Fiona O’Mahony: UK

Name of your organisation: Farnham Maltings

 

Website of your organisation: www.farnhammaltings.com

 

How is your organisation funded?

 

Building generated income (Room hire, Cinema, Theatre, Studio Rents, catering franchise, Market, Car park) = 767,432 EUR

 

Grants (Arts Council of England, Waverley Borough Council, Surrey County Arts, Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, Old Firestation, Festival of Words, Other grant) = 681,833 EUR

 

Explain what your organisation is about (to somebody who does not know about it).

 

Farnham Maltings is a creative organization that increases the range and quantity of people engaging in and enjoying the arts, particularly in the villages and market towns of the south east of England. It achieves this through the delivery of four programmes of work: Supporting new and emerging artists, producing new work, increasing the market place for the arts and encouraging new participants.

 

We are a former tannery and brewery with 7 spaces to make work, 20 artist studios for creative businesses and 3 resident performance companies in house. In the nearby towns of Godalming and Cranleigh we also manage 7 more artist studios and an arts centre with a 300 seat theatre.

 

Descibe how your organisation is engaged in international cooperation and exchange.

 

Farnham Maltings aims to promote and market our new and exciting venue to people both locally, nationally and internationally. We have a core interest in encouraging new and innovative work that has an international flavour. We live in the shadow of London and aim to attract people away from the city in order to experience art on their doorsteps.

 

Farnham Maltings is constantly looking for new ways of engaging with people internationally. This year, Farnham Maltings is running caravan, a new initiative that aims to strengthen international networks and expand the range of opportunities for performing artists and companies in the South East England to work abroad. There are 2 strands: caravan dialogues is a series of conversations starting in Autumn 07 that prepares companies for working internationally; followed by an international assembly scheduled for 11 -13 May 08 in Brighton in partnership with the Brighton Festival.

 

Farnham Maltings has a space for international residencies. Artists from different disciplines can use the space for up to 3 months at a time to make work and establish links with the local community and network of artists.

 

Farnham Maltings commissions work that tours internationally (Lone Twin, StopGap) and works with international artists (Kazuko Hohki, The Polish Play, Sakoba Dance Theatre)

 

Farnham Maltings runs an annual Festival of Craft that calls for submissions from all over the world.

 

In 2007, Farnham Maltings joined Trans Europe Halles to open up more possibilities for international collaboration and to look at how we might learn from European arts centre models to improve our own organization.

 

Farnham Maltings has selling networks for our resident visual artists throughout the world which have been established from visiting the International Gift Show in New York.

 

We are members of Ville et Metier, Paris, which has helped open up our craft networks.

 

Describe how your art space relates to the local community. If you are about to open an art space, explain how you related to the local community in your previous experiences.

 

Farnham Maltings believes that the arts articulate ideas, bring people together and help us make sense of the world. By encouraging people who live in our villages and towns to participate in the arts, as audiences and makers, we will better enable our rural communities to contribute to contemporary Britain. In the last year Farnham Maltings has provided support and given advice to 20 sole trading companies, 30 theatre and dance companies and 50 individual groups of amateur creators.

 

 

 

 

Some Examples of work in the local community
new Arrivals - a monthly meeting for people that are new to Farnham and have come from new countries in the EU.

 

 

theatre club - a monthly meeting of theatre ambassadors in the community to help build an audience for theatre that is made in the building.

 

 

the Polish Play – our in house play that relies on the spectator as maker. The piece was made specifically for communities in village halls and not for the arts centre context.

 

 

youth groups: - we run youth theatre groups in Farnham and 8 other communities in the Borough of Waverley.

 

 

U3A: – we are the home of the University of 3^rd age, daily creative events for retired people ranging from dance and art classes to international trekking holidays.

 

exhibitions – we run regular exhibitions that attract both people in the community and people nationally and internationally. (Maltings Festival, Sugar Craft, Festival of Crafts,)

 

 

What are the major internal and external challenges your organisation is facing?

 

Internal challenges

 

 

-finding a regular audience for theatre/art exhibitions in the building.

 

-living in a town where people are adverse to change.

 

-finding a core staff team that are ambassadors for the building, and the work that we do in the building.

 

 

-communicating what the Farnham Maltings is and does and what it could mean to the community and the UK at large.

 

External challenges

 

-arts council funding will be reduced from October 2007 which will affect the number of companies that we work with and the number of theatres that can book work in the region.

 

-finding playful and meaningful ways to lure the local community from art and entertainment in London to art and entertainment on their doorstep.

 

-making clear links with FUCA, the UK’s largest arts college.

 

-fostering a sense of pride and ownership in the community for the Farnham Maltings.

 

What are the main achievements and strengths of your organisation?

 

Farnham Maltings is regularly funded by Arts Council England and receives financial and moral support from the town. We also have strong links with the town council who support our aims and ambitions and have branded the town Farnham Creates. We have built a national reputation amongst the arts community for being a hot-house of new work.

 

 

Achievements over the last 18 months:

 

-redecorating the café and finding new caterers which has doubled the amount of people that enter the building.

 

-outsourcing our music programming and comedy programming making them self sufficient and financially risk-free.

 

-making and nationally touring The Polish Play twice and being told ‘this is the best piece of theatre audiences have ever seen’.

 

-having a presence at the Edinburgh Festival 07 as part of the British Council Showcase to foster links with international promoters (Traverse Theatre, Theatre Passe Muraille, Push Festival – Vancouver,Canada).

 

 

Strengths of our organisation:

 

- we own our own building (the people of the town bought the building in 1969 from the local brewery)

 

- our reputation from working with good artists attracts good quality artists from the UK and the rest of the world.

 

- we have good arts networks in the UK (the Artistic Director is on the board of the regional arts council www.artscouncil.org.uk and chair of the Independent Theatre Council, www.itc-arts.org

 

- we have good arts networks throughout the rest of the world (we are members of Trans Europe Halles; we regularly attend and speak at international festivals).

 

- we have 7 spaces to make work in the building (art, craft, theatre, dance).

 

- We are based in the town centre and own a car park.

 

- we are a 5minute walk from the train station that has direct links to London.