FUTURE YARD STRATEGIC PLAN 2024-27

ORGANISATIONAL STRATEGY
2024-2027

CONTENTS
MISSION, VISION AND VALUES ................................................................................................................... Page 3
AIMS, OBJECTIVES AND KPIs...................................................................................................................... Page 5
PROGRAMME ................................................................................................................................................. Page 7
SKILLS AND LEARNING................................................................................................................................. Page 8
MARKETING................................................................................................................................................... Page 10
OPERATIONS................................................................................................................................................. Page 12
IMPACT AND EVALUATION......................................................................................................................... Page 15
FINANCE..........................................................................................................................................................Page 17
GOVERNANCE............................................................................................................................................... Page 19
Appendices can be found at futureyard.org/organisational-strategy-24-27
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1. MISSION, VISION AND VALUES
1. 1 MISSION STATEMENT
Future Yard’s mission is to utilise music as a transformational opportunity, based on the
founding principle that music can change the world.
1.2 VISION AND AIMS
VISION
Future Yard is a catalyst for transformational change in Birkenhead, fundamentally reimagining the
role a music venue can play in the development of people and places. Our venue is a maternity ward for
new music, and is home to artists of the future, working side-by-side with internationally-renowned,
aspirational talent. Our cradle-to-career pathway successfully engages local children, young people
and music creators, facilitating progression into creative careers, development opportunities and
high-quality experiences. We see a future where Birkenhead has been fundamentally reimagined, and
is synonymous locally, nationally and internationally with innovative, challenging, high-quality musical
activity, both on and off stage.
AIMS
Future Yard aims to:
1. Deliver a high-quality, dynamic live programme, showcasing local, national and international talent to
diverse audiences of all ages.
2. Deliver an industry-leading cradle-to-career skills and training pathway for local young people in
Birkenhead and beyond.
3. Provide a permanent physical asset to Birkenhead, both of and for the community, which is
sustainable operationally, financially and environmentally.
4. Create lasting social impact which is transformative in the local place-making agenda and wider
regeneration of Birkenhead.
1. 3 VALUES
BE THE BEST - We strive for excellence and are committed to being the very best at every aspect of our
work. We focus on the detail, getting the small things right, to achieve greatness across everything we
do.
COLLABORATE - We are more powerful together. We are committed to deep collaboration and sharing
knowledge, bringing others along on our journey. Together, we can achieve profound change.
BE ADVENTUROUS - We are protagonists. We empower people to question the status quo, and challenge
conventions. We will be the change we want to see.
BE KIND - We are committed to creating a kind, respectful and equal environment for all. We prioritise
efforts to achieve equity for the most underrepresented in our community and will ensure we are a
positive force in the quest for climate justice.
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1.4 ABOUT FUTURE YARD
Future Yard is a multi-purpose community music venue in Birkenhead. Opening in 2020, our venue is
home to 280 indoor and 700 outdoor capacity performance spaces, 5 music studios, bar/café and social
spaces, welcoming over 100,000 visitors and 1,500 artists through our doors since opening.
We reimagine a music venue as a learning opportunity, a space for young people from some of the most
deprived areas of the UK to embark on career pathways in the live music industry, through our cradle-tocareer
training programmes. This is delivered within a working live music venue, programming touring
artists from around the world alongside local emerging talent.
Future Yard CIC was founded in 2019 to pilot Future Yard Festival, a two-day multi-venue festival
bringing new music to Birkenhead. Alongside artists including Bill Ryder-Jones and Anna Calvi, we
piloted our now-established artist development and training programmes. We moved into our home at
75 Argyle Street in 2020, fully opening our doors post-covid to the public in Spring 2021.
Future Yard sits at the heart of the regeneration vision for Birkenhead. We are the only culture project
chosen as one of the 10 flagship projects to deliver the vision of the Birkenhead Town Deal, a £25m
regeneration programme, allowing us to undertake capital works to increase our venue’s capacity,
including a new 1,200-capacity outdoor performance space and 10 studios.
