A key responsibility of a producer is looking after the finances of the company, a vital aspect lies in being able to fundraise and budget. My role is to look over the finances and decide whether we have enough budget, or If not, find a way to obtain those funds. The company started out on a budget of £250 commissioned by Lincoln Performing Arts Centre. Though this is a great foundation to begin with, I was aware it would not be enough to fund all of the set, props and costume we may want. Consequently, I began to think of ways that we could raise the funds.

A popular way to raise money for both amateur and professional theatre companies is to create a crowdfunding page, there are several of these pages around such as Gofund me, Kickstarter and CrowdfunderUk, where friends, family and members of the public can donate money. This was a method of fundraising that was brought up by other members of the company but a method I did not choose to follow. I saw the prospect of fundraising as not just a ‘task’ but a way of further advertising our show. The method of using a Crowdfunding page is a great way to obtain funds, but this would only be something I used if my initial plans of fundraising did not raise enough. Therefore, I began to think of alternative ways to fundraise that would accumulate enough money and be a great way to advertise our performance.

A key element of being a successful theatre company is collaboration, not only with other theatre companies but also surrounding businesses. In my fundraising plans Bleeding Edge collaborated with two businesses, these were Walkabout and Lovedough. Walkabout offered us their venue to host a quiz and donated a meal for two with a bottle of wine for our raffle. ( You can read more about Walkabout in the blog post titled Securing a Sponsor). Lovedough also donated two tickets for their end of year party at The Engine Shred, which we used for a separate raffle after the quiz at Walkabout had taken place. Both events allowed our fundraising to expand our potential audience further than just students.

– Lydia
Producer.