Download Who are The Great Hundred?

PRESS RELEASE
Who are The Great Hundred?
Battersea's former Town Hall, the home of Battersea Arts Centre, is 120 years old: 1893 to 2013.
To celebrate the occasion of its birthday and help raise funds for its future, Battersea Arts Centre is
inviting the public to nominate The Great Hundred: people who played a memorable part in the
story of this great London building.
A "great hundred" used to stand for one hundred and twenty. So "The Great Hundred" of Battersea's
former Town Hall will be a list of one hundred and twenty people selected from the building’s one
hundred and twenty year radical history. Staff at Battersea Arts Centre have begun researching and
choosing names by spending time hunting through two archives: the archive for former Town Hall
held in Battersea’s library on Lavender Hill; and the arts centre’s own archive from the last 33 years.
Who do you think should be in The Great Hundred for this iconic Battersea building? You can
suggest names for The Great Hundred. Use the hashtag #GreatHundred on Twitter or email
Battersea Arts Centre at [email protected] or call on 020 7326 8234.
Help Battersea Arts Centre fundraise
As The Great Hundred list is compiled, Battersea Arts Centre will be inviting another one hundred
and twenty people to join "The Great Hundred Club" helping raise money to restore the building.
For £84 per month for 3 years (approximately £66 with gift aid) donors can join The Great Hundred
Club. A three year membership will mean donors:
1. have their name celebrated in a specially commissioned piece of art at the front of
the building in which they can choose to be associated with one of the figures
from The Great Hundred;
2. gain access to an intimate and exclusive talks programme with Battersea Arts
Centre's Patron Toby Jones in conversation with leading cultural figures in the UK;
3. be part of a special opening party for the building when the renovation is complete
in 2015
The Great Hundred Club will raise £360,000 towards the £13Million project for the building.
The first names on The Great Hundred list will be unveiled at a special event to launch
Battersea Arts Centre's fundraising campaign for the next three years on 23rd April.
Press are invited to attend this event.
If you are interested to support the fundraising campaign to develop and preserve this iconic
building for the next one hundred and twenty years contact Fezzan Ahmed on 020 7326 8234 or
[email protected].
Press contact Miranda Marcus: [email protected], 02073268259
[Note: Battersea Arts Centre is currently creating a digital archive of both sets of records to ensure
wider access to thousands of fascinating historical documents and stories. This work is supported by
Heritage Lottery Fund and will be launched later this year.]
Battersea Arts Centre: Inventing The Future of Theatre
020 7326 8241
BAC Lavender Hill London SW11 5TN
www.bac.org.uk | Box Office 020 7223 2223
EDITORIAL NOTES
Battersea Arts Centre
Housed in a Grade II* listed old town hall, Battersea Arts Centre is a place where artists, audience,
participants and staff can play a role in inventing the future of theatre.
‘Without BAC, established venues like the National would quickly atrophy’ Nick Hytner, NT
Mission & Vision – To Invent the Future of Theatre
Our vision is of a better future for everyone by putting creativity and invention at the heart of
everything we do; of a community that explores its history and looks to its periphery for inspiration;
and a theatre where our collective imagination is a catalyst to change the world.
Scratch – Scratch allows artists to test ideas and get audience feedback.
Developed by Battersea Arts Centre twelve years ago, Scratch is a process of testing ideas that
embraces experimentation and learning, principals which lie at the heart of our core values. In a
practical sense this means artists sharing in-development-work with an audience, who then help
enrich the work through their immediate response, feedback and sometimes direct involvement.
Battersea Arts Centre’s role is that of a producer, mediating the collaboration between artist and
audience.
Programme Model
Cook Up – Creating new work by supporting artists and enabling audiences to get creative
There are three to four Cook Up seasons a year, which combine the most exciting finished work
with Scratched sharings of work in development by artists in the building. Each week within a
season there is an average of five artists or companies in residence working with Battersea Arts
Centre. We provide complete support from rehearsal space to funding in order to develop new
productions. From Thursday to Saturday each week audiences are invited to Battersea Arts Centre
to get stuck into a creative dialogue with the artists, with the aim of inventing the Future of Theatre
though involvement and collaboration.
Tuck In – Large shows or festivals that use our building differently
Periodically throughout the year, Battersea Arts Centre explores the creative possibilities of its
building with major productions. Cooked Up with audiences through Battersea Arts Centre Scratch
Nights, these productions are an opportunity for thousands of people to Tuck In to the very best of
Battersea Arts Centre. Previous Tuck In productions include Kneehigh’s The Red Shoes and two
ONE-ON-ONE Festivals.
Take Out – Battersea Arts Centre on the road
Co-Productions that develop through Battersea Arts Centre’s Scratch Nights can go on to become
part of our emerging touring programme. We want audiences far beyond our home in Battersea to
share in our discovery of tomorrow’s theatre. The touring programme launched in August 2011 at
the Edinburgh Fringe Festival where an exciting new theatre programme was presented in
partnership with Summerhall. Since then we have Taken Out work to festivals such as Latitude, and
toured productions of The Great Escape and Paper Cinema’s The Odyssey.
www.bac.org.uk
Battersea Arts Centre: Inventing The Future of Theatre
020 7326 8241
BAC Lavender Hill London SW11 5TN
www.bac.org.uk | Box Office 020 7223 2223