Car Man reached over 323,000 people on Facebook and had 19,400 post engagements. On Instagram, a collaborative post on Instagram with Zizi Strallen of the same clip reached 85,653 accounts, had 99,661 plays and 4685 likes.
A short promotional film for our Overture programme was released in June 2022. It reached over 10,000 accounts, engaged approximately 450 people and applications to the programme were higher in 2022 than in previous years.
For Doorstep Duets 2022, we profiled our two female choreographers in two separate filmed interviews, together reaching 32,552 accounts on Instagram and Facebook. In addition, we created a trailer and clips from the work on tour, provoking comments from fans calling for Doorstep Duets to be presented in a town near them.
In October 2022, we posted our first clip on TikTok. We asked for people to tell us their favourite dance film and we shared the Swan Lake clip from the film Billy Elliot. Unsurprisingly this was a phenomenally successful post. On TikTok alone, the post has been played over 500,000 times. On Facebook, the clip reached 879,496 accounts, had 23,971 reactions, 3,643 comments and 3,608 shares. We continued to experiment with Tik Tok throughout the year, with a focus on our ‘Sleeping Beauty Fairy transitions’. These playful clips have had good engagement across TikTok and Instagram, for example the ‘Autumnus’ transition had 68,397 plays on Instagram and 3329 likes.
Official production trailers and photography continue to drive strong engagement on organic channels. The new Edward Scissorhands trailer released in March 2022, was particularly successful reaching over 50,000 accounts on Instagram and Facebook. However, we are also seeing strong engagement with raw photography and footage from rehearsals and in the studio – this is an area to develop in 2023-24.
Finally, our Google ads have had 107,940 impressions, 14,629 clicks and a 13.55% click-through rate. To achieve these results, we would have had to spend $27,000 - these ads are funded via our Google AdGrant.
Talent Development
New Adventures is committed to discovering and nurturing raw and emerging talent across the UK and continue to develop New Adventures company members working on and off stage. We continue to provide development opportunities for freelancers, industry professionals and aspiring dancers.
Emerging Artist Apprenticeship
In 2022-23, New Adventures launched its second and third Emerging Artist Apprenticeship, designed to support and develop two dancers through their final year of training via mentoring and residency opportunities, leading to a paid apprenticeship contract on an upcoming production.
Hannah Kremer and Perreira Franque both made their professional debuts in Matthew Bourne’s Sleeping Beauty.
Hannah Kremer first performed with New Adventures as part of the local cast in Matthew Bourne’s Romeo and Juliet at Sadler’s Wells in August 2019. Since then, she has taken part in Swan School and several other residencies within their Talent Development programme.
Perreira Franque's first involvement with New Adventures was through a mock audition day, designed to support second and third years in training with their audition technique and a deeper understanding of the demands of a professional dance company. He then went on to take part in Swan School in 2021.
Throughout the apprenticeship, Hannah and Perreira will be mentored by New Adventures Resident Artist and principal dancer Glenn Graham.
‘I’m delighted to be mentoring a new generation of dancers because it is something I never had. We hope the programme offers rigour and resilience…giving dancers the opportunity to learn all that touring like, and company environment has to offer’ Glenn Graham, Resident Artist
‘Without the apprenticeship programme, I would have felt like I was stepping into the unknown, or unchartered territory with less of a safety net, and people who were on my side with an understanding.’- Hannah Kremer, Emerging Artist 2022-23
‘Without the programme I would have felt overwhelmed, zero confidence, not trusting in my ability, no insight how the company dynamics work, unprepared.’ - Perreira Franque, Emerging Artist 2022-23
Cygnet School
In residence at The Marlowe, Canterbury, our pre-vocational training programme for young people - Cygnet School - launched in July 2021 to provide a much-needed pathway between New Adventures existing participation work and Talent Development opportunities.
This year’s Cygnet’s School cohort has been comprised of 15 young people aged 12-19 (and up 25 for disabled dancers) , each passionate about dance, developing new skills and exploring dance as a professional pathway. The programme is fully subsidised for all the participants ensuring that there are no barriers to access.
Over the course of 12 months this group has come together for monthly residential weekends, exploring the unique aspects of New Adventures’ work, style, and training, focussing on technique, storytelling and creativity in workshops themed around physicality, expression, gesture, and character relationships. Each young person has had an individualised development plan, and sessions also include health and wellbeing training.
The participants also saw the New Adventures professional company perform on stage at Sadler’s Wells and gained insight into the inner workings of theatres and the dance industry, learning about different career pathways in the arts.
