PIN: Theatre Royal Margate - Operator

Thanet District Council (the Council) is seeking the following through this PIN advertisement:

Pre - Expressions of Interest from different types of operators as a way to test the market for different operator models.

Comments and feedback on operator models in light of the new vision, audience profiles and financial context.

The Council intends to procure and / or develop an operator for the Theatre Royal Margate, as part of a significant capital development project funded by Margate Town Deal. The Council is also seeking additional funds from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and potentially other funding sources - for example, The Arts Council.

The Council is seeking to engage with the market to help inform its procurement exercise for the Theatre Royal Margate operating model. The Council has published a prospectus (Theatre Royal Stakeholder Engagement Pack) alongside this Notice which provides an overview of the opportunity and is now seeking responses from the market to a number of questions.
Through this Questionnaire, we are seeking to engage with:

Existing operators of theatres and other similar arts and entertainment venues
Performing arts organisations seeking to expand/ relocate to operate the Theatre
Smaller organisations and/or small groups / consortia interested in becoming part of a new organisation to operate the Theatre

The Council’s expectation is that this opportunity will suit sector specialists with the capability of self-operating all required elements of the service (e.g. venue programming, ticketing, event promotion and management, hospitality, backstage and technical and facilities management).

We are seeking to engage with potential theatre operators who have / can develop the capability to operate all functions within the venue for a period of at least 10 years (to be confirmed) following an estimated two year development phase. They shall provide a high quality and imaginative programme, marketing and audience development proposals, planned maintenance proposals, and a planned investment (fundraising) programme, as well as options for the development of educational programmes, outreach work, and other community activities. We will require the future theatre operator to work in a light touch way with the Council and its consultants to develop design proposals, within the allocated budget, for the redevelopment of the Theatre Royal and associated facilities which are to be developed at 19 Hawley Square.

If you wish to indicate an early expression of interest in relation to this opportunity, please register your organisation or consortia on the Kent Business Portal (https://www.kentbusinessportal.org.uk/). Where you can view this opportunity and register your interest to view the documents and information. We ask that you use the Site Visit Request proforma and return to us via the Portal messaging facility to make arrangements to visit the Theatre Royal at Margate. The Site Visit will be by appointment only and the appointments will be offered on a “first come, first serve” basis. We also ask you to complete the “Market Engagement Questionnaire” and submit by the deadline stated below.

Site visits will be available on 09 and 10 January 2024

For this PIN, the deadline for Soft Market Testing responses is 5pm, 24 January 2024.

All communication, queries and responses must be via the Kent Business Portal messaging area on the opportunity page. The Council will not respond to direct emails / phone calls / any other form of communication concerning this Theatre Royal Market Engagement.

Important Information:
Please note, this PIN is for a soft market testing exercise and does constitute a call for competition to procure any services from Thanet District Council.

The information contained in this PIN and the documents made available are indicative only at this stage and subject to change.

Please also note, as this is purely for a soft market testing exercise to be undertaken, Thanet District Council is not bound to accept any proposals offered by interested parties, or liable for any costs incurred by any party participating in this soft market testing exercise.

A response to this PIN does also not guarantee an expression of interest to participate in any future procurement process that Thanet District Council may advertise.

Thanet District Council reserves the right not to commence any procurement or award any contract in respect of this notice.