Annual Impact Report

Bishop’s Stortford Museum & Arts CIO trading as
Annual Impact Report
April 1 st 2023 - 31 st Mar 2024

Welcome
Since its founding in 1938, South Mill
Arts has grown into Bishop’s Stortford’s
premier destination for heritage, arts,
and community engagement. As we
evolve to meet the changing needs
of our increasingly diverse town, our
challenge is to adapt our cultural
offerings in ways that enrich community
life.
In 2023, we marked 60 years since first
opening our doors and delivering a vast
array of events in the auditorium and
museum. Our historic venue continues
to host live music, drama, comedy, and
pantomime, just as it did in the 1960s
when acts like Pink Floyd and Stevie
Wonder graced the stage.
Our museum celebrates local history
and residents’ lives, hosts an annual
Santa’s Grotto in the Victorian room,
and showcases our Young Curators’
work.
As this financial year closes we look
forward to welcoming you to South
Mill Arts to enjoy an exciting packed
programme in the coming months.
Contents
Who we are
What we are
Who we serve
Statistics
What we do
Summary
3
4 - 5
6 - 7
8 - 9
10 - 14
15

Our Vision
• To maintain a vibrant, sustainable and accessible venue that
will enable us to deliver our charitable objects and
• To sit at the heart of the local community and be the focal point
for cultural, social, historic and artistic activities in Bishop’s
Stortford and the surrounding area
Our Values
• We are here for our customers
• We are honest and respectful of others
• We work as one team
• We are committed to continuous improvement
• We are proud to make a positive difference to the community
3

What we are
South Mill Arts serves as a vital community space for
Bishop’s Stortford, housing not only large productions
and shows but also a diverse range of groups, clubs, and
classes. Originally a single auditorium and museum, the
venue has expanded over time, growing our customer
base to become an inclusive, engaging hub welcoming all
members of the community.
Maltings Bar
During the daytime, our bustling
lounge is home to many local groups,
friends catching up over a coffee,
business meetings or those enjoying
a slice of delicious cake after taking
one of the many classes on offer.
In the evening, enjoy drinks before
a show, attend a charity quiz night,
or listen to music in the live lounge.
There are always plenty of engaging
events and social opportunities to
enjoy.
Auditorium
With retractable seating and
state-of-the-art sound and cinema
technology, our historic 300-seat
stage hosts a wide array of events,
including pantomimes, live concerts,
stand-up comedy, family-friendly
shows, theatrical productions, art
film screenings, and more, offering
entertainment options for all tastes.
4

Museum
The Bishop’s Stortford Museum is housed in a grade II listed building that tells
the captivating history of Bishop’s Stortford and its surrounding areas through
artefacts and displays. We warmly welcome visitors of all ages and backgrounds,
especially local schools and groups, to explore the museum. Young explorers can
dress up, use magnifying glasses, and engage with hands-on exhibits.
An exciting program of walks, talks, storytimes, and trails runs throughout the
year. Our staff also provides curriculum-enriching activities to support local
schools. Additionally, the museum serves as the designated repository for
archaeological archives found in the vicinity, with climate-controlled storage
spaces designed specifically for preserving artefacts.
Dance Studio and Meeting Rooms
Our classes primarily take place in the dance studio. We also offer three
conference rooms - the Gilbey, Cedar, and Linden rooms - all of which are
available for classes, conferences, meetings and rehearsal hire. Our facilities
offer activities for all ages, including children’s dance classes, adult fitness,
dance rehearsals, baby classes, and more.
For further information please visit our site: www.southmillarts.co.uk or contact
our Event Manager on 01279 710200, or email us on info@southmillarts.co.uk.
5

Who we serve
South Mill Arts provides the diverse community of Bishop’s Stortford with an
inclusive venue that proudly supports a wide range of theatrical and cinema
events, an annual PRIDE festival, local church gatherings, dance performances,
inclusive disco nights, educational classes, and family-friendly activities.
Audience Feedback
Excellent variety of shows, always a friendly welcome.
Cinderella - Excellent pantomime! All the actors were fantastic, so
incredibly processional and talented. Great production too! Lighting,
sound and music, so so well done.
I love the whole ambience of the place and the shows are always
excellent. Despite being a widow and visiting on my own, I never feel
out of place. Thank you!!
It’s a lovely venue with helpful staff and a welcoming bar area with
garden views. The venue has hosted many famous acts, and posters
of these acts are hung on the walls.. I’ve always had a great time
here and have seen many of the various shows and films…
I attend SMA quite regularly for different events and always have a
positive experience, the staff are always friendly and knowledgeable.
6