At the end of the year long programme the Cygnet Company will explore putting their learning into practice in a performed sharing of a collaboratively devised dance piece.
The New Adventures team teaching and working with the young people include Resident Dance Artist Glenn Graham, Dance Artist Sophia Hurdley, and Support Dance Artist Grace Black, who is an alumnus of Overture, the New Adventures talent development programme aimed at dance teachers and community dance artists.
Professor Angela Pickard from Canterbury Christ Church University has been working with us to evaluate the programme.
‘The young dancers are supported to develop confidence and a range of professional skills as performers and teachers/artists. These skills enable the dancers to continue dance development/training and/or can be applied to a range of other opportunities/disciplines. Cygnet School has increased the young dancers social, physical, and cultural capital.’- Cygnet School Evaluation Report, written by Professor Angela Pickard
Overture
Our eighth year of the Overture programme consisted of a mix of residential and online professional development opportunities across 2022-23 for dance artists and dance teachers from a variety of genres who have been working in community or education settings for less than five years. The group of artists are chosen for their diverse range of work and experience within the community dance sector that spans a full scope of settings from across England.
Facilitated by Take Part Creative Director Kerry Biggin and Artist Director of UNIT, Tom Hobden, the cohort of dance artists participate in two residential weekends at the Company’s base in Farnham Maltings, Surrey over an eight-month period, alongside digital sessions, and a visit to the current New Adventures production on tour.
Each residential comprises of practical workshops, discussions, and skills-sharing as well as inspirational guest teachers from a variety of industry backgrounds. With workshops in areas such as personal development, coaching and networking, New Adventures aim to provide the cohort with a range of skills to support them in reaching the next level of their careers as community dance artists.
‘Overture has been absolutely amazing. Nourishing and affirmative. It just amazing that New Adventures understands the need to roll this out and offer it to emerging community artists at a time in their development that can either make or break their future ambitions.’ – Overture participant
Pro-Class
Pro Class took place at Studio Wayne McGregor in May 2022 with over 127 dancers taking part in sessions over the course of one week and at Trinity Laban in January 2023 with over 146 dancers taking part in sessions over the course of one week. These three-hour sessions consisted of technique class followed by exploring repertoire from a New Adventures production or looking at the creative process and methodology of the work. The first sessions were open to any dancers in training and graduates, and the latter sessions were held for selected dancers from conservatories, Swan School, or local casts from our 2019 production, Romeo & Juliet, to continue their development and stay connected.
‘Thank you very much for today’s workshop…it was wonderful to have such a performance focused three hours with the emphasis on projecting to the audience. I really value the advice on individuality and the way we represent ourselves as dancers in class and on stage.’- Pro-Class Participant
Swan School
In August 2022, 26 dancers were invited to take part in a four-day intensive that gave them an exclusive insight into the working practices and repertoire of New Adventures.
Identified through our Conservatoire programme and annual auditions, dancers are invited to Swan School because we are interested in their development and preparation for the industry. The dancers are given exclusive insight into the working practices of New Adventures and take part in panelled discussions and workshops with invited industry professionals. This residency is designed to broaden the dancers’ industry knowledge and provide them with a range of skills to support them as they embark on their artistic journeys.
The intensive culminated in a sharing to the senior members of New Adventures’ artistic team.
So far eighteen previous Swan School alumni have gone on to perform with the company in various productions.
On average, participants rated Swan School 94% for ‘[improving] Confidence’, 94% for ‘[widening] Networks’ and 89% for ‘Imagination’. This was in response to the post-project survey sent using Arts Council England’s Impact and Insight Toolkit.
A Winter Adventure
Over three days 32 graduates and undergraduates of vocational dance training courses were introduced to our repertoire and invited to explore New Adventures’ trademark creative processes. The days are made up of class, repertoire, and creative tasks with emphasis on areas unique to the company which could include duet work, storytelling through movement and character work. This year also included a Building Robust Confidence and Introduction to Sports Psychology workshop and an Audition Workshop.
‘Thank you for creating a safe positive space where I have reignited my passion for dance’. – A Winter Adventure Participant
Masterclass
In June and December 2022, we had our open access 1-day Masterclass, focused on The Car Man and Sleeping Beauty. At each masterclass 30 participants had the opportunity to experience the rehearsal day of a New Adventures company dancer. The day was spent working through Company Class, learning repertoire and creative tasks culminating in watching the evening performance of the production.
