Positive future for De La Warr Pavilion

The annual scrutiny report provides a review of the building's activities, achievements and future plans.

It revealed that, with some exceptions, Rother residents have a high level of satisfaction with the Pavilion, which has enjoyed its best year of trading since re-opening in 2005.

Speaking on Monday evening, Emma Morris, deputy director of the DLWP, said: "This has been a very successful year. Eighty-three per cent of our visitors were very satisfied with the shows, and the appointment of a new head of live programming helped a successful season."

She highlighted the success of shows such as Unpopular Culture, curated by Grayson Perry, and Ben Nicholson's A Continuous Line. Both attracted national media coverage. Several live shows, including The Fall, Lee Evans, Jose Gonsalez and Goldfrapp sold out.

Sarah Stoner, vice chairman of the DLWP Board of Trustees, drew attention to the Pavilion's community work; mentioning the Working Our Way programme, which works with Bexhill's seven primary schools to engage children with the Pavilion as a creative resource, and the forthcoming Young Curators project.

For this initiative, students from colleges in Bexhill, Hastings and Rye commissioned new work from local young artists, and are curating a six-week exhibition in Gallery 2.

A few questions were raised. Cllr Michael Ensor called for more focus on the people of Rother, saying: "It seems one objective is missing '“ to have space for the people of Rother. I would like to encourage the trust to constantly make relating to Rother a top objective."

Cllr Charles Clarke echoed these thoughts, calling for more mainstream events: "I still think we are struggling with balancing a national building with interests for the people of Bexhill. We're having great success at making a place for people to visit, but we need more mainstream events for the residents to connect with."

Sally Ann Lycett, head of communications for the Pavilion, observed that Rother residents form a high proportion of the DLWP visitor figures.

She noted that 50 per cent of Pavilion visitors come from within Rother, and 90 per cent of live performance audiences are drawn from within the local catchment area (30-40 mins drive of the Pavilion).

The figures are drawn from the Pavilion's evaluation process, renewed every season. Information is gathered from "Tell Us" questionnaires filled in by visitors, and from ticket bookings.

For example, mandatory registration for the Ben Nicolson exhibition showed 56% of all visitors were from Rother.

Emma Morris said: "Our local audience will always be our core audience, and our relationship with them is one we're looking at all the time."

It was noted that though overall satisfaction with the Pavilion is high, a separate survey carried out by Facts International on behalf of RDC registered dissatisfaction among local residents in the 'softer' areas, such as friendliness of staff, the Pavilion atmosphere, and the value for money provided.

The opening times were also queried, and Emma Morris explained the financial difficulties of extending the hours.

She said: "At first we did stay open Friday and Saturday evenings but we lost a lot of money, because we have to keep the whole building open. We are going to introduce late night Friday and Saturdays from May."

Chairman of the committee Christopher Starnes summed up, saying: "This has been a very positive report. From quite a rocky start they've turned the corner and are going in the right direction."

Alan Haydon, Director of the DLWP, said: "Since our reopening we've been determined to deliver the vision that made the case for the Pavilion's capital and revenue investment. Such change has required the Pavilion to develop new audiences. It's success in achieving many of these ambitions has taken us on what is only the beginning of an exciting journey."