A public benefit assessment report by the Charity Commission

(July 2010)

You can also view the colour PDF version of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden Limited assessment report.

Contents

• Section A: The purpose of this report
• Section B: Key details about the charity
• Section C: Does the charity have an aim which is capable of being charitable?
• Section D: Is the charity's aim for the public benefit?
  • D1: It must be clear what the benefits are (sub-principle 1a)
    The benefits must be related to the aims (sub-principle 1b)
  • D2: Benefits must be balanced against any detriment or harm (sub-principle 1c)
  • D3: The beneficiaries must be appropriate to the aims (sub-principle 2a)
  • D4: Where benefit is to a section of the public, the opportunity to benefit must not be unreasonably restricted by geographical or other restrictions (sub-principle 2b)
  • D5: Opportunity to benefit must not be unreasonably restricted by the ability to pay (sub-principle 2b) and people in poverty must not be excluded from the opportunity to benefit (sub-principle 2c)
  • D6: Any private benefits must be incidental (sub-principle 2d)
  • D7: Conclusion: Is the charity's aim for the public benefit?
• Section E: Overall conclusions and required or recommended actions
• Annex A: Opportunities to benefit for those who are unable to afford the fees, including people in poverty
  

The Charity Commission is the independent regulator of charities in England and Wales. In November 2009 we started a public benefit assessment in relation to the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden Limited. This is a report of our findings.

Section A: The purpose of this report

This report sets out the Charity Commission's findings from its public benefit assessment for the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden Limited ('the charity'), registered charity number 211775. You can find further information about what public benefit assessments are, how we carry them out, a glossary of terms used and other details on the public benefit pages of our website.

Section B: Key details about the charity

Charity registration details

The Royal Opera House has been in existence since the eighteenth century, originally as a playhouse and later as an opera house and ballet theatre.

The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden Limited was incorporated as a company in 1950 and registered as a charity in 1962, shortly after the introduction of the registration requirement in the Charities Act 1960. Its objects are:

'To promote and assist in the advancement of education so far as promotion and assistance shall be of a charitable nature and in particular, so far as of a charitable nature, to raise the artistic taste of the country, and to procure and increase the appreciation and understanding of the musical art in all its forms.'

Location and operation

The charity owns and operates the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, from which the Royal Opera Company and the Royal Ballet operate as internal divisions of the charity. The charity stages its major performances at the Royal Opera House, and also tours smaller scale works to venues in England. The Royal Ballet and the Royal Opera tour internationally. As well as live performances, the charity offers screenings of performances in major cities throughout the country, and its performance work is broadcast by the BBC and through its own website.

Through a range of initiatives, the charity maintains and preserves collections of existing works and commissions new work. It offers a number of artistic development programmes for artists and small scale companies, to develop individual talent and to encourage the development of new work.

The charity has an established education and outreach programme which is directed towards the general public. Activities within this programme are extensive and include access to a multi-media website with downloadable material, local and national music and dance projects for all ages and abilities, community productions and Insight events on works in the charity's repertoire.

The charity is also involved in a joint venture to create the Royal Opera House Production Park in Purfleet, Thurrock, where set and scenery construction workshops for Royal Opera House productions will be housed. The park will be the home of the National Skills Academy for Creative and Cultural Skills, offering training opportunities for 16-19 year olds and professionals seeking a recognised qualification in offstage and backstage technical skills. Work on the Park began in 2009 and it is due to open this year.

The charity's income is derived from a combination of external and self-generated funding. Around 45% of the charity's income for 2009 came from operating the Royal Opera House, including box office returns. The charity received 28% of its income from a revenue grant from Arts Council England.