‘Thank you so much for today! Learning more about the creative process was very challenging and interesting. Truly loved being part of it, thank you all for being so inspiring.’ – Masterclass Participant
Spring Forward
Through professional guidance and bursaries, Spring Forward supports company members both on stage and offstage to learn a new skill, access training, personal development or spend time in research and development for choreographic projects.
Spring Forward offers bursaries up to a maximum of £2000 and in 2022 we had a total number of nine successful applications and the support and training is being undertaken in a variety of different areas of the sector including: Afro and Textured Hair Course, Brand Identity and Website Design Course, Professional Development for Dance with Elders, Choreographic Collaboration and Training Courses.
‘Thanks to Spring Forward, the bursary has enabled me to continue developing myself as a Sports Therapist. There is always more to learn, which I really enjoy and the wider my scope, the more opportunities I open both presently for my clients and for myself in the future with work opportunities. I am excited to see where this can help take me.’ – Spring Forward Recipient
Dancer Fitness and Training
In October 2022, the Sleeping Beauty company took part in a fitness and training week that was scheduled prior to the rehearsal period. The week included morning company class, with afternoon sessions focusing on a curated training programme that included: Safeguarding, Unconscious Bias, Allyship & Anti-Racism, Trans and Non-Binary Allyship and Managing Stress and Anxiety training.
Conservatoires
We work closely with dance schools and conservatoires to help nurture, develop, and support the next generation of talent. This work includes workshops, mock auditions, residencies, career talks and Q&As. In 2022-23, our Dance Artists delivered over ten workshops and worked with young people from Rambert, Royal Ballet, Performers, LIPA, Trinity Laban, London Contemporary Dance School, Elmhurst Ballet School, Josh Arnott Dance and Northern Contemporary Ballet.
During 2022-23, 1272 people took part in 1,751 talent development sessions.
Schools and Young People
During 2022-23, 789 people took part in 4,888 schools' sessions.
We have continued to produce Digital Resource Packs for all our productions. Demystifying how we create movement material and delving into our repertoire. The resource packs are full of exercises and activities are adapted for a Primary School level; GCSE, A Level & BTEC students and those with a general level of dance experience.
The following sections offer more detail on the programmes we offered schools and young people in 2022-23.
Surrey Arts: Lord Of The Flies Residency
In collaboration with Surrey Arts: Lord Of The Flies Residency -Kings College, Guildford, we ran a project aimed to break down stigma & stereotypes around dance and boys. Its full ambitions were to:
- Provide access to Year 7 & 8 boys at Kings School to take part in dance, regardless of previous experience or socio-economic background.
- To support Kings to champion the performing arts, and dance in particular as an important part of young people’s all-round education.
- To raise aspirations of the young people who take part and build confidence in those who may otherwise may not have taken part in such activity.
- To challenge perceptions of dance by engaging a diverse range of young people and their friends and families with New Adventures’ work.
- To see more young people showing a desire to take part in dance or another performing arts activity after the end of the project.
The project took place with 15 boys (aged between 11-13) selected from taster workshops and worked over four days to end in a short piece to share.
‘The rapport Dom and Alan have been able to foster with the boys and work ethic they have been able to bring out of them has been inspiring to watch and eye opening to see what the boys have been able to achieve in a week’ – Kings College Teacher
In collaboration with Culture Box Surrey: DanceVenturers
DanceVenturers was a creative residency where we offered an immersive, task-based adventure across curriculum areas including history, science, and literacy at Phillip Southcote School. Led by two of our New Adventures artists, each week students explored a different world through quest-based creative tasks, movement, and play.
Students co-created their own story building their own narrative using props, costume and characters encountered in the different worlds. Each week the students shaped their story into episodes that were filmed. A final film of the students’ work was edited and presented back to the group as part of a final sharing.
Workshops
We continued to deliver workshops across the UK in schools and colleges. We tailor workshops to suit Early Years through to Key Stages 1 —5.
In total, 19 residencies and workshops took place, where we explored and shared repertoire from Swan Lake, Romeo & Juliet, The Midnight Bell, and Nutcracker!
Partner schools included: Carshalton High School, Highworth Grammar School, Knights Templar School, St Ivo Academy, Tring Park, Elmhurst Ballet School, Bristol Met Academy and Roger Ascham Primary Schools.
On average, participants on the Sleeping Beauty Schools Tour rated the programme 90% for ‘Enjoyment’, 82% for ‘Motivation’ and 82% for ‘Creativity’. This was in response to the post-project survey sent using Arts Council England’s Impact and Insight Toolkit.
