Interview with Professor Dame Joan Stringer, Chair of the Board, Capital Theatres and Fiona Gibson, CEO, Capital Theatres
A momentous battle for survival and redesigning the future: Capital Theatres Board and Staff aligned and forging the future together
Capital Theatres is Scotland’s largest theatres charity, operating the Kings and Festival Theatres and The Studio in Edinburgh. Over the years they have hosted major theatrical productions from Phantom to Les Miserables, Mary Poppins to the Scottish Ballet. They are an integral part of the Edinburgh International Festival but when COVID-19 hit they had to close their doors and fight for survival.
Dame Joan Stringer, Chair of the Board and CEO Fiona Gibson - fresh to the role during the pandemic - discuss the relationship between management and the board, and how creative and innovative thinking has ensured they remain masters of their own destiny. Working together as a team the management, board and staff have all played an integral role in the organisation’s survival. In the words of the Chair, Dame Joan Stringer, It’s about taking personal responsibility as a leadership team, and not expecting it all to be done by your Director of Development.
Given the current environment with COVID-19, and its severe impact on the arts, what are some of the tough decisions you had to make quickly at Capital Theatres Trust?
Joan – It was a bitter blow and big shock when we were forced to close our venues just like that. And just before a new Chief Exec - Fiona - joined us. We still haven’t reopened our venues but thankfully we’ve not had to make one a single member of the core team redundant. Fiona still hasn’t physically met the team, but is already doing a stellar job. We’ve seen our way through some really difficult times and we’re still here, strong and fighting.
Fiona – I joined having come from another set of theatres where we had exactly the same decisions to make - we had to close the venues and put the majority of staff on furlough. By the time I got to Capital Theatres those decisions had already been made. From March until the end of October, 92% of our staff have been furloughed.
Our mission at Capital Theatres is to inspire a lifelong love of theatre, so I felt it was very important that we didn’t just mothball the venues but instead keep our mission alive. So we moved all of our artistic activity online, creating a whole brand around our community and creative engagement work under the banner of Raise the Curtain. It means we are still providing much needed community services that are making a difference to so many people.
Before March, all of our fundraising had been focused on the capital programme for the Kings Redevelopment Project. One of the major decisions the Board had to make before I arrived was to announce the the delay of the project by 12 months. Since then we have worked closely with our patrons and audiences to keep their faith that we would return to those great buildings. We might be Scotland’s largest theatres charity, and a very well managed organisation, but very few organisations can survive almost a year of zero trading. We couldn’t immediately access the funding we needed to keep afloat so we quickly changed the Case for Support and began a public crowdfunding appeal to reflect the emergency we were facing.
Fiona, it has been a baptism of fire for you in your new role as CEO, one that you took on whilst the country was in lockdown. You’ve managed major change and a financial crisis (virtually) with the support of your leadership team and Board. Can you share your thoughts and experience on leading an organisation during such a challenging year?
My management consultancy background taught me to approach situations like this in three phases: crisis, adapt and sustain. When I started, we were in the middle of the crisis phase, so for me, the most important thing was to be open, honest and transparent with the staff, the Board, our patrons, the producers and the audience.
It was crucial to quickly build trusted relationships from the off. Meeting people on Zoom for the first time means you go straight into each other’s lives in a much more personal way. I was zooming into their living rooms, meeting them often along with their families, children and pets! It definitely helped break down barriers.
And the message to staff was simple “Here are the current financial challenges we face. We need to pull together and dig deep to ensure we try to retain as many jobs as possible and sustain our livelihoods as best we can until that one day when we can reopen our theatre doors and welcome everyone back again.”
Fiona, what is the one thing that has pleasantly surprised you over the past few months about the adaptability of Capital Theatres?
Firstly, the staff are an amazing family. They embraced me and made me feel very welcome right away. The decisions we made were always from a position of care for each other and for the future of the Theatres. Secondly, there is so much love for the buildings and for the organisation. Our crowdfunding campaign raised nearly £87,000 in a four-week period. Our online petition through Change.org collected over 13,000 signatures. During difficult times, people still gave what they could and that showed me a true demonstration of love and support.
When looking at what Capital Theatres have been able to achieve over the last few months, major staff restructuring, accessing emergency grants and keeping your fundraising front and centre while leveraging your key celebrity supporters, it is clear that the relationship between you and Joan is an exemplar to the sector. However, we also know that this is not always the case. What do you both believe are the key success factors of the Chair/CEO relationship?
Joan – There is obviously a formal basis for the relationship but the shift to online in many ways has made it easier as we have greater accessibility to each other. We obviously still have our key areas of responsibility to fulfil and you have to keep a certain formality in the relationship so we both know where we are. Fiona is open and transparent and builds trust quickly. We share those traits, which creates a mutual respect of boundaries, experience, and what we each bring to our respective roles.