Fees and charges (2009/10 season)

• Performances at Covent Garden
  • Main auditorium - tickets range from £4 to £210 (for details see Annex A, section 1)
  • Linbury Studio Theatre - tickets range from £3 to £35
  • Clore Studio Upstairs - tickets range from £3 to £22. 26% of events in the Clore Studio Upstairs are free
• Screenings in cinemas
  • Vary from venue to venue - typically £12.50
  • Insight events and masterclasses - £10 - £14 (£6 for students)
• Backstage tours
  • £10 per tour (senior citizens £9, students/unemployed/children £7)

Opportunities to benefit for those unable to afford the fees

Subsidised and free access to performances (more details are in Annex A, section 2) 20% of all mainstage tickets for both opera and ballet this season cost £14 or less. 14% of tickets for performances in studio theatres and other spaces within the Royal Opera House are free. Free weekly lunchtime concerts are given in the Crush Room of the Royal Opera House. Free big screen showings of productions are provided in city centres and other locations around the country. 67 low cost Day tickets for the Royal Opera House are available from 10am on the day of performance. Ticket prices vary from £10 - £40 for opera and £10 - £30 for ballet. Standby tickets are available for: students: those who are registered for student standby tickets can buy these tickets for £10; members of the public - half price tickets are released 4 hours before the performance. Other concessionary standby tickets are available at £15 for opera, £12.50 for ballet. Family Performances - ticket prices range from £5 to £20 with additional discounts for disability groups. Access scheme for disabled patrons providing half price tickets, with a free ticket for personal assistants if required.

Financial summary: year ending 30 August 2009

Group (see Related Parties)
	Unrestricted General Fund	Total Unrestricted Funds	Restricted Funds	Endowment Funds	Total Funds
Income	£96,358,000	£96,358,000	£1,663,000	(£50,000)	£97,971,000
Expenditure	(£99,494,000)	(£99,542,000)	(£332,000)	(£78,000)	(£99,952,000)
Net (outgoings)/income before transfers and other recognised gains	(£3,136,000)	(£3,184,000)	£1,331,000	(£128,000)	(£1,981,000)
Net (outgoings)/income before other recognised gains and establishment of fixed asset fund	£39,000	£1,329,000	(£3,182,000)	(£128,000)	(£1,981,000)
Net assets	£2,021,000	£4,163,000	£164,774,000	£23,283,000	£192,220,000

Related Parties

This financial summary is based on the consolidated accounts of the charity and its subsidiaries for year ended 30 August 2009. The charity owns 100 per cent of a number of subsidiaries (its own trading company, Royal Opera House Covent Garden Trading Limited, ROH Holdings, and Opus Arte UK Ltd).

Royal Opera House Foundation, a membership and fundraising organisation, is treated as a subsidiary on the basis of common control. The Royal Opera House Endowment Fund 2000 is a separately registered charity, and is consolidated into the group accounts of Royal Opera House, Covent Garden Limited due to the benefits it receives from grants and the consideration and review of grants undertaken by the trustees of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden Limited.

Section C: Does the charity have an aim which is capable of being charitable?

In this section, we report on the charity's aim and whether it falls within the list of descriptions of purposes within section 2 (2) of the Charities Act 2006 that are capable of being charitable purposes.

The charity's objects* are as follows:

'To promote and assist in the advancement of education so far as promotion and assistance shall be of a charitable nature and in particular, so far as of a charitable nature, to raise the artistic taste of the country, and to procure and increase the appreciation and understanding of the musical art in all its forms.'

The charity is well known for the presentation of opera and ballet of the highest quality at the Royal Opera House and elsewhere. The charity also seeks to advance its aims by:

• an extensive programme of workshops and classes for the public
• a wide range of programmes designed to develop the arts and artists.

The evidence submitted by the charity demonstrates that it not only advances education in opera and ballet but, more widely, maintains and promotes high standards of performance now and in the future, encouraging the creation of further works for the benefit of all and developing and improving artist performance and production skills.

