Southport Cultural Centre, Sefton Council

Work areas: business planning, marketing, audience analysis

A £16 million project to create a unified cultural centre for Southport as part of the Sea Change initiative. We produced a detailed business plan, including financial and audience forecasts, programming and management.

 

The Cultural Centre is an exciting proposal which brings together elements from across the cultural spectrum and improves existing physical spaces to provide a substantial new public amenity. The space will include a theatre complex, museum and gallery spaces and a public library, as well as catering and other public spaces.

 

The business plan demonstrated to the North West Regional Development Agency and the Council that the business case for the operation of the centre is sustainable. To ensure a robust business plan we analysed historic data from performances and used this to build a flexible model which allowed us to forecast income and expenditure from a range of events and deal types. We also worked with Sefton Council to develop its marketing strategy for the theatres. This included audience modelling, market analysis and identifying target groups.

 

Spring Bank Arts Centre, New Mills

Work areas: options appraisal, activity planning, interpretation planning

We supported successful Round One and Round Two HLF bids to convert this redundant Grade II listed church to sustainable use as a community arts centre. The project was instigated by local community members who formed the St James the Less Preservation Trust to protect this valued local building.

 

DBA Consulting produced a suite of documents to support the HLF bid, including an initial feasibility study, a business plan, an audience development strategy, an activity plan and an interpretation and learning plan.

 

After the funding was secured, we worked with the Trust to develop and implement the learning and interpretation package.

 

Dublin Contemporary 2011

Work areas: business planning, financial planning

We worked with the Irish Museum of Modern Art and a group of contemporary art curators to obtain funding for a major city-wide contemporary art festival with the potential to develop into a regular biennial event.

 

Our role included developing the economic and social case for the festival and providing a business and organisational framework around which an ambitious multi-site programme could be successfully delivered. The Government of Ireland agreed to fund the project, and the first event took place in September 2011.