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Welcome to our consultation about the exciting future of Valley Community Theatre

The Concept

We want to build on what we have already achieved with the community over the years to create an improved, thriving centre for the local area, that the whole of Netherley, Liverpool and the wider city-region can be proud of.

We want to create a place where people engage in activities that improve their quality of life; increase engagement in the arts; unlock their potential so that they can learn skills, get a job or a qualification.

We also want to provide spaces for people to meet and enjoy culture and create a new visitor destination for South Liverpool, boosting the economy and creating new jobs.

The Vision

On this page you will see photos of the first phase of our plans, including refurbishing the frontage of the building and the front of house area.

Our longer-term plans also include complete refurbishment of the centre, providing improved theatre/event space, an outdoor performance space, community rooms, a café/restaurant, new recording studios.

We want the centre to be more than just a theatre. Our ambitions are to deliver activities that people from all walks of life can enjoy.

For more information about our plans, including a video fly-through, see our website. More information about our ideas can also be found below.

How you can help

We are contacting local partners and agencies that either have service users we already support or that could be supported by us.

We would love to hear about your service users and how you think we could help you improve their lives.

We are also really keen to hear if your are interested in working together with us to develop better services for the community. This could be as simple as referring people to each other, right through to developing joint projects that can bring in funding to help us achieve our aims.

The more partners we hear from, the better chance we have of putting on activities that could help you achieve your aims and make a real difference to people's lives.

Could you please take 5 minutes to fill in this quick survey?

Please also share our other survey, to be completed by individuals in the  community.

Feel free to share both surveys as widely as possible. 

The deadline for completing the survey is 5pm, Friday 17th September. For more information about our plans, contact us on info@valleytheatre.co.uk or 0151 488 0364.

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Our aims and how we will achieve them

Our long-term aims are:
  1. To be a central part of community life for people of all ages and abilities, bringing people together to improve lives
  2. To promote increased engagement in the arts, particularly amongst those who face obstacles to doing so;   
  3. Promote opportunities for people to secure new skills, qualifications and employment; 
  4. To become a sustainable, thriving destination for South Liverpool  
 
How we will achieve our aims 

1. Bringing People Together to improve their quality of life 

  •  A transformed centre, with refurbished facilities, accessible to all, with public realm that is welcoming and attractive; 
  • A varied timetable of creative classes and activities for the wider community to enjoy; 
  • Dance classes for all ages; 
  • Health promotion activities 
  • A programme of healthy eating/cooking mentoring and support delivered in our newly refurbished cafe; 
  • Specialist creative activities for people with disabilities; 
  • Meeting room hire for local community groups; 
  • Affordable office space for local community groups, social enterprises and agencies. 
  • A venue for local groups to meet and work together to improve people’s lives. 
 
2. Increasing engagement in the arts 

  • Theatre groups for people of all ages; 
  • Hosting a calendar of touring/visiting theatre; 
  • Providing high quality and affordable rehearsal and recording space for local artists, choirs and musicians; 
  • A flexible and accessible, high-quality performance space, with seating for up to 250 people;   
  • A taster programme where local people are introduced to creative activities from guest experts; 
  • Providing a rolling programme of art exhibitions, showcasing local talent as well as artwork from visiting artists; 
  • A partnership programme where schools and community groups can access theatre space for their activities, as well as discounted tickets for main programme performances. 
  
3. Unlocking potential 

  • Providing learning, volunteering and training opportunities for people interested in the theatre and the creative industries, ranging from front of house, catering, set design, technical production, writing and acting; 
  • Training and mentoring for aspiring musicians and artists, including managing and thriving within the business of theatre and the music industry;  
  • A pathway programme where young people are linked with opportunities in local and national arts and theatre groups through a mentoring/referral/-on-boarding project; 
  • An outreach programme that works with NEET young people and others that are excluded from opportunities, engaging them in theatre and creative activities.  
 
4. A sustainable visitor destination 
  • A high-quality café/restaurant/bar,
  • A cinema showing films and sporting events
  • A theatre programme and a programme of non-theatre events/concerts
  • Studios/rooms for hire by the community

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* 1. Organisation/agency name: If you are a councillor/work for a statutory agency, please specify which ward/service.

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* 2. APPROXIMATELY how many service users do you work with each month? An estimate will do.

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* 3. Do you think that there are enough facilities locally to:

  Yes No Don't know
Support people to come together to improve their quality of life
Increase people's engagement in the arts/culture
Unlock their potential 
Learn new skills
Provide job opportunities for local people
Help improve health

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* 4. If you have answered no above, what would you say are the main reasons? Tick all that apply.

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* 5. What do you think might prevent your service users from accessing activities more often? Tick all that apply.

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* 6. What impact would you say Covid-19 has had on your service users?

  Made things better Had NO impact Made things worse
Mental health (including stress/anxiety)
Physical health
Community connections
Level of involvement in community activity
Financial situation
Involvement in or accessing arts/culture
Amount of money spent locally (as opposed to spending it online, for example)
Ability to achieve what they want
Ability to learn new skills

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* 7. If we could provide all the activities that we hope to in our plans, which of them do you think would be relevant to your service users? Tick all that apply.

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* 8. APPROXIMATELY how many people do you think you might either refer to us each month (or be able to deliver to yourself) if the services you selected above were available at a redeveloped centre? We only need a rough number to gauge interest.

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* 9. If we provided the activities that you have selected above, what impact would they have on how often your service users might use Valley Community Theatre?

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* 10. If we provided the activities that you have selected above, what impact would they have on your service users/the community?

  It would make things better It would have NO impact It would make things worse
Mental health (including stress/anxiety)
Physical health
Community connections
Level of involvement in community activity
Financial situation
Involvement in or accessing arts/culture
Amount of money spent locally (as opposed to spending it online, for example)
Ability to achieve what I/they want
Learning new skills

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* 11. What impact would the improved centre have on the local area as a place to live, work or visit?

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* 12. Would you be interested in helping us? If so, please tell us how and leave your contact details in the box below.

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0 of 12 answered
 

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