The charity's objects read as expressing an aim for the advancement of education. Since these objects were adopted, the promotion of the arts has been recognised in its own right as an aim which is capable of being charitable¹. Using the information about the charity's activities, we considered that the charity's objects, as properly understood in a modern context, express an aim for the promotion of the arts and that it pursues this aim by a number of means, including the presentation of public performances and through other significant programmes involving the development of, and education in, the arts. Our assessment found that the charity's operation was fully within this aim.

We concluded that the charity's aim falls within s2(2)(f) of the descriptions of purposes in the Charities Act 2006 - the advancement of the arts, culture, heritage or science - and is capable of being charitable.

* set out in its articles of association, incorporated on 1st April 1950

Section D: Is the charity's aim for the public benefit?

Having established in section C that the aim falls within the descriptions of purposes at s2(2) of the Charities Act 2006, we consider here whether that aim is for the public benefit and, consequently, whether the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden Limited is a charity. We also consider whether the trustees are complying with their duty to administer the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden Limited for the public benefit.

We considered these issues against the two public benefit principles. These are:

Principle 1: There must be an identifiable benefit or benefits
Principle 2: Benefit must be to the public, or section of the public

We looked at the sub-principles within each of these.

• Sections D1 and D2 set out our findings for those relating to principle 1.
• Sections D3 - D6 set out our findings for those relating to principle 2.

We set out at Section D7 our conclusions on whether the aim of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden Limited is for the public benefit and whether the trustees are administering it for the public benefit.

Section D1

We looked at the first two sub-principles together:

• sub-principle 1a - it must be clear what the benefits are
• sub-principle 1b - the benefits must be related to the aims

Relevant benefits

The charity's identifiable benefits can be characterised in the following categories:

• Benefits provided through the staging of performances. The charity owns one of the leading venues for the presentation of ballet and opera in the United Kingdom. The charity also tours nationally and internationally to different venues, and its performances are presented through all broadcast media as well as in cinemas and on open air screens in towns and cities around the country, as detailed in section 3 of Annex A.

The staging of public performances of art, such as opera and ballet, is a recognised means of advancing the arts. The charity's established reputation amongst the public, funders and commentators as a leading presenter of these art forms, together with many awards at national and international level, are all positive indicators of artistic quality.

• Benefits provided though development of the arts and artistic talent. The charity undertakes a wide range of activities directed towards the development of the arts and artists for present and future generations. Details given by the charity are listed in section 3 of Annex A and include:
  
  
  • the development of the charity's own professional dancers, choreographers etc
  • the development of talented members of the public (for example the Jette Parker Young Artists Programme, Dancelines etc)
  • skills development for 16-19 year olds seeking to work in offstage and backstage technical areas through the Thurrock-based Education and Community Engagement programme.

These are all activities which develop and contribute to the pool of talented artists, musical works and backstage staff, which benefit and enrich the cultural life of the country and, in so doing, help to raise artistic taste. Our assessment found that the benefits are clear, identifiable and related to the charity's aim.

• Benefits provided through public education. The charity runs an extensive education programme directed towards the general public. The charity's listed benefits are detailed in section 3 of Annex A and include touring exhibitions and running a number of projects to benefit school children.

These are all ways of advancing the arts through public education and our assessment found clear, identifiable benefits which were related to the charity's aim.

The benefits identified in these three categories all relate to the charity's aim and are relevant to these sub-principles.

We concluded that there are clear, identifiable benefits that are related to the charity's aim. The benefits are sufficient to enable us to conclude that the charity does meet sub-principles 1a and 1b.

Section D2

Sub-principle 1c: Benefits must be balanced against any detriment or harm

We explain in Charities and Public Benefit our approach to assessing this sub-principle.

Based on this, we found no evidence or indication of detriment or harm in relation to this charity.

We concluded that there was nothing under sub-principle 1c that would affect the assessment of public benefit in this case.

Section D3

Sub-principle 2a: The beneficiaries must be appropriate to the aims

The charity's aims are directed towards the general public. The charity seeks to reach as wide an audience as possible. The charity categorises its beneficiaries as:

• today's general public throughout the UK and internationally;
• future generations;
• young artists;
• young craftspeople and arts administrators;
• artists from smaller companies;
• young people.