The Board is a formal entity and has its own fiduciary responsibilities, but we’ve managed to help the organisation steer the right course and generate some of the fantastic support that we’ve seen along the way. I like to think we have worked well together on making that happen.
Fiona – From the beginning we set up weekly calls and established where we could support each other and the Trust. I’m very lucky that Joan and the Board understand and respect the difference between Exec and Non-Exec roles, which means my team can get on with the day to day activities whilst sharing ideas, thoughts and opinions with the Board who always provide focused advice and feedback.
Joan and I have a great WhatsApp relationship and we will check in with each other on anything that’s going on. We launched the major political campaign around emergency funding together and shared the calls with the MPs, the MSPs, and the Councillors. It showed Capital Theatres had a strong, consistent and united front.
You are describing a high functioning team where there’s respect, understanding and clarity on roles but sometimes that’s not always the case. Joan, in your Higher Education background have you come across relationships on this level not working so well, and how do you think they can be improved?
You’re right, these relationships are absolutely critical, and they must be fully focused on the organisation achieving its goal, staying on target, and delivering its mission and objectives. I have always worked very hard with any governing Chair to make sure they were fully informed and always got along well. I truly believe that over the last nine months, we have got through this crisis by working together. We’ve established a COVID Working Group of the Board that keeps everything aligned across the objectives and mission of the Trust. And communication is crucial in all of this.
Fiona and the team are excellent at keeping the Board up to speed with what’s happening to keep us a high functioning operation.
You’ve both talked positively about the efficiency of using technology and we’ve heard this before from other leaders. It seems some of us are enjoying this method of communication and finding it more efficient, as it cuts down on travelling, for example. Do you think you’ll continue to embrace technology in this way?
Joan – Yes, but in a blended way. I don’t want all my meetings on Zoom from home; I’m desperate to get out! I’ve seen from Capital Theatres and other Boards I’m on that platforms like Zoom help them meet more frequently and develop a sense of informality. It's helped people get to know each other in a way they didn’t before, and that’s helped make the business of the Board more efficient.
Fiona – I agree with Joan, it’s about building a hybrid model for the future. Taking our community engagement activity in particular, it’s been great to reach out and include a many more people sharing in our activities due to moving them online. We’ve had people as far as Canada participate in our People Living with Dementia activities and we definitely want that to continue.
Joan, recent research has shown that nearly 75% of theatres undergoing capital projects say they will no longer be able to secure funding to complete the work due to COVID-19. As Chair of the Board, can you share how Capital Theatres is not losing sight of its future ambitions such as the Kings Project, while driving forward tough operating decisions in the interim?
The Kings Theatre (part of Capital Theatres) is absolutely central to who we are and what we do. Not only for Capital Theatres itself but Edinburgh, Scotland and the wider world. The performing arts sector would be far poorer without it. It’s absolutely essential that we continue to push to make sure that we can deliver that project, and funding is a major - but not impossible - challenge.
Pausing the campaign was by far the hardest decision that the Board had to make early on in the pandemic. We’ve had to divert funds and we’re continuing to press for more emergency funding and I’m still optimistic that we will achieve this. The support that we’ve had from our stakeholders - people who have performed in the Kings, our Patrons, Government, and local politicians - has been astonishing. It truly demonstrates that the Kings Theatre will be redeveloped and continue to produce wonderful work that enrichens peoples lives.
Fiona, there have been many words used to describe these times from uncertain to unprecedented. There is a lot of data, mostly US, that shows following major economic downturns giving and philanthropy continues to grow, although it may stall slightly or flatline temporarily. How are you planning to ensure the role of philanthropy at Capital Theatres in the coming years is not diminished?
It’s about having a clear purpose and strategy. I talked at the beginning about a ‘crisis, adapt and sustain’ model. The crisis focused on the emergency funding and that conversation happened right at the outset. We were very clear about the challenges we faced and now we’ve started to move into the adapt phase, exploring the real desires and motivations of our patrons and key stakeholders for the long term.
As theatres hosting major national and international tours, the producers are finding it very difficult to project with any certainty which shows they can quickly remount and bring back out on the road when it is safe and allowable to do so. Operationally, this brings major challenges for next year; we may be able to open in Q2 2021 but we may not have the right shows available because the producers aren’t ready. We recognised and responded to this challenge early on and are now looking at blending our presenting model with some co-producing locally in Scotland, and commissioning work from local talent. We immediately started talking to patrons about this new strategic direction, explaining the rationale, and they can see we’re planning resilience for the future and through committing to some added artistic creativity.
Capital Theatres really has and continues to fight to keep the theatre doors open. Until very recently you had received no government funding, which led to lobbying the Scottish Government for urgent financial support. Can you describe what that process was like, not giving up, and not taking no for an answer!
