The new manager of Burnham-On-Sea’s Princess Theatre has introduced a raft of improvements at the facilities during her first month in the role.
As Burnham-On-Sea.com first reported, Beccy Armory, pictured, was recently recruited by Burnham and Highbridge Town Council as the theatre’s Business Development Officer to turn around the finances of the theatre, which has a large financial deficit.
In a report to town councillors on Monday evening (October 21st), Beccy said: “The Princess has achieved a lot in my first month.”
But she cautioned: “There is a lot to do. I have inherited a mass of inefficient processes and a lack of policy and procedure. I have every intention of sorting through this whilst raising our profile and bringing in funding and investment.”
She said that contracts with performers “have changed dramatically and offer greater protection for The Princess in terms of cancellation. These are already being rolled out with each new deal.”
Electronic tickets have been implemented and Beccy says that already 60 per cent of tickets are e-tickets, which “is driving down printing costs and traffic at tills on event nights.”
She added that work on e-marketing has led to the number of registered users increasing to 400. Regular newsletters are being planned alongside social media posts and a new-look brochure.
Councillors gave the go-ahead for a £4,000 new Princess Theatre website, saying the current one is “inefficient and confusing.” A recommendation to take the funding from ‘earmarked reserves’ will be considered at the next full Town Council meeting.
Beccy went on to say that she will be looking at the cafe’s feasibility, adding “this space needs some dramatic changes based on the current income and expenditure.”
She added that fundraising will be needed to improve the theatre’s artistic programme, and also said the theatre’s ticketing system is “antiquated and inefficient” and that research is to be carried out on a new one.
Beccy also added that “we are missing out on the daytime market for classes and workshops, and this will start to build over the next year.”
She added that work is also underway on building and retaining volunteers to encourage and engage them.
A new ‘premises plan’ has also been created that takes in all areas of the building, including health and safety and improvement plans.
Beccy added that the events programme from May 2020 onwards will see a “real step change”.
She added that The Friends Of The Princess is to change from an unincorporated organisation to a “foundation charitable incorporated organisation” which will make it a “much better vehicle for fundraising.”
Town councillors agreed with a proposal for rental prices for the theatre’s facilities to be increased in line with inflation.
Beccy concluded: “I am confident that so much of this can be achieved quickly and will lay the ground for deficit reduction.”