The charity's activities are wide-ranging and tailored towards the needs of different elements of the community.

We concluded that the beneficiaries are appropriate to the aim and that this sub-principle is met.

Section D4

Sub-principle 2b: Where benefit is to a section of the public, the opportunity to benefit must not be unreasonably restricted

In this section we consider geographical and other restrictions. In section D5 we consider restrictions arising as a result of the fees charged.

Geographical restrictions

There is no geographical restriction applied to the opportunity to benefit. The benefits are available to everyone.

Restrictions on access to facilities and services

There are some benefits which are directed towards individuals with specific skills and talents such as Dancelines, a choreographers' development course. Access to such benefits is subject to individuals demonstrating the talent and skill required to take up the opportunity. Given the demands of such courses, the restrictions in relation to aptitude are reasonable for the charity to apply.

Other restrictions

There are no other restrictions applied to the opportunity to benefit.

We concluded that the opportunity to benefit is not unreasonably restricted by geographical or other factors outlined above and that the charity does meet sub-principle 2b in relation to restrictions other than fees.

Section D5

We considered the remaining element of sub-principle 2b together with sub-principle 2c:

• sub-principle 2b (the opportunity to benefit must not be unreasonably restricted by ability to pay any fees charged); and
• sub-principle 2c (people in poverty must not be excluded from the opportunity to benefit)

Taken together, these sub-principles mean that the charity must be able to show that there is sufficient opportunity to benefit in a material way that is related to the charity's aim for those who cannot afford the fees, including those in poverty.

We describe in section C of Public Benefit and Fee-charging the principal factors derived from case law which we use to assess this.

We set out below how these factors apply to the circumstances of the charity.

D5(i) Does the level at which fees are set have the effect of preventing people who are unable to pay the fees from benefiting from the services or facilities?

Performances in the main auditorium at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden are a fundamental and historic part of the charity's operation. Benefit derived from attending performances requires a one-off payment for each performance. In the current season the most expensive ticket costs in the region of £210 for some performances; for other performances the highest prices are lower than this, with examples ranging from £37.50 to £195. Around 40% of tickets to a recent performance of an opera were priced at £150 and over. The equivalent tickets for a ballet cost £75 or more.

The cost of the higher priced tickets to these performances would exclude a large number of people from accessing the benefits provided by the charity. The charity does, therefore, charge some high fees to one of its fundamental operations.

D5(ii) In relation to those who cannot afford to access the services because of the charges made, to what extent are those charges moderated (in whole or in part) in order to:

• permit access to the services charged for;
• give other access to the benefits of the charity?

The charity provides a mix of opportunities in relation to this factor and we looked at the totality of benefits provided by these opportunities, which include:

• reduced ticket prices to provide access to performances at the Royal Opera House main auditorium; and
• other measures to provide access to benefits provided by the charity.

The charity provided details of opportunities which fall within each of these categories and we have set these out in Annex A. In the following paragraphs we explain how we looked at these categories.

• Although the charity does charge high fees for access to performances in its main auditorium, there is a significant proportion of lower priced tickets accessible to people on all budgets. Around 40% of all tickets for the main auditorium are priced at £30 and under, and the cheapest tickets cost around £4. The charity also operates other performance spaces within the Royal Opera House - the Clore Studio Upstairs, the Linbury Studio Theatre and the Crush Room - for which ticket prices, where paid, are significantly lower. In the current season they ranged from £3 to £22.50. Around 14% of tickets in the Linbury and Clore, and 26% of events at the Clore, were free.
• The charity offers extensive and significant other opportunities to benefit that add to the totality of benefits provided. The activities described in section 2 of the annex illustrate how the charity provides opportunities to benefit for those unable to afford high fees (where charged), in ways that are relevant to the aims of the charity.

