The Lottery Application
After HMS Pinafore, we decided we needed to have some of our own equipment as an insurance against finding absolutely nothing we could work with - no lights, no piano, no stage…. And that was the stimulus which drove us to apply to the Lottery.
We decided we needed a mobile production facility, comprising the following: 1) a basic lighting rig controlled by a lighting board which we would pre-program back at base, so that the lighting was always predictable 2) a sound system which would allow us to be flexible about the size of venue, and would save us from hiring things like body microphones and pressure zone microphones 3) a synthesiser to cater for the lack of an in-tune piano (or one with only half the notes working), and to give us the added advantage of a full orchestral sound if we needed it 4) some portable staging add interest in terms of levels, or to act as a small stage in the event of a hall with no stage and a flat floor 5) a van to put it all in.
At the time, the National Lottery was an unknown quantity, but we had heard of people getting money from the Foundation for Sport and the Arts, which was funded by the football pools. So we decided to hedge our bets by applying to the lottery for 59% of the money, and the Foundation for Sport and the Arts for most of the rest. There was also a small grant from the Welsh Amateur Music Federation towards the keyboard, and some of our own money.
We wrote a report which we sent off with our Lottery and Foundation for Sport and the Arts applications, and waited to see what would happen. The Lottery responded almost immediately, and we found that they were back very quickly for more information about the group in terms of the way in which we encouraged young members, our links with disabled groups (via one of our members), and our intentions with regard to storage, security and insurance. They also asked for our constitution and our latest set of accounts.
To cut a long story short, the Lottery rang one Friday morning to say that we had been successful, but not to announce it before their press release at 12.30 that lunchtime. We thought we had hit the jackpot! Then came the letter with the condition that the Foundation for Sport and the Arts and Welsh Amateur Music Federation had to agree to provide the funds before the Lottery Distribution Unit would give us the money. And we had nine months to claim the grant. We wrote immediately to the Foundation for Sport and the Arts telling them of the Lottery decision, expecting this to free up the log-jam. And we waited - and waited. Then, eventually we heard that the Foundation for Sport and the Arts was going to give us the money.
As far as the Concept Players were concerned, all that remained was to sort out the detail of the actual purchase of the equipment, and get on with moving the productions to as many audiences as their little van would carry them. There is no guarantee that this case study is typical: if anything, it may be entirely untypical, but it does demonstrate that applying to the Lottery need not be a particularly daunting task, nor should the procedure put off anyone with a good idea from being able to put their vision into practice for the benefit of us all. What it does demonstrate is that you need to persevere, and to be confident that the funding bodies really do want to help you to achieve your goals. As you can see from the above, the Lottery couldn't have been more helpful, and for that the Concept Players, and in particular the author, will always be very grateful.
So, if anybody wants to hire sound very nice sound equipment, including body microphones, mixing desk and speakers, lighting equipment including a 24 way control board, lights, colour scrollers etc, please don't hesitate to contact me
With the change in the Lottery rules as of January 1997, it is now possible for groups to apply for revenue expenditure in various areas of artistic activity. These areas broadly cover:
The Concept Players have already benefited from the capital grant aspect of lottery funding through their acquisition of portable performance equipment incorporating sound, lighting and musical instruments, portable staging, costume making equipment, and transport.
The Concept Players are planning to apply to the lottery under the new revenue provisions to create a new work of art unique to the group, which will benefit them through the innovative aspects of the actual composition and creation of the work, and through the unique opportunity to create the first interpretation of the various roles and staging of the piece.
The choice of any show for performance in the current marketplace is a difficult one, with financial pressures continually pushing toward the selection of well-known and established box-office shows. This pressure inevitably leads to a reduction in the number of productions of high artistic content, since no group can continue to put on interesting and rewarding works in the light of inevitable cash losses. Similarly, few will consider the creation of original works for the same reasons.
The availability of funding from the lottery provides an opportunity to not only put on a completely new and original work, but to allow the creativity of the group to be employed in an area which it could not even consider previously.
The approach we are adopting is to look at a new slant on a popular plot, and we came up with the option of using Dickens’ classic, A Christmas Carol, as a basis, with music adapted from Arthur Sullivan.
The title alone has pulling power, and its perennial popularity is demonstrated by the number of versions already in existence, from the Muppets to Mickey Mouse, from Bill Murray’s Scrooged to the various stage and film versions. The plot is well known and robust enough to survive another version, while no-one has (as far as we are aware) attempted to mould Arthur Sullivan’s music to the plot.
The group is now in the process of putting together a budget for this project which we will submit to the lottery as soon as we are confident of the costs involved. This new opportunity of revenue funding for activities such as the one we envisage has opened new horizons for us, and we hope for others like us.
We hope that this venture will once again extend the boundaries of what the group is capable of, and continue to make the Concept Players the most exciting amateur theatre group in the South East Wales area.