Our overarching aim is to utilise music as a powerful lever for positive social, cultural and economic
change in Birkenhead, to reimagine what our town means in the world, and to use our activities to
improve the lives of local people.
1.5 CONTEXT
Birkenhead is a town that has faced decades of socio-economic decline and neglect. It was once a
thriving shipbuilding town, home to the likes of Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, Half Man Half
Biscuit, Elvis Costello, and countless more. For decades there had not been a live music venue in
Birkenhead. For a place with music in its DNA, this has been a missed opportunity - until now.
Areas of Birkenhead rank in the bottom 0.3% nationally in the Indices of Multiple Deprivation. 1 in 3 live
in poverty, with over 56% of children eligible for free school meals. A high ‘Community Needs’ score
demonstrates the level of social exclusion and disconnection from services and support that local
people experience. The national average Community Needs score is 21.3, but in Birkenhead it is 76.
Future Yard targets all of its activity where needs are highest to ensure that we reach those who need it
most. We are based in Birkenhead & Tranmere ward, neighbouring Bidston & St James and Rock Ferry,
which overlay closely with postcodes CH41 and CH42. These three wards form a highly-concentrated
‘corridor’ of deprivation. Across all of our activity, we specifically target local people from within these
postcodes to give access and opportunity where it is most needed.
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2. OBJECTIVES & KPIs
Aims Objectives KPIs (24/25)
1. Deliver a high-quality,
dynamic live programme,
showcasing local, national
and international talent
to diverse audiences of all
ages.
2. Deliver an industry-leading
cradle-to-career skills
and training pathway for
local young people in
Birkenhead and beyond.
Present a diverse, affordable
collection of high quality
national, international
touring & local artists.
An integrated local artist
pipeline, fed by PROPELLER.
A live programme reflective
of the communities we serve
Develop partnerships with
key cultural organisations
within the North West to
showcase high-quality,
diverse programming and
develop audiences.
Engage diverse audiences
reflective of our community
Provide first-time musical
experiences for children
aged 1-8 and their families
through Mosh Tots.
Provide practical musicmaking
opportunities for
young people through New
Noise.
Deliver a sector-leading live
music production training
programme through Sound
Check.
Support artist talent
development through
Propeller.
Provide work-based
pathways into the live music
industry.
Engage young people
reflective of the needs of our
community.
We curate contemporary alternative, jazz, electronic, hip hop,
folk, contemporary classical.
200 shows annually
50/50 internal/external promoters
Our annual festival, Future Now, successfully delivered
Pipeline/strategy is in place
60% artists from Liverpool City Region
12 x local headline shows from PROPELLER artists p/y
50/50 gender split
40% artists from LCR
Network of cultural partnerships established.
20,000 annual audience.
10% CH41/42, propelled through localised awareness
campaign.
30% from areas of high IMD
Audience is reflective of our community.
5% accessing free tickets
Audience engagement plan in place
34x Sunday morning sessions
20x Schools Outreach performances
1,700x participants annually
30x Saturday sessions for 11-16 y/os
30x participants per term
36x AEB group 0.5 day sessions
104x Traineeship group full day sessions
225x one-to-one mentor sessions
150x supported work experience sessions
XXX BOOTCAMP
45x workshops p/y
100x engaged artists
3x placements offered annually, delivered in partnership.
30% participants from areas of high deprivation
10% participants from CH41/42
Established Schools’ Strategy
Active referral partnership network
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3. Provide a permanent asset
to Birkenhead, both of
and for the community,
which is sustainable
operationally, financially
and environmentally.
4. Create lasting social
impact which is
transformative in the local
place-making agenda
and wider regeneration of
Birkenhead.