Sub-principles 2b and 2c - conclusion

Taken together, the totality of benefits indicates access is only limited by high fees to a small proportion of the charity's overall range of benefits. Many of its services are provided through free activities, and others for prices which are affordable to most people. The opportunity to benefit is not unreasonably restricted by ability to pay the fees charged, and people in poverty are not excluded from the opportunity to benefit.

We concluded that, taking into account what is reasonable and appropriate in the circumstances of this charity, it does provide sufficient opportunity to benefit in a material way for those who cannot afford the fees, including people in poverty, and that the charity meets sub-principles 2b (in relation to fees) and 2c.

Section D6

Principle 2d: Any private benefits must be incidental

The charity operates some membership schemes for the purpose of raising funds to contribute to the running of the charity and subsidise tickets for the general public. The benefits arising to members of these schemes, which are mainly the opportunity to book early or to secure preferred seats, are incidental to the charity carrying out its aims.

We considered under this principle the private benefit arising from the charity's remuneration of its senior employees and artists. Our assessment found that these payments, and the means by which the charity determines them, were fully consistent with, and incidental to the charity carrying out its aim.

We concluded that private benefits are incidental and that this sub-principle is met.

Section D7

Conclusion: Is the charity's aim for the public benefit?

We concluded that all of the sub-principles are fulfilled, that the aim of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden Limited is for the public benefit and that the trustees are administering it for the public benefit.

Section E. Overall conclusions and required or recommended actions

We concluded that Royal Opera House, Covent Garden Ltd is a charity and that the trustees are administering it for the public benefit.

We have not identified any additional required actions.

Royal Opera House Covent Garden Ltd Annex A

Opportunities to benefit for those who are unable to afford the fees, including people in poverty.

This annex uses information provided by the charity to show which activities we assessed in relation to the element of sub-principle 2b relating to fee-charging and sub-principle 2c.

We have categorised the information as follows:

• opportunities to benefit from services for which some 'high fees' are charged;
• measures taken by the charity to provide access to benefits for which high fees are charged, to people who are unable to afford the fees, including people in poverty;
• other significant opportunities to benefit.

The main body of the public benefit assessment report sets out our analysis of how these opportunities relate to the public benefit requirement.

Section 1

Opportunities to benefit from services for which some 'high fees' are charged

Staging ballet and opera performances

• Main auditorium -Ticket prices ranged from £4 to £210 in the autumn 2009 season.

Example ticket prices for performances in the autumn booking period of the 2009/10 season

Ticket Prices - Opera (Don Carlo) £	Ticket Prices - Ballet (The Nutcracker) £	Number of tickets in price band	Percentage of total tickets
195	97	359	15.9%
180	95	223	9.9%
170	90	216	9.6%
160	85	126	5.6%
150	75	55	2.4%
80	60	159	7.0%
60	50	182	8.1%
58	43	90	4.0%
46	30	174	7.7%
37	22	236	10.5%
28	14	113	5.0%
13	10	228	10.1%
8	6	96	4.2%
		Total seats 2257	100%

Analysis of price bands

Don Carlo (The Nutcracker)

979 tickets priced £150(£75) and over - 43.4%
841 tickets priced £30 - £80(£22 - £60) - 37.3%
437 tickets priced £30(£20) and under - 19.3% of which
324 tickets priced £15(£10) and under - 14.4%

Section 2

Measures taken by the charity to provide access to performances to people who are unable to afford the fees, including people in poverty

Main auditorium

• Section 1 of this Annex shows that the pricing structure for tickets to performances of Don Carlo and The Nutcracker in the main auditorium includes 14% of tickets which were priced at £15 or under for Don Carlo (£10 for The Nutcracker). Top prices for other productions ranged upwards from £37.50 (for a mixed ballet programme featuring new work).

