Jim Hollington the CEO of Dance Base got in touch to confirm that with a fresh lick of paint being applied and studio floors being polished, they were ready for their new public classes that started on 11 September.
(The Dance for Parkinson’s Scotland class takes place at Dance Base on Wednesdays)
Jim gave us an overview of what has been happening over summer at Dance Base:
“We’ve appointed Alice McGrath and Paul Fitzpatrick as our new co-Chairs:
- Paul is currently the Director of Creative Engagement at the National Theatre of Scotland and is one of the most respected arts producers and cultural leaders in Scottish performing arts. Prior to joining NTS, he was Chief Executive of Imaginate, developing theatre and dance for young people, and joint CEO of the Catherine Wheels Theatre Co.
- Alice has held a variety of leadership roles in Scottish arts including strategy development lead with Federation of Scottish Theatre and director roles with Scottish Dance Theatre, Macrobert Arts Centre as well as Imaginate. Alice joined Queen Margaret University in October 2021 and teaches on the Arts Management and Cultural Policy MA.
In festival season we were a dance venue, arts industry hub and a centre for artists’ professional development
- Nearly 6,000 tickets were sold for 141 different performances at Dance Base through our partnership with Assembly Festival this year.
- In a partnership with Edinburgh International Festival and the British Council, 12 artists from across Africa performing ‘Rite of Spring’ in the Edinburgh International Festival spent a week at Dance Base in late July on a professional exchange with 12 dance artists from across Scotland.
- The Industry Hub, supported by the British Council, welcomed hundreds of programmers and presenters from the UK and across the world, connecting them with theatre and dance they could programme from Scotland, England, Wales, Northern Ireland, Ireland, Quebec, Canada, Belgium, Finland, Denmark and New Zealand among others.
We’re now implementing a plan for an ambitious and sustainable future
- We’ve been working over the last few months with consultants PalmerSquared to help us plan our long-term future.
- They consulted with over 50 individuals and organisations as part of the process.
- They’ve identified real love for Dance Base and its essential role in dance in Scotland, as well as real concern about the challenges we have faced.
- They have delivered a report containing 35 recommendations covering Governance & Leadership, Programme, Staffing, Marketing & Communications, Finance and Use of Assets.
- The board and team has welcomed the report and agreed to implement fully, with many actions already completed.
Our sustainable future requires more investment from government, organisations and individuals
- With the support of PalmerSquared we have set ambitious targets for increasing the earned income from building rentals and fundraising from individuals and organisations over the coming four years.
- This will need to be matched with increased investment from our core funders at Creative Scotland and City of Edinburgh Council. The significant increases in costs of maintaining a world-class facility and using it to benefit dance and dance artists cannot be covered purely from our own ability to raise new funds”.
