Annual Review 2008-9

The Shakespeare Globe Trust has announced details of its 2008-9 Annual Review, which covers trading activity up to 31 October 2009.

The Shakespeare Globe Trust Annual Review for 2008-9 is now available to read and download.
The Shakespeare Globe Trust 2008-9 Annual Review

The report reveals the best ever year for theatre box office; the start of building work towards a new education and rehearsal centre; increased visitor numbers to the Exhibition and Theatre Tour; a new partnership with Opus Arte to film and distribute three of the Shakespeare productions; the bequest of John Wolfson’s collection of 16th and 17th-century books for the future library and archive; and another successful year of ‘Playing Shakespeare with Deutsche Bank’ – which provided 10,000 free tickets for students across London to experience a live Shakespeare production at the Globe.

Other key features of the Review include:
* 74% of the Trust’s income was generated by mission-related activities in the form of admission charges to the theatre and exhibition, together with fees for educational services.
* The Young Hearts theatre season played to over 345,000 theatre goers, averaging 87% of full capacity across the entire season, representing a 4% increase on last year
* Approximately 40% of the theatre audience paid only £5 to stand as ‘groundlings’
* The Exhibition and Theatre Tour welcomed a record number of visitors – over 300,000 – representing an increase of 13% over last year
* Globe Education welcomed over 100,000 people during the period, through workshops, public events, performances and courses
* Income from the Trust’s catering facilities grew by 29% and retail activities achieved growth of 18% on the previous year

Chairman Roger Parry comments in his opening statement: “Good news in the world economy was rare this year, but arts in the UK continued to defy the spirit of financial gloom. And the Globe was no exception. It has been a bumper year on Bankside”.

Chief Executive Peter Kyle goes on to say “The Trust can look back on 2008-09 with a sense of real achievement, and looks forward to 2010 in that spirit of renewed excitement with which we all greet a new programme of activities which seems ever to expand in scale and ambition”.

Shakespeare’s Globe continues to operate without annual Government subsidy. Almost three-quarters of the Trust’s incoming financial resources is from primary purposes in the form of admission charges to the theatre and exhibition, together with fees from educational services. Secondary revenue is largely generated from visitor spending in the on-site shop, catering facilities and income from hospitality events. Any surplus is directly reinvested in the long-term upkeep of the Globe and the further development of the project.

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