Almost 200,000 people bought tickets for productions at Leicester’s Curve during 2014-15, the theatre reveals in its annual review.
Turnover increased to £7.8 million—the highest figure since Curve opened in 2008.
Chief executive Fiona Allan commented, “as I look back over the year—my last as chief executive—it’s worth considering how far we’ve come. I’m particularly proud that over the year we averaged 78% attendance and that for Curve’s own produced work our audiences now really do reflect the diversity of this city—we estimate 46% of audiences to be from BME backgrounds.
“For the first time, we had nearly as many visitors to the building as ticketed audiences in the theatre and have been recognised formally as the major large visitor attraction for Leicester and Leicestershire. Not bad for our sixth year.
“We opened our first, home-grown, new musical, Sue Townsend's The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13¾ The Musical, and bid farewell to Paul Kerryson after 23 years as artistic director with a record-breaking Christmas run of The Sound of Music.
“Curve has enjoyed an exceptional year of growth and I’m extremely proud of all that the team has achieved. To those who are worried about the supposedly ‘bland’ state of regional theatre, look to Leicester for a success story.”
Fiona Allan will take up the role of chief executive of Birmingham Hippodrome in October. Nikolai Foster was appointed artistic director to replace Kerryson while Curve executive producer Chris Stafford will take over from Fiona Allan.
Prof Philip Tasker, chair of Leicester Theatre Trust, added, “it’s been another terrific year with growth in both audiences and visitors. Underpinning all this good work is the continued support from our key funders, Arts Council England and Leicester City Council. We greatly appreciate the belief they have in Curve and our work and the strong, creative partnership we have with both of them.
“My thanks go to Fiona and the whole Curve team for the hard work that has produced another year of excellent results.”