Promoter Feedback
I just wanted to email and say thank
you so much for having us with Alice in
Wonderland yesterday. Our company
specifically mentioned how welcoming and
helpful the venue team were so please
pass on our thanks to everyone involved.
Best venue to date on the tour,
very thankful for all the prework
completed and best crew to date
- Pop Princesses
- Alice in Wonderland
Very thankful for all the hard work to
make their events much better sounding
than at previous venues, extremely
happy with the technical supplied
Super happy,
everything went as
per schedule
- Ronnie Scotts
the most efficient
and pleasant crew
on tour to date!
- The Haunting
- Acoustic Club
Fabulous, so nice to have
such positive technicians
who go above and beyond
to get the best out of our
production.
- Jo Ellis
...very thankful
for all the support
and assistance
on the day – very
happy
- Brett, BSMB
Richard (TM) was so
very impressed with the
prework done prior to
their arrival, they have
been coming here for
many years and this was
their best experience with
Technical
- Elvis Years
7

Statistics
HEADLINE
Figures
Overall Footfall
162,488
Museum Footfall
9,734
Tickets Sold For All
Shows & Events 40,485
Total Shows & Events
Volunteer Hours
481
1,875
8

Promotional Shows
58
Panto Performances 30
Schools Panto Performances 16
Music In The Bar Events 32
Museum Events Onsite
91
Museum Outreach Events Offsite 8
Museum School Events 9
Santa’s Grotto Sessions 64
Community Hires
84
Live Screenings 15
Cinema Screenings 74
We generate £3.28 of social value for
every £1 of the grant given to us by
Bishop’s Stortford Council
9

What we do
Drama
The past year has brought unprecedented
success to South Mill Arts’ drama season,
with our six productions achieving record-high
audience capacity. Macbeth sold out 75%
of available seats, while The Haunting and
Sherlock followed close behind at 66% and
56%, respectively.
This marks a drastic improvement over last
year’s capacity. Looking ahead, we hope to
build on this momentum by continuing to bring
entertaining, engaging productions to delight
local audiences.
Music
Our musical highlights of the past year included sold-out performances by Uncle
Funk, Fleetwood Mac, and Crocodile Mock.
Following the success of our midweek music nights, we have rebranded them as ‘Live
Lounge’ to showcase our local talent and give artists a platform to share their music.
For the past 3 years, we have enjoyed a partnership with Retune, a Bishop’s Stortford
charity that uses live music as a creative outlet to promote mindfulness and
wellbeing. Retune now shares Live Lounge events with The Acoustic Club and the
Moon Jammers, two regular hires that have grown in popularity since relocating from
the Half Moon pub to South Mill Arts. In 2024, the Live Lounge hosted local artist
Alex Outlaw.
10

Cinema
Our cinema offering goes from
strength to strength. We have
enjoyed fantastic turn out for
programme of second releases,
Timeless Tuesdays, National
Theatre and Royal Opera House
screenings.
We are thrilled to also host a
series of screenings for ‘Exhibition
on Screen’, Which offer a chance
to discover some of the greatest
artworks all at your local cinema!
Most recently we welcomed a
record audience for the screening
of ‘One Life’.
Panto and Grotto
We are delighted to report that panto this year was Cinderella performed by a professional
cast with a local junior ensemble and was attended by an audience of 7,496 plus 21
schools over 46 performances.
Our Santa’s Grotto sold out to 509 people. The visit included making a craft then a story
with Santa in our Victorian room in the museum followed by cookies and hot chocolate.
11