Across all performances:

• 13% of all mainstage tickets for both opera and ballet this season cost £10 or less;
• 15% of all mainstage tickets for both opera and ballet this season cost £11 or less;
• 20% of all mainstage tickets for both opera and ballet this season cost £14 or less.

There is a wide range of ticket prices which will be affordable to those who cannot afford the most expensive tickets.

• 67 low cost Day tickets are available for purchase from 10am on the day of performance. The exact price range of day tickets differs slightly depending on the price range of the production in question, but on average:
  • opera Day tickets cost £10 - £40;
  • ballet Day tickets cost £10 - £30.
• £10 Student Standby tickets are available to students who sign up to the scheme and have a valid Student Identification Card. Unsold tickets are made available to be booked online via a booking link and/or code. Students are notified a minimum of 24 hours in advance. 12,000 students are currently registered. The number of tickets sold in the last 2 seasons was:
  • 2008/2009 Season - 4023
  • 2007/2008 Season - 6872
• Other standby tickets: occasionally standby tickets are offered to the general public four hours before the performance at half price. These standby tickets are also available to those on Income Support, ES40 holders, deaf and disabled people, under-18s, students, Westminster ResCard-holders, WC2 residents and senior citizens receiving Pension Credits at £12.50 for ballet and £15 for opera.
• Paul Hamlyn First Night performances, with the support of the Helen Hamlyn Trust, in association with The Sun newspaper, were arranged for audiences who are new to ballet and opera. At the start of charity's 2009/10 season, readers of The Sun were invited to apply for tickets priced between £7.50 and £30 for the first night performance of Bizet's Carmen and priced between £7.50 and £20 for the first night performance of MacMillan's Mayerling. A ballot took place and successful readers were able to buy up to four tickets each for either performance.
• Family Performances: these performances (three this season) are offered to families who have never attended a performance in the main auditorium, with tickets ranging from £5-£20. Additional pre-performance activities are offered free, including, for example, backstage tours, mystery trails, workshops on the stories of the ballet or opera, prop making and dressing up in costume.
• The charity offers special discounts and tailored events at Family Performances for disability groups. This includes BSL interpretation, workshops and pre-performance activities for deaf and blind groups or those with mental health issues. Where possible, they also offer these groups further reductions on ticket prices.
• Access Scheme: disabled patrons can purchase a ticket at half price and a free ticket is available for a personal assistant, if support is required.
• Schools Matinees: Children attending Schools Matinees on the main stage pay £7.50 each and less for performances in the smaller spaces. There are 6 Schools Matinees per season, 3 opera and 3 ballets. These bring over 12,000 children from across the UK into the Royal Opera House.
• The charity staged Wagner’s The Ring Cycle and made all tickets for one performance available to students at reduced prices.

Clore Studio Upstairs - this venue, located within the charity's premises at Covent Garden, provides a performance space for Insight events, masterclasses and pre-performance talks, education and family events and some experimental works.

Ticket prices range from £3 to £22 in the current season. 26% of events in the Clore Studio Upstairs are free. For events for which admission is charged, 50% of tickets are priced at under £15 and 14% are free.

Linbury Studio Theatre - this venue, also located at Covent Garden, accommodates up to 394 people seated in theatre style. It provides a performance space for a wide range of artists and artistic companies independent of ROH and for more experimental and intimate work by the Royal Ballet and Royal Opera together with educational and community events, and free recitals.

Ticket prices range from £3 to £35 in the current season.

In the 2009/2010 season, 50% of tickets in the Linbury are priced at under £15, with 14% being free.

The Crush Room - this space accommodates 160 people seated. Free lunchtime recitals are offered every Monday, tickets can be reserved online.