Communities
During 2022-23, 205 people took part in 1,013 community sessions.
Our largest community programme, Doorstep Duets include 166 performances, seen by 5,437 people. The following sections offer more on our extensive Communities programme in 23-24.
In collaboration with Farnham Maltings: Next Adventures
We continued to deliver our regular monthly dance session for over 55s, hosting monthly workshops in Farnham. In an inclusive and encouraging environment, the participants learn some repertoire and get led through creative and improvisational tasks. The sessions are led by Dance Artist Emily Piercy.
‘Emily is amazing. She engages, encourages, and empathises. The sessions provide a window into the marvellous mind of Matthew Bourne. I am so pleased I found the group.’ – Participant
During 2022-23, 327 people took part in 17 Next Adventure sessions.
Moving In Time
In partnership with Magic Me, the UK's leading intergenerational arts charity, New Adventures Dance Artists ran a series of movement workshops at St Fillans Care Home, Colchester with a group of residents, many of whom are living with dementia. During the workshops, the residents told personal stories and shared treasured items from their past, inspiring the stories presented in a short film we produced – a film that will change pre-conceptions of what dance in care homes can be.
Director and Choreographer Anjali Mehra, along with six dancers, created a heart-warming film with the care home residents that celebrates who they are and the journeys that shaped them. Each moment in the film was inspired by the connections made during the movement sessions or the stories that the residents shared with New Adventures.
‘I believe art, dance and other creative activities are essential in dementia care. I believe activity should be at the heart of care and all of it should be an emotional connection - and I see this throughout the movie. I loved how the ladies and gents held each other and danced - and you guys carried on the movements in the variety of songs. I really, really loved it all!’ – Moving In Time Viewer
Doorstep Duets
In 2022, we created two new short pieces of dance: Ding Dong by New Adventures Dance Artist Sophia Hurdley and High Tide by New Adventures Dance Artist Daisy May Kemp - lively original works that bring happiness through dance to local groups and communities.
in association with Farnham Maltings and House Network we worked with a number of venues and arts organisations across the Southeast of England, to bring the pieces to their local community, including: Farnham Maltings; Surrey County Council; Dance Woking; The Old Market, Brighton and Hove; Sussex Dance Network; Margate Pride; Gulbenkian, Canterbury; The Alex, Faversham; Mercury Theatre, Colchester; Dance Network Association; Watford Borough Council; Dacorum Community Dance; BEEE Creative and Greenwich and Docklands International Festival (GDIF).
Doorstep Duets was originally created in 2021 by New Adventures and Farnham Maltings as a response to social isolation. Offering free opportunities where people can enjoy world-class performance in their local neighbourhood, on their street, in local parks, and through community-based organisations. The aim of the project is to bring joy, escapism, and connection, and make dance more accessible to everyone.
The creation of these two pieces has been overseen by New Adventures Associate Artistic Director, Etta Murfitt MBE and New Adventures Take Part Creative Director, Kerry Biggin.
‘We have an ambition to reach even more people with Doorstep Duets this year and I can’t wait to see how the audiences connect to the work’ - Etta Murfitt MBE, Associate Artistic Director
Doorstep Duets received an average rating of 93% for ‘Captivation’ and 93% for ‘Distinctiveness, from audiences who responded to the post-show survey sent using Arts Council England’s Impact and Insight Toolkit.
Workshops
Workshops are delivered in numerous community settings with participants of any age and ability. In 2021-22, workshops took place both in person and online.
Re:Connect, our monthly series of workshops for over 55s, was in such high demand additional sessions were programmed. Participants explored choreography and shared repertoire from Nutcracker!
Workshops were also taking place in partnership with Out of Whack, Warwick Arts Centre’s over-60s contemporary dance company when The Midnight Bell was in situ at the venue.
Audiences
One of our three core company values is Audience. Our audiences are why we do what we do. Entertaining and engaging audiences is our passion. We strive to be widely accessible and welcoming to both our loyal and new audiences. As a company we are driven by a desire to make great art that is seen by as many people as possible.
- 1 sensory adapted performance
- 9 post-show talks with 7 BSL interpreted
- 17 audio describedperformances with touch tours
- 390 free tickets
We were able to connect with audiences in a live capacity once again, as well as venues and partners around the UK and beyond via REEL Adventures. We have continued to build strong and sustained partnerships with our key touring venues, working together to reach local audiences, increase access and encourage more people to experience and be inspired by dance in all its forms.