What we do
Museum Activities
Our children’s holiday events offer
activities, craft and trails to bring a variety
of topics to life. This year they have ranged
from Victorian washing to scarecrows with
our recent Chinese Dragon event welcoming
over 100 people a day.
Primary schools have joined us to cover Bishop’s
Stortford history, Cecil Rhodes and the Victorians.
A typical visit includes investigating artefacts,
working with maps and a history walk through town.
Our outreach activities for all ages have attracted over
2,489 visitors who have all engaged in the rich history of
the town and our museum exhibits.
The museum has seen a varied and exciting program of events over the past year.
The children’s crafts activities have been well attended and the most popular talks this year
have been ‘Stortford and the Wars’, followed by ‘Herts Murders That Changed Society’, both
of which sold out!
Pride
We continue to support Stort Pride. Their Pride event in August attracted over 300 visitors
and we have recently hosted a film screening with them.
12

Community Events
Our theatre lounge is used daily free of charge
to our local groups, which could be U3A playing
Bridge, Monday Knitters, Ma-jong group and many
more! We hire our theatre lounge for local parties,
celebrations, and wakes.
The Big Makers Fair was our first partnership with
HVA in September when local artists displayed their
work in our auditorium.
Our recent Tech Tours and Workshops have been
really popular and are soon to expand in August
2024 with a week-long theatre workshop.
Visual Arts
Our newly formed Visual Arts Group which consists of Trustees, staff and volunteers has
completed many tasks during the year.
Working in partnership with Retune we had the opportunity to launch the ‘No Strings
Attached’ art project with the works displayed in the theatre lounge. The project raised over
£20K split between Retune and Gibson Gives and gave us an international profile on social
media.
• Open Studios within the museum during September 2023 the partnership will continue
into 2024
• Big Makers Exhibition September 2023 will be repeated in 2024
• Herts Regional College and Herts Visual Arts will exhibit in 2024
• Artist in Residence - a miniaturist is working on the Doll’s House in the Museum;
Toni, sculptor
• Lecture programme – in partnership with The Art’s Society Bishop’s Stortford
• Artist documentary screenings – to begin in 2024
13

Partners
• Grove Cottage hold Adult Support Clubs weekly at South Mill Arts, where people
with a learning disability can meet, make friends and take part in various
activities including games and arts and crafts.
• Herts and Essex drama students use the down time in our auditorium for their
drama and dance classes.
• Herts Inclusive Theatre hired our dance studio for two weeks of workshops and
have scheduled three bespoke workshops, designed specifically for South Mill
Arts, that are aimed at children and teenagers with additional needs.
• HRC a new formed partnership. It is hoped to engage the students in displaying
work in our ArtSpace, performing in the auditorium and learning the technical
side of theatre via our Technical staff.
• Hummingbird, a local cancer charity, have expanded this year to use the
Maltings Bar and two conference rooms in addition to hosting a well-being
event. This has helped them increase the number of meetings and available
appointments by 100%.
• Simply Sosa hold regular dance classes, welcoming all levels of fitness and
ability and have also hosted a free well-being event in the auditorium.
• Stort Pride have returned to South Mill Arts as a base for their Pride event in
August. With two days of events, information and entertainment, it has proved
to be an important day in the local calendar.
• The Arts Society Bishop’s Stortford are welcomed every month for informative
lectures. This partnership has evolved over the past 12 months by South Mill
Arts publishing the events in our brochure and provide a valued audience for
our new Arts Screenings.
• Town Council who provide an annual grant to support SMA
• Unique Disco runs a regular inclusive disco at South Mill Arts which is
accessible to the whole community.
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Summary
We would like to thank the Town Council
for agreeing to support South Mill Arts for
a further four years with their Operational
Grant of £255,000pa which is very
important to us.
Even after receipt of that grant it still costs
£2,400 per day to keep South Mill arts
up and running as a Museum showcasing
our local history, a venue for all kinds of
cultural events and a safe community hub
for our many clubs, societies and visitors.
Looking ahead to 2024/2025, we hope to
complete a sale/leaseback agreement with
the local Town Council. This will provide
crucial funds to refurbish and maintain our
building by replacing the roof, upgrading
the HVAC system, and improving the
restrooms.
We are excited for the future of South
Mill Arts and extend our gratitude to our
staff, trustees, supporters, sponsors,
advertisers, facility renters, and the Town
Council for the annual grant.
Your dedication, hard work, and support
all contribute to the ongoing success of
South Mill Arts.
Paula Holland | Operations Director
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Annual Impact Report