Riding high on Perth Theatre and Concert Hall’s “most successful panto season ever”, new chief executive Chris Glasgow is optimistic about the year to come.
“We’re on a record-breaking streak and Aladdin has surpassed all previous shows, which is fantastic, so I’m really excited for the year ahead,” says Chris, who at age 35 is the youngest ever CEO of the organisation, filling the shoes left by Nick Williams in summer 2023.
“Just over 17,800 people attended Aladdin in the end,” adds the East Renfrewshire native, who lives in Glasgow but is “always up in Perth”.
“And this year we’re also on track for it to be our most successful year ever, with an economic impact of £16.9 million – which is a pretty good stat.”
However, the stats are far from the be all and end all for Chris, who is often accompanied to the theatre by his rescue Staffie, Pixie.
It’s clear that when it comes to the arts, this is a man who sees beyond the stage doors.
‘We’re so much more than our buildings’
“I think what’s really special about Perth Theatre and Concert Hall is the commitment of the audiences,” he smiles.
“I’ve never known such a loyal audience, anywhere that I’ve worked. I relish the opportunity that despite it being such a big organisation, there’s still so many chances to work one-to-one with visitors.
“But there’s still opportunity to engage with others who maybe don’t have such easy access to the arts and culture, and that makes me really excited for the future.”
In his parallel life, Chris is a director on the board of Drake Music Scotland – an arts organisation which creates opportunities for disabled musicians.
“When it come to audience development, I’m a bit greedy,” he says. “I always want to dig deeper and think: ‘We’ve overcome one barrier, but what else is preventing people and what can we do?”
And his passion for accessibility has carried over into his Perth Theatre and Concert Hall role, with exciting new plans inspired by the success of community outdoor performance, Gig On A Truck.
“What’s been really exciting about Gig On A Truck is that it’s made us realise we’re so much more than our buildings,” Chris explains.
“So we’re thinking about not just bringing the community to us, but more importantly, how we bring our work into the community.
“The success of Gig On A Truck, it’s brought about a new programming strand of site-specific work, which we started in autumn 2023 with Murmurations, an environmental piece of promenade theatre along the river walk in Dunkeld.
“So the plan with this new programme is that we’re going to start delivering site-specific music pieces in the spring, theatre in the autumn. And the centre-point of all of it, Gig On A Truck, will take place over the summer months.”
Tackling technology barriers with library idea
As well as taking work out into communities, Chris outlines plans to tackle barriers to the arts created by technology through the organisation’s Perthshire Box Office project.
“The project is about increasing accessibility for all ticketed event providers across Perth and Kinross by embedding box office facilities potentially though the library network, so people don’t need to travel into the city centre to book tickets for events if they don’t have access to their own computer or phone,” he explains.
“That’s a big challenge that I think we’re working really hard to address.”
Possibility of Perth Theatre bus revisited
And he acknowledges that transport provision is another barrier that many audience members and artists face when trying to get to the venue for a show or a gig.
“It’s something we’re very aware of both in terms of audience accessibility but also environmental sustainability, that we’ve been working towards as part of a project called Transforming Audience Travel Through Art,” Chris explains.
“One of the things that was spoken about to me when I first started at Perth Theatre and Concert Hall was that the community in Crieff, during the old theatre subscription, used to run a theatre bus.
“So we’re looking into the possibility of: ‘Well, can we put on transport for audiences?’ We can’t lay everything at the steps of major providers, we need to be part of that change and part of that process.”
Residency programmes to support budding artists and musicians
Finally, Chris is excited to formalise the organisation’s previously sporadic residency programme, across both music and theatre.
“We want to give artists space and time to develop their practice over six months to a year, depending on what their desires output is,” explains Chris, adding that this could be anything from a mainstage production to a recording opportunity.
“For Perth Theatre, it really plays to the heritage of Joan Knight and what she achieved. The Joan Knight studio is a top range facility and we want artists to benefit from that.
“Similarly in music, we have a fantastic programming expertise in James Waters and Andy Shearer, so we’re looking at tailoring residencies based on those programmers’ expertise and young musicians’ needs.”
Already, the seeds of these programmes are being planted, with young classical star Ryan Corbett looking to develop a tango project alongside the venue’s Dance For Parkinson’s participants.
“It’ll result in a classical participatory performance where audiences aren’t just sitting listening to tango, they’re actually getting to dance alongside the music,” grins Chris.
“That’s exactly what I want – artists and audiences growing in parallel. If that happens, I’ll be a very happy man.”
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