COMPANY BACKGROUND
Big Telly Theatre Company
Mission Statement
To invest in the development of professional theatre, theatre skills and creative expression through theatrical experiences that surprise, stimulate and entertain.
Big Telly is a professional theatre company and a recognised charity (registration no. XR22007) formed in 1987 and based in Portstewart in Northern Ireland. The company receives annual support funding from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland and in-kind support (use of an office) from the local authority, Coleraine Borough Council. Big Telly is an Approved Manager of the Independent Theatre Council (ITC) and operates Equity/ITC contracts for all its productions. The company designs and delivers theatre productions, interactive workshop programmes and community creativity projects, which it tours throughout Northern Ireland and the Republic. Big Telly concentrates on the visual potential of theatre through fusion with other art forms such as dance, music, circus, magic and film to create a unique sense of spectacle.
Big Telly's work is driven by a determination to offer audiences entertainment that surprises, stimulates and ignites the imagination.
Vision and Objectives
Big Telly aims to innovate, involve, inspire, excite and ignite the imagination through the company's design, delivery, production, touring and training activities.
Primary objectives:
- To concentrate on the visual potential of theatre through fusion with other art forms such as dance, music, circus, magic and film to create a unique sense of spectacle
- To develop skills for practitioners and the dissemination of professional theatre skills to a wider community
Values and Approach
- Educational and outreach programmes, open rehearsals and community creativity projects, workshops, talks and summer schools
- Placing the audience firmly at the centre of work through open and inclusive processes
- The production and touring of new work, and production and touring of classic texts and published work which are presented in an innovative manner (existing work is given a contemporary angle and relevance is stressed)
- Acting an agency role to support skill development of teachers, actors, community groups and staff
Patrons
John Godber; Frank McGuinness; James Nesbitt; Fiona Shaw
Staff
The company has a full-time General Manager (Louise Rossington), a full-time Development Manager (Linda McCracken) and an Artistic Director (Zoë Seaton). Projects are managed by the Artistic Director alongside additional technical/artistic staff who are contracted on a project basis. Individual Board Members are appointed to oversee projects.
Board of Directors
The company's current Board Members (trustees) include Heather Carr, Client Services Manager for Arts & Business Northern Ireland; Jill McEneaney, Director of the Market Place Theatre, Armagh; David McClarty, Councillor and Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly; Stephen Donaghy, freelance Management Consultant; Cara McMahon, Cultural Consultant; Chris Hurd-Wood, Human Resources Consultant with PriceWaterhouse Coopers; Tom Maguire, Course Director for Theatre Studies at the University of Ulster, Coleraine. The Board of Trustees meets quarterly.