Generate revenue through
hires and F&B sales
Increase operational
efficiency across the
organisation
Financial stability
Environmental
sustainability, working
towards carbon neutrality
A highly-skilled, highperforming,
diverse
workforce
A fit-for-purpose governing
structure
Deliver Birkenhead Town
Deal capital project
A robust evaluation
framework across all
participatory activity
Longitudinal evaluation
framework established
Community voice sits at
the heart of our decisionmaking
Improved access for local
people facing barriers to
attendance to Future Yard’s
programmes
Local, regional and national
recognition for Future
Yard’s role in Birkenhead’s
regeneration
70% realised GP across all F&B
F&B financial targets achieved
Event Sales Strategy in place
100x private hires p/y (based on 2 p/w)
Facilities review completed
Task management system implemented
Increased financial literacy amongst staff
Financial procress review completed
Fundraising strategy in place and targets achieved
Meet 2024/25 financial performance target.
Unrestricted reserves of XXX by 2027
Achieve targets set within Sustainability Action Plan
Achieve Carbon Neutrality Certification by 2025.
Best practice recruitment and induction processes
Defined organisational management structure with clear
reporting lines
Defined meeting and performance review framework
Training and development needs identified and delivered in
line with departmental aims and individual appraisals
New Board of Non-Executive Directors appointed Spring 2024
Policies developed and shared with all staff, including
sustainability, IDEA, children and young people
Working groups/sub-committees in place support SLT/Board
to monitor and drive policies, including sustainability, IDEA
and finance
Diversity of staff, leadership, and board members broadly
reflects the diversity of Liverpool City Region
Capital project is realised by 2027.
Funding shortfall is met through fundraising efforts.
Evaluation framework for programmes in place
Quarterly case study capture
Updated CRM to maximise audience insights
Annual impact report produced
Longitudinal evaluation framework established, based on
theory of change
Academic research project delivered in partnership with LJMU
underway
Biennial ‘What Does Music Mean To You?’ community
consultation delivered in 2025.
Participant voice group established and meeting quarterly
Increased visibility across CH41/42 via community outreach
activity.
Free-to-access ticket scheme established via referral partner
network
Network of community partners to peer-review programmes
Opportunities to share learning at panels, roundtables and
discussions nationally.
Future Yard presence within local place-making bodies inc.
Liverpool City Region Music Board, Merseyside Hub Alliance
Board
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3. LIVE PROGRAMME
Future Yard is a dynamic live space presenting over 150 shows and 200+ total events per year. Our venue
comprises a 280-capacity indoor Live Room, where most regular shows take place, and 700-capacity
outdoor garden, for large-scale and seasonal performances, festivals and events. In addition to this,
our Yellow Room bar space offers a public-access multi-use events space, as does our 40-capacity
Workshop space, completed in April 2023.
Future Yard’s live programme sits at the heart of the venue’s operation, and provides a pillar around
which all other activity sits.
3.1 LIVE MUSIC PROGRAMME
Future Yard’s live music programme spans across genres including alternative, indie, contemporary
classical, rock, jazz, Americana, Afrobeat, folk, reggae and psych. We have presented shows by artists
including The Coral, Ibibio Sound Machine, We Are Scientists, Vieux Farka Touré, Don Letts, Bodega, The
Mysterines, PVA, Bill Ryder-Jones, Rae Morris, Manchester Collective, Slum Village, Space, and High Vis.
With 3-4 shows per week, we will vary the genres and risk-profile of each show, ensuring that sales are
healthy across the programme, and that we continually reach diverse audiences.
We have a commitment to platforming emerging artists, which is supported by our artist development
pathway. Ensuring a strong, mutually beneficial connection flourishes between the live and development
seams is a key priority.
3.2 FUTURE NOW
Future Now is Future Yard’s annual flagship festival, marking the legacy of the inaugural Future Yard
Festival in 2019. In 2024, this will return to a multi-site festival including Birkenhead Town Hall, Make
Argyle Street and Joy. Future Now is ambitious and aspirational, drawing bigger artists and audiences
to Birkenhead, transforming the town. 2024’s edition sits within the year of Wirral Borough of Culture
to draw additional investment and promotion, however remains