Helen Grassly and Faye Davies are participating in a Round Table at the 75th Anniversary Conference of the Society of Theatre Research on Saturday 20th July.
Since 1948, the Society has advanced research into British-related theatre. They run lectures and conferences, publish books and journals, offer funding and prizes, promote excellent scholarship and support the continuing development of practice. The Society is celebrating 75 years of scholarship practical and theoretical with a wide-ranging conference in Bristol.
Helen Grassly, Director of BFF, will chair and contribute to a Round Table session titled “Contemporary Theatres: hub /hall /haven /hotbed”. She will be joined on the panel by Julie Caplin Grey, the Deputy Chief Executive and Chief Operating & Finance officer of Hall for Cornwall, Graeme McGinty, Associate Director at Charcoalblue, Theatre and Acoustic Consultants and Faye Davies, BFF’s Managing Director and a Specialist Conservation Architect.
Abstract
As revenue subsidies decline, today’s theatres need to be active all day to provide supplementary commercial income from cafes to corporate hires. Consequently, the open theatre also provides an opportunity to support local creative industries and deliver expanded participation in the arts from underrepresented sectors of society.
The Panel will discuss how theatres and their buildings can be successfully adapted, ensuring that they not only meet the expectations of modern theatregoing audiences, and theatre companies, but also provide facilities appropriate for their uses beyond core performances. The recently completed refurbishment and remodelling of the Grade II* Listed Hall for Cornwall, will be used as a Case Study.
The Truro project has increased the theatre’s audience capacity and provides a more intimate atmosphere, with improved sightlines and variable acoustics allowing for an expanded programme, whilst improving accessibility and conserving and restoring important heritage elements. Their new Husa hub (meaning to enchant and dream in Cornish), combines the venue’s artist development programmes with a dynamic and diverse co-working space; nurturing and supporting Cornish performance artists and bringing together local and creative businesses, start-ups, artists, charities and social enterprises.
Biographies
Julie Caplin Grey, Deputy Chief Executive and Chief Operating & Finance officer of Hall for Cornwall, is an experienced & effective cultural leader with a proven track record in leading and managing organisations, teams and projects, that are committed to improving access to culture in Cornwall.
Helen Grassly, Director of Burrell Foley Fischer Architects, specialises in the delivery of the highest quality projects for institutional, educational, arts and creative sector clients.
Faye Davies, Managing Director of Burrell Foley Fischer Architects, has more than two decades of experience of working on sensitive conservation projects from alterations to the creative reuse of historic buildings and is a Registered Specialist Conservation Architect.
Graeme McGinty, Associate Director at Charcoalblue, Theatre and Acoustic Consultants, has more than 18 years of professional experience in support of the technical aspects of performance within dance and theatre, as well as live music.