In January 2023, New Adventures produced its second Sensory Adapted Performance (SAP) performance, this time of Sleeping Beauty. A Sensory Adapted Performance is an extension of a Relaxed Performance, creating a less formal and more supportive theatre environment and some modifications to the show. SAPs are suitable for those who may be on the autism spectrum, have sensory sensitivities, epilepsy, learning disabilities and/or difficulties, experience neurodiversity, and anyone that might benefit from a more relaxed environment.
Throughout Sleeping Beauty, we offered 16 Audio Described performances and 1 during The Car Man, advertised via a dedicated Access page on our website and that of partner venues. A Visual Guide and Sensory Introduction film of Sleeping Beauty were made available, for anyone who would benefit from familiarising themselves with what to expect before attending a performance.
We continued to work with presenting venues to allocate 30 free audience development tickets at each venue, specifically ringfenced for targeted groups including those who have not previously attended the theatre, young people, as well as participants in our engagement projects. 9 post-show talks offered the general audience unique insight into the making of the show, with 7 of these events being BSL interpreted.
‘We just wanted to say a massive thank you for organising the relaxed performance of Sleeping Beauty yesterday. It was such a wonderful experience, and I am always so moved to be in an environment which supports and accepts children with needs so kindly and wholeheartedly. If the world could be as accommodating it would be a much kinder, easier, and safer place for our children to grow up in. Let’s hope the world can learn from your example of how it can be done! Thank you for all that you do, making theatre an environment our family can enjoy, experience, and relax together in!’ - Sleeping Beauty Relaxed Performance Audience Member
Green Adventures
Green Adventures, the company’s environmental sustainability strand, was launched in July 2018. Since then, we have been making changes across all areas of the company and engaging with our venue partners and audiences around sustainability.
New Adventures is committed to continuing the learning and achievements from 2018-22 and make sustainability a core part of the post pandemic recovery moving to a role of responsibility. We continue to foster the sharing of ideas and innovation with our partner venues and the wider industry.
A team of Green Champions, drawn from a variety of roles from across New Adventures, meet quarterly to drive our continued our commitment to embedding environmental best practice in our productions, touring, operations, and office.
Company dancer and Environmental Manager, Andrew Ashton, continued not only his role as Green Champion Lead but also came on board as our freelance Environmental Manager. Andrew sustained his work throughout the tour of Sleeping Beauty to connect with our partner venues around sustainability initiatives and encourage the company on tour to adopt environmentally friendly thinking both on stage and off.
We continued to provide advice and guidance to other UK based arts organisations, sharing our learning to date, as part of our Sector Leadership role around sustainable touring. We look forward to building on our achievements and setting new actions for the future optimising our unique position to influence tour venues, partners, and supply chains.
EDI (Equity, Diversity & Inclusion)
New Adventures is committed to ensuring all our work, on and off stage, is inclusive and representative of contemporary England. We continue to create an environment which provides equality of opportunity and support for everyone to do their best work and reach their full potential.
One of our core company values is Family and we have a long-held and shared commitment to supporting, developing, and investing in all members of the New Adventures company and everyone involved with our work in whatever capacity – performers, creatives, crew, staff, dance artists, audiences, participants, trustees, students, and partners. We are committed to doing more by listening, learning, and delivering on making the changes we want to see in the world we live and work in.
This year we have continued to work with our sector support partners to help us achieve these aims, including Creative Access, Tonic, PiPA (Parents and Carers in the Performing Arts) and Stage Sight. Our freelancers, staff team and Trustees are actively engaged in Equity, Inclusion and Anti-Racism work. Anyone joining New Adventures is expected to support and promote our Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion policy.
Prior to the Sleeping Beauty tour, the company took part in Safeguarding, Unconscious Bias, Allyship & Anti-Racism, Trans and Non-Binary Allyship and Managing Stress and Anxiety training. Dance Artists and members of the New Adventures office team also took part in this training, plus training in Motivation & Positivity in Practice, Gender Awareness, Neurodiversity in Dance and Disability in Dance.
Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion is a standing item on the agenda of all Board meetings and Kenneth Olumuyiwa Tharp CBE is the EDI Trustee lead. During 2022-23, the Board was 22% ethnically diverse, 66% female (including the Chair) and 22% LGBTQIA+.
Subsidised or free places are offered on all our talent development projects and we continue to review the level at which these are offered. Our Overture programme is fully subsidised for participants with additional support offered as required to support caring or access needs.
In 2022-23 we have focused on identifying with the following protected and non-protected characteristics – race, gender, sexual orientation and differing socio-economic backgrounds. We are developing a focus on disability following increasing our work in this area with, for example, increased representation in this area on our Overture programme and Cygnet School.
