INTERVIEW
KEITH POCKETT
Trust next month, after four years in the post. But his love of the Flavel means he will be staying on as a trustee, having been with the Trust for more than ten years and since before the building opened. During his time as chairman, the former accountant and insurance brokerage consultant has built on the achievements of his predecessor and overseen a successful complete turnaround in the Flavel’s finances success – from a loss making struggling community hall project to a full-function competitive arts centre. Keith said: “About four years ago we realised that we had aspirations to develop into be a proper regional arts centre - when i first started out at the Flavel it was still perceived to be an upmarket village hall! We needed a change of emphasis to deliver a fully professional be a good venue for arts in the South Hams – putting on a variety of events, the latest films and providing an excellent venue for meetings. “The building is open 80 hours a week,
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363 days a year, and when first opened in 2005, was being run by just 1.5 full time staff and more than 100 volunteers. We very quickly realised that it couldn’t work that way – for a start, it’s not fair to instruct volunteers to run as staff. We quite quickly built the staff up to eight – one full time general manager and seven part timers and kept our fantastic army of volunteers for duties such as stewarding and running the box office. We are incredibly fortunate to have excellent professional staff and such a dedicated strong band of volunteers.
eith Pockett will be stepping down as chairman of the Flavel
“We were also having a hard time
financially to break even. When i first took on the chairmanship two thirds of the way through 2009 a year and we ended up making a small loss at the end , and this pattern looked as though it was going to continue into the following year. We knew we had to quickly halt this slide quickly and, in July 2010, the trustees had a crisis meeting with the management group of trustees and staff, who oversee the day-to-day running of the centre, urgently reviewed how they could make the Flavel more sustainable. to turn this around.
“About four years ago we realised that we had aspirations to be a proper arts centre”
“We receive very little in funding from
the Arts Council or elsewhere, which in some ways is a good thing as we have always had to stand on our own two feet and, when funding was ,cuts became widespread, we were okay. But because we work with constraints of a catchment area of just 6,000 people and a small 200 capacity auditorium, we can’t afford high fees charged by some big name performers.” After the crisis meeting Keith said the
Flavel introduced into the a programme a number of low cost/ no cost and more profitable events into the programme through by all using their contacts, to deliver more profitable events. bring in revenue quick. These events included a sell-out concert by Yulia Chaplina, trustee
AS CHAIRMAN OF THE FLAVEL TRUST KEITH HAS OVERSEEN A COMPLETE TURNAROUND IN THE FLAVEL’S SUCCESS – FROM A STRUGGLING COMMUNITY PROJECT TO A COMPETITIVE ARTS CENTRE.
Helen Deakin’s talented Russian pianist daughter-in-law, and screenings of trustee ian Phillips’ excellent film “Evacuation” on about the evacuation of South Hams villages in the Second World War. Keith said: “We all worked really hard together and the staff continued to develop the programme into the cracking programme it is today.” “In the year of that meeting we moved from a £7.5 thousand a projected loss to a £5 thousand small surplus. We have continued in that vein for the next three years – making small but healthy surpluses and building reserves. “We also did a fair bit of fundraising in 2010 – including raising £55,000 thousand to change our cinema projector from 35mm to digital, which has also allowed us to buildhave a whole new revenue stream.”
This new digital film programme now includes regular live screenings from the Royal Opera House, National Theatre, Glyndebourne – and also recently beamed in a Bruce Springsteen concert. “These live screenings work
wonderfully – its more far more accessible and far less expensive comfortable than being there and you get great close ups of the performer’s people’s faces.” Keith is sensitive about criticism that has been levied at the Flavel since its opening – especially about it being elitist, as he is clearly a Dartmothian. He was born in Townstal in 1947 and lived in the town until he was begrudgingly moved to London after his mother died and his father remarried. His memories of holidays returning to visit grandparents in Dartmouth are happy ones, in contrast to the ones as an asthmatic child in the
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