Our Impact
What is our impact?
November Club is a professional performing-arts charity, creating exceptional and remarkable theatre in unusual places from our home in Northumberland.
We create high quality performances for residents of Northumberland and beyond: Between 2020 and 2023, we have reached audiences of 2,849 for our live and digital work.
We connect with residents of Northumberland, including those from communities that are underserved by the arts, to enable them to participate in cultural activities: In the last 3 years we have delivered 19 community engagement events attended by 285 participants.
We celebrate storytelling and creativity: Between 2020 and 2023, we have created 9 new stories linked to our local culture.
We offer employment opportunities to cultural freelancers. Between 2020 and 2023 we have employed 72 freelance workers.
We enrich the cultural workforce by developing the skills of volunteers and professionals. Between 2020 and 2023, as well as working with freelancers, we have engaged 34 volunteers.
“Josey made me feel heard, as it spoke about the difficulties girls and women consistently have to face on a day-to-day basis.”
Why is this important?
Only 4% of all arts organisations producing and presenting theatre across England are located in the North-East (including Northumberland).
Northumberland residents have less access to high-quality theatrical experiences than individuals from other parts of the country. One consequence of this is that Northumberland residents are less engaged with the arts whether they live in rural or urban parts of the county.
In many wards in Northumberland the median income level is lower than the UK average. This typically affects communities in the former mining communities, but also covers the majority of the rural parts of the county. Research shows that adults from lower socio-economic groups and the more deprived areas of the country are the least engaged with the arts. We also know that people from lower socio-economic groups value cultural offerings with content relating to local interests or identity. This emphasises the need to create cultural opportunities in local communities based around issues that are important to the participants: a key driver for November Club’s work.
The Covid-19 pandemic had a dramatic impact on all our lives. It affected many people’s social and economic wellbeing. The lockdown showed that in times of crisis people turn to creative activity for solace. We have a unique opportunity to harness that creativity so that it becomes part of everyone’s life, every day.
The pandemic highlighted the precarious situation that many people who work in the arts find themselves in. We contribute to the strength of the sector by employing cultural freelancers to deliver a significant part of our productions and participatory work. In addition, in 2023 we conducted research into North East theatre freelancers at all stages of their career, 75% of them suggested that there was currently insufficient career development opportunities in the North East:
“When I try to increase my skills in order to diversify the range of positions I can apply for; the training available is often too expensive and based far away from the North East.”
We developed our GROW career development programme to support freelancers to develop their skills and experiences. This helps them to stay in the North-east to build their careers and us to continue to recruit local talent.
“This project is unlike any other! Meeting Tatty and other young people to discuss ideas was some of the best fun I’d had in ages. Our imaginations were opened, and it made me extremely excited for surrounding myself in culture like museums and theatres when we are able to. ”
Why are we uniquely qualified to tackle this?
Arts Council England (ACE) recognises the unique opportunity November Club has to engage people in the arts.
It has been supporting us as part of its national portfolio since 2012. We are one of only eight organisations in Northumberland that is recognised as such, and we are the only non-venue based organisation that focuses on performing immersive theatre in non-traditional venues. We regularly win North-East based awards for our work and in 2017/2018 we won the National Rural Touring Award for Touring Scheme Collaboration of the Year with Highlights Rural Touring.
What we want to do?
Each year we want to create exceptional and remarkable theatre in unusual places.
We want to undertake research and development to create imaginative and original work that involves members of our local communities as part of the co-creation process in a way that that ensures genuine participation for all sections of society, and which makes participants feel their contributions are valued.
We want to work with talented, professional artists. We want to nurture local talent and bring internationally renowned artists to Northumberland.
We want to involve members of our local community in our work by becoming an audience member; performing as a volunteer performer as part of a professional production; or becoming a volunteer.
Your support can make this happen.
Each year we need around £200k to run the company and produce our amazing work. The funding we receive from Arts Council England roughly covers around half of this expenditure.
What we need from you.
We are asking you to
Regularly support our funding applications.
Provide the long-term funding we need to work with local communities to develop artistic ideas into quality productions that demonstrate the creativity and skills of the people of the North-East.
“Previously I thought Seaton Delaval Hall was one of the less interesting National Trust properties. However, November Club peopled it with a fascinating family, a thrilling, living, history. Now I shall have to come back. The show was wholly original, even exciting and wonderfully presented. It completely changed my ideas about Seaton Delaval and its past.”
Support Our Work
November Club is a registered charity. The public funding we receive only goes part of the way to allow us to deliver the work we do. We could not do what we do without the generous support of our corporate partners, funders and individual donors.
November Club is an ambitious company, we want to continue to grow, create and deliver more artistic projects and allow new audiences to benefit from and enjoy participating in the arts. If you can support our work click on the donate button and help us out.
Awards
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2019 Journal Culture Awards Finalist
Best Event: Northumberland – Provocations and Revelations at National Trust Wallington, near Morpeth
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2018 Journal Culture Awards Winner
Best Performance of the Year – Beyond the End of the Road at Hexham Auction Mart and a regional rural tour
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2018 Rural Touring Awards
Best Touring Collaboration – Beyond the End of the Road