Section 3

Other significant opportunities to benefit

Performance Activities

• Free lunchtime performances in the Crush Room.
• Broadcasts of ballet and opera via BBC, big screen showings (42 free screenings in 20 locations around the country, attended by nearly 50,000 people), cinemas, multi-media content such as podcasts, video, audio notes etc.
• Full-length opera online for free - a production of Don Giovanni was filmed and put online. It was divided into ten natural chapters of approximately 20 minutes each so that viewers could sample sections or view the whole event. Subtitles, listening notes and podcast were provided, also free of charge.
• Small-scale works are performed regionally; for example, The Red Balloon, an original dance piece for family audiences, was performed at Ipswich's New Wolsey theatre. Last year the charity organised 80 regional On The Road events around the country.
• Promotion of cultural exchange through international tours and associated exchange programmes including recent Royal Ballet tours to China and Cuba.
• Schools Matinees: an annual programme of operas and ballets for schools. In 2007/08 a total of 10 performances, in the main auditorium and the Linbury Studio Theatre, were attended by pupils from Birmingham, Bristol, Cleveland, Derbyshire, Devon, Dorset, Durham, Gloucestershire, Hull, Hereford, Lincolnshire, Liverpool, London, Monmouth, Newcastle upon Tyne, Norfolk, Nottingham, Salford, Scarborough, Shropshire, Solihull, Somerset, Wales, Isle of Wight, Wolverhampton, Wiltshire and Yorkshire.
• All productions are available for hire with help from ROH technical team which means that ROH productions can be staged anywhere in the world.

Development of the arts and artists

The charity runs a number of programmes and initiatives which deliver these benefits:

• Jette Parker Young Artists Programme - a 2 year course where participants receive training and coaching, sing small roles in productions and cover larger roles, and take part in the charity's education programme;
• Dancelines - a 2 week choreographic development course which offers promising choreographers a chance to explore ideas, work across a range of styles and develop craft away from the pressures of performance;
• the charity provides work experience through the 'First Stage' programme which provides unpaid opportunities to gain practical experience. It is committed to ensuring that its First Stage opportunities are accessible to people from diverse backgrounds;
• the charity runs courses in contemporary opera development - this provides professional development courses to composers, directors and writers, within opera. Selection is on the basis of the contribution that it is believed they can make to the development of new opera;
• Choreographic Associates - this is a two year programme offered to three emerging professional choreographers which will support the development of their practice;
• Southbank Sinfonia/Halle Youth Orchestra partnerships - these are designed to develop and broaden the experience of future generations of musicians in their exposure to, and interest in, playing for opera and dance;
• the charity's Thurrock-based Education and Community Engagement programme introduces young disadvantaged people to the possibilities of a career in theatre and the music events industry;
• the charity runs Royal Opera House Creative Partnerships which provides opportunities for 110 schools in Essex to participate in projects and benefit from the presence of talented artists in a variety of fields;
• the charity runs a number of schemes to develop the backstage workforce of the future. For instance it offers apprenticeships in a variety of backstage departments (the 'Creative Apprenticeship Scheme'). These last on average up to two years. Apprentices are contracted for up to 40 hours per week, and are paid in line with the statutory framework. Apprentices study relevant courses to a recognised qualification at college, either on a day release or block release basis and work at the Royal Opera House gaining experience as scenic carpenters, armourers, scenic metalworkers and scenic artists. Apprenticeships in tailoring, and Community Arts Management have also been added;
• the Chief Executive led and wrote The Dance Review, a report for the Government on dance education and youth dance in England. It formulated a framework as to how the then Department of Culture Media and Sport could best ensure greater access for young people;
• the charity showcases a wide range of new work in addition to its own commissions. For instance, each year the charity presents FIRSTS, a week during which a variety of art forms is showcased by some of today's cutting edge artists. Tickets cost £5;
• ROH2 Summer Collection - the charity offers a bi-annual season of contemporary dance in the Clore Studio Upstairs. It focuses on work coming from or rooted within the Royal Opera House, and uses Associate Artists and emerging Royal Ballet choreographers;
• Insideout - a programme which provides training to artists from the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House and the Royal Opera Chorus to lead creative music workshops for primary school pupils in years 4 and 5. Royal Ballet dancers are similarly trained. Across the board, the charity's artists work in primary schools, with students studying music and dance in secondary schools, and with teachers operating in both sectors.