We have also...
- Provided opportunities for people of all ages, backgrounds, and abilities to participate in high quality dance experiences.
- Worked to increase the diversity of the workforce, on stage and off stage, to be as reflective of the diversity of contemporary British society as possible.
- Supported raw and emerging talent, specifically targeting underrepresented groups within the creative industries alongside strengthening and developing our EDI work to ensure long term inclusion and change. New programmes include Emerging Artist Apprenticeship and Cygnet School.
- Collaborated with Conservatoires, CAT schemes and the wider dance community to support emerging diverse talent and break down the barriers that may prevent a career in dance.
- Invested our resources to make our onstage work more accessible e.g., through regular and high-quality audio described performances.
- Made our Take Part work more accessible and inclusive.
- Supported those with caring responsibilities to enable them to work for the company and participate in our projects.
- Our EDI working group will be continued to meet quarterly and provided a rolling training programme on a range of EDI topics for those working on the shows, delivering workshops and the wider New Adventures family. This group now also includes Access.
- Establish a focused Access working group which is chaired by our Access Trustee Lead. This group will meet quarterly to ensure the progress made in 21-22 continues.
- Ensured the Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Access Trustee Leads are enabled to be effective in driving this work forward.
- Toured Doorstep Duets across the Southeast to accessible locations, care homes, assisted living, community spaces and doorsteps to ensure that high quality performance can be accessed by everyone.
Finance and Governance
Income
- 74% income from our productions of Nutcracker! and Sleeping Beauty and other charitable activity (including our Offstage work encompassing Talent Development, Young People and Communities and REEL Adventures)
- 18% grant and donation income from Arts Council England and other funders and supporters
- 8% was received through the Theatre Tax Relief scheme
Expenditure
- 78% spent on developing, producing, and touring our shows
- 5% spent on support costs
- 17% spent on Talent Development, Young People and Communities and REEL Adventures projects and activities
The Company 22/23
- 90 freelancers
- 7 Leadership team
- 16 Staff team
- 8 Trustees
- 3 patrons
Supporters
During 2022-23, in addition to the support received from Arts Council England, a further £122k was raised from the following funders.
Trusts and Foundations
Arts Council England, teamArchie, The Dorfman Foundation, Yves Guihannec Foundation, Magic Me, Ashley Head
Individual Donors
Heather Acton and Peter Williams, The Honourable William Archer, Roger de Freitas, Linda Herd, Debby Landesman, Andrew Manley, Huw Morris, Kate Redfern, James Tod, Pieter Toerien, Jeanette Siddall OBE, Emma West.
Corporate Supporters
Edwardian Hotels London, Fortnum & Mason, Buccellati London, Goldman Sachs International, BCLP and Cazenove Capital.
Partners
Organisations:
Farnham Maltings, House Network, Surrey County Council. Dance Woking, The Old Market Brighton and Hove, Sussex Dance Network, Margate Pride, Gulbenkian Canterbury, The Alex Faversham, Mercury Theatre Colchester, Dance Network Association, Watford Borough Council, Dacorum Community Dance, BEEE Creative Greenwich and Docklands International Festival, Warwick Arts Centre, King’s College Guildford, Highworth Grammar School, Knights Templar School, St Ivo Academy, Bristol Met Academy, Roger Ascham Primary, School, Phillip Southcote School, Carshalton High School, Sadler’s Wells, Joss Arnot Dance, Marlowe Theatre, LIPA, Trinity Laban, Rambert, Royal Ballet School, Elmhurst Ballet School, London Contemporary Dance School, Performers College, Tring Park School for Performing Arts, Northern School of Contemporary Dance, BBC, BroadwayHD, Trafalgar, Illuminations, Sky Arts, EMG, RawPR, Creative Access, Tonic, PiPA, Stage Sight, Global Butterflies, Joanna Nicolas, Applause for Thought, Talking Theatre, Magic Me, Canterbury Christ Church University
Venues:
Royal Albert Hall, Sadler’s Wells, Curve Leicester, Plymouth Theatre Royal, The Lowry, Bristol Hippodrome, Birmingham Hippodrome, Milton Keynes Theatre, Liverpool Empire, The Marlowe, Wales Millennium Centre, The Mayflower, Newcastle Theatre Royal, Nottingham Theatre Royal, New Victoria Theatre Woking, The Alhambra, Norwich Theatre Royal, Festival Theatre Edinburgh.