Eden Court Theatre in Inverness has risen to the financial challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic through a keen focus on fundraising
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A significant focus on fundraising helped Eden Court generate more than £2.4 million of additional income last year.
The charity’s latest accounts show it has also secured more than £800,000 for this financial year.
This cash is in addition to regular grants from the Highland Council and Creative Scotland, and on top of income received through the coronavirus job retention scheme.
A trustees report alongside the accounts for the year ended March 31, 2021 stated: “Eden Court has managed to steer itself well through the Covid-19 pandemic thanks to various emergency support and a significant focus on fundraising, led by the chief executive [James Mackenzie-Blackman, who has since left].
“In addition to prudent cost management, our financial strategy for the coming year, as we steer our way out of the pandemic, involves the continued development of relationships with funders, both public organisations and individual philanthropists, in order to provide financial support towards delivery of our artistic and engagement programmes. In the meantime, reserves will be applied to support the organisation through this phase in its development and, if needed, we will continue to do all we can to further reduce costs without impacting on our relationship with artists and audiences.”
The Inverness venue started to experience reduced footfall and reduced daily ticket sales from mid-February 2020 and closed its doors for the initial lockdown in the middle of the following month.
The report outlined the impact of the pandemic on its 2020/21 plans including the cancellation of 349 live productions, losing its outdoor summer music festival Under Canvas in 2020, and loss of an expected 62,500 cinema ticket sales.
Retail footfall was lost, as well as with conferences and community classes.
It estimates a total reduction of 376,000 “engagements” and that around 5000 freelance creative sector workers missed out on employment.
The report stated: “Our organisation is the cultural heart of the region and our building is a much-loved civic space within Inverness. When we closed our doors in March, we created a big gap in many people’s lives and left a large team of skilled staff unable to work.
“We quickly recognised that we could play a valuable part in the emergency response being developed to support the community through the crisis.
“Within days of a meeting with the local authority, our venue became the focus of this effort. We helped set up and staff helpline for vulnerable people, using our box office phone system. Our engagement team delivered creative activities for children and young people attending the keyworker childcare hubs, and in the biggest transformation, our main theatre was repurposed to become the humanitarian aid centre for the region.
“Here, on the stage, thousands of food parcels were packed every week and distributed to people who are shielding and experiencing food poverty.
“We have built what we believe to be a strong and possibly unique partnership with the Highland Council through helping to deliver the emergency response in the region. As one of our public funders, we sought their support and advice in how we would manage a prolonged period of closure. It was at the first meeting to discuss the financial precipice we feared that we learned of the challenges they faced in providing urgent help to our communities.
“We shared a civic responsibility and by combining resources we were able to develop solutions together, for the benefit of everybody. In those initial weeks, and until the launch of the coronavirus job retention scheme, the partnership prevented the need for us to make more than 100 people redundant.
“By placing ourselves at the heart of the community response, we believe we have shifted perceptions of our role as a civic arts organisation. We have demonstrated that our building is a community space available and accessible to all.”
Total income for 2020/21 was £4,385,262, down from £6,767,158 for the previous year. For the same period, total expenditure decreased from £7,936,006 to £3,837,878.
The average number of employees dropped from 97 in 2019/20 to 85 the following year, while staff costs fell from £2,766,291 to £2,218,841.
Meanwhile, accounts for the charity’s trading entity through its restaurant, café and bars, plus sales of confectionery, show merchandise and other events showed turnover fell from £1,506,033 in 2019/20 to £114,256 for the year after, while pre-tax profit dropped from £250,009 to £53,708. This is mainly due to periods of temporary closure due to pandemic-related restrictions.