Joan – We had to mount a really strong campaign to pressure the Government, and that relied on persuading politicians, influencers, key stakeholders and our patrons to get behind the campaign. Just because we were well managed with some funds in the bank didn’t mean that we weren’t close to insolvency, or making staff redundant, or being near to closing the Kings Theatre.
Fiona – There was one very pivotal Board meeting where we talked through all possible scenarios, and made a decision on the best option for the Kings and the organisation. I mention it because it was a brilliant example of having to make a clear decision under tough circumstances, and then travelling that path firmly and with conviction.
Fiona - As well as lobbying the government, which is no mean feat, your team have also undertaken a hugely successful crowdfunding campaign. The initial target being £35,000 and you went on to raise over £85,000 in four weeks. What did this do to lift the spirits of your staff who are working desperately hard to save these theatres?
Words cannot describe how much those results lifted the team, along with the outpouring of love in the comments provided by the public on the crowdfunder platform. We’ve since shared those supporter thoughts and words in our ongoing public campaigns and indeed have gone one step further by commissioning some artwork as part of a supporter thank you.
Another uplifting moment for the team was our staging of EIF online behind closed doors – you may have seen it – it was called ‘My Light Shines On’. This involved filming various performance pieces from many of the national companies including Scottish Ballet, Scottish Opera and the National Theatre of Scotland. Our staff provided the technical support, and it was a real joy to see how important this opportunity to be back in the venues, doing the work they love, despite everything that has happened this year.
Fiona, how have you been able to keep spirits and staff morale up during such a turbulent year? What advice would you give to other leaders who are going through similar struggles at this time?
It’s a bit trite but Communicate, Communicate, Communicate. Being new to the organisation, the staff didn’t yet know me and I wanted to show the team my authentic self. We have monthly all staff Zoom calls and I do a weekly staff update, along with a very ‘open Zoom door’ policy. I want to be consistent in my own leadership style so that everyone knows what to expect from me. I try to be completely open, honest and accessible, and encourage my team to be the same. If we don’t know something, we will say so. It takes courage to be a little bit vulnerable.
At the very outset of the pandemic we established an employee forum and talked to all staff about the tough decisions we had to make as an organisation. We were very fortunate that a couple of our patrons delivers team coaching and they offered to provide the staff representatives with resilience and confidence coaching to help them cope through these challenging times. We’re definitely keeping this staff forum for the future, now turning its purpose more towards staff health and wellbeing, and ways we can keep motivation high. We want to keep people engaged and we’ve already held our Zoom Christmas Party!
I think we all agree that fundraising as a tool may increase in importance over time, and we know that leadership plays a significant role in the success and growth of fundraising in organisations. Do you both have a particular message that you would give to other leaders not quite as engaged as you are. What’s the most important thing to do now and in the future to grow their philanthropy?
Joan – They have to get engaged. It’s about taking personal responsibility as a leadership team, and not expecting it all to be done by your Director of Development. Believe in what you’re asking them to support and empathise with where they’re coming from and what they want out of it. If those two things come together, that for me is the recipe for success.
Fiona – Joan is absolutely right. It’s about being passionate about the Case for Support because if that is on target it will definitely resonate with your donors. It is also about having a relationship with your donors and not just asking them for support all the time. You need to understand them, what they want and their personal motivations.
We’ve engaged with our key patrons involving them in developing our repositioned Case for Support. They provided advice in where they think we should be heading, what they think we should be doing differently, and what they have seen elsewhere. This is how you build trusted relationships, by having the courage to ask for advice and support.
The arts sector across the globe has been impacted significantly due to COVID-19. What will be the one major change we will see across the arts and cultural landscape in the next three years?
Joan – I think going forward there will be greater interdependency, because this pandemic has really brought the sector together, and it's become clear how interconnected we all are. That’s definitely a very good thing to have come out of this. Never forget we are in a sector that is enormously creative. That’s what it’s all about and I’m positive we’ll find creative solutions to these problems. I have loved some of the online productions that kept us going through the lockdown period, and we’ve tried to expand the reach of theatre through some of the work we do with dementia or looked after children. I would like to think that this new experience we have will enable us to make our work more accessible to a wider range of communities. Exactly how I don’t know, I’ll leave that to the professionals!
Fiona – Cultural organisations often feel they are in competition with each other for the same limited availability for funding. For example, everybody has a youth offering, a health and wellbeing offering, and I wonder about the effectiveness of this approach. In Edinburgh a group of us are beginning to look at where our deep competencies really lie - what does each of us excel in, so that we work together more collaboratively to deliver broader and better propositions that can really make a difference inside the communities we serve. I think funders will be interested in this more creative and joined up approach. They will see organisations innovating in order to provide a better service and reaching more people in the long run. That’s something I am passionate about helping create.