Stewart Drew, Chief Executive of De La Warr Pavilion speaking at Everyone An Artist? Symposium 30th October 2015

1. www.dlwp.com
Stewart Drew, Director & CEO Twitter @fob51

4. www.dlwp.com
CULTURE
De La Warr Pavilion, the largest creative ‘arts’ centre east of Brighton.
Over 500m2 of Gallery Space – facing the sea.
1500 Capacity live venue featuring national & international acts.
Dedicated education studio.
Lunch, Shopping, Weddings and Tea & Cake.
Fully accessible and mostly free.

5. Earl De La Warr, May
1935
“A modernist building of
world renown that will
become a crucible for
creating a new model of
cultural provision in an
English seaside town which
is going to lead to the
growth, prosperity and the
greater culture of our
town”

6. The People’s Palace

8. Chronology
• 1970s - Bexhill declines as a resort
• The building begins to fall into disrepair
• 1986 – Building listed - Grade One
• 1998 - Weatherspoon’s proposal / threat
• 2003 - Charitable Trust established
• 2000 to 2004 – Refurbishment
• 2005 - DLWP reopens as centre for
contemporary arts

10. Chronology
2015 –
10 Years since refurbishment
80th anniversary

11. www.dlwp.com
CULTURE
390,000 visitors
50,000 tickets sold per annum
130 Evening Performances
6000 Participants in L&P programmes
We are the original South Bank!

12. 4 Years ago…
• Previously known as the People’s Palace, we were seen as “elite” –
with our back to the town, sitting on our “lofty perch”.
• We were wary of our local audiences and defensive in our
communications.
• Struggling catering and retail business.
• Irregular live programme attracted limited audiences. We were seen
as “never open”.
• No audience engagement outside the Learning and Participation
Programme which concentrated on young people, alienating the older
demographic, which make up the majority of the population of the
town.

13. We didn’t understand….
• Mis-match between DLWP aspirations and those of local
people
• People had built their own connections and created their
own, sometimes collective, memories of the Pavilion
• People’s relationships with DLWP were complex, multi-
faceted , intergenerational, personal, historical
• £9 million, new management and contemporary art was
seen as a threat to those memories and relationships

14. …I’ve got a great idea

15. Social Capital Study
• How could we take the best of 2012 and use it to
help us build a new, sustainable and resilient future?
• Enter East Sussex County Council, who commissioned
three studies to inform a new Cultural Strategy. We
were invited to be the subject of a Social Capital
Study –perfect timing for us as an organisation who
were primed to take a fresh approach to understand
and grow our audiences.

16. East Sussex Cultural Research Project
De La Warr Pavilion
Analysis of Generation of Social Capital
Report
by Nick Ewbank, Stephanie Mills and Fred Gray

17. Cultural Change
• Cultural Change is a slow process – this was just the
start…
• The Social Capital report identified the work we need
to do to keep people connected with the fabric of
the building.
• Most importantly, the report gave us the confidence
to put relationships with our audiences back into our
business plan.

20. Of Monsters & Men

24. www.dlwp.com
SOCIETY
Health & Wellbeing
Five Ways to Wellbeing:
Connect - with people around you
Be active – walk, run, cycle, dance
Take notice – catch sight of the beautiful, savour the moment
Keep learning – makes you more confident as well as being fun
Give – do something nice for a friend or a stranger.

31. Centralised

32. Distributed

33. “Whether they like it or not, cultural
organisations are social objects –
they're places where we make social
capital.”
Dan Thompson, Revolutionary Arts (2014)

34. We learnt:
By strengthening how people connect with us we
can:
• Increase our business
• Build relationships with our audiences
• Enrich our programme without compromise
• Increase opportunities for DLWP and audiences
• Become more resilient and sustainable
• Become more relevant to people’s lives

35. www.dlwp.com
CULTURE
Variety of access points for audiences,
from family theatre to experiemental art.
We are in the business of providing experiences for people…
Inspiring people
Creating Opportunities
Providing social space

37. Stewart Drew, Director & CEO
De La Warr Pavilion
www.dlwp.com/about-us/
Twitter @dlwp @fob51