Public education

• Exhibitions - each season, between September and August, there are two Main Exhibitions that fill the costume cases and the Amphitheatre Gallery for approximately six consecutive months each. A series of smaller Spotlight Exhibitions fill some of the wall cases and foyer areas for differing periods through the season. Exhibitions can be visited free of charge by the public during normal daytime opening Monday-Friday, 10am-3.30pm, and can be viewed by ticket holders to performances. Exhibitions between September 2009 - February 2010 were about:
  • Dame Eva Turner
  • Kenneth MacMillan
  • Reading the Riot Act - the 200th anniversary of the opening of the second Theatre Royal, Covent Garden and the Old Prices Riots in 1809
• Touring Exhibitions support and complement the work of the charity's On the Road programme, and currently the exhibitions team works in two regions in the UK. As an example, the charity presented a Collections Road Show to The Lowry gallery in Salford for its family week.
• The charity is developing, and makes freely available online, a rich ballet and opera archive and the Royal Opera House Collections.
• The charity offers Talking Notes audio introductions for all performances at the Opera House.
• The charity offers free access to its multi-media website which in 2008-9 received:
  • 3,267,415 web views
  • 453,493 Royal Opera House Video Player views
  • 1,553,850 Royal Opera House channel YouTube views
  • 143,089 podcast downloads
• The charity organises 'Voices of the Future' which provides a long term teacher training programme to put singing back at the heart of schools' musical activity.
• The charity hosted Voices of the Future which featured a world premiere performance of On the Rim of the World - a specially commissioned choral theatre work performed on the main stage by over 200 children from Kent primary schools with nearly 100 of their parents and teachers, and community members from the Thurrock area.
• The charity runs a large number of projects to benefit school age children. Recent examples include:
  • Write an Opera programme (primary);
  • Creative Teachers (primary);
  • Creative Cornwall (secondary) - five schools with specialist performing arts and music status create an original opera;
  • New Dancemakers - this was a partnership between Royal Opera House Education and East London Dance that offered three intensive workshops in Truro, St Austell and Weymouth;
  • Chance to Dance - this runs five days a week during term time and involves 250 children. It provides talented children from 46 schools in Lambeth, Southwark, Hammersmith and Fulham with free initial dance training;
  • Turtle Opera - this provides music, design and performance opportunities for children aged 10-14 with Autism Spectrum Disorder and resulted from a partnership with Turtle Key Arts, an arts company specialising in disability arts provision;
  • Monday Moves - weekly dance classes for blind or partially sighted.
• The charity holds 80 Insight evenings at various locations during the charity's season. These include live demonstrations by make-up artists, performers, set designers etc on all aspects of Royal Opera House productions. Tickets are typically priced at £10-£14, concessions £6; in Thurrock £7.50, concessions £5.
• The charity organised 'Feeling Remembered' - this involved working with the Greater London Forum for Older People and developing original textual ideas in response to Puccini's opera Tosca. The text was projected onto the stage curtains before a performance.
• Pupils from Beacon Hill School, Thurrock were invited to design and produce an outsized tapestry inspired by Swan Lake that was showcased at the ballet's 12th May Paul Hamlyn performance. Pupils, staff and families also attended a performance: their tickets were subsidised by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation and cost between £5 - £15.
• 'Sounding out for Families' involved a week of activities at the Royal Opera House and included workshops on movement, puppetry, composition, storytelling and music, and culminated in an interactive music performance.
• Sun and Heir was a community production created with and for the people of Thurrock, involving over 500 local people in various capacities, and culminating in a performance at the Tilbury Cruise Terminal.

Footnote

1. Report of the Charity Commissioners for England and Wales, 1991; s.2(2)(f), Charities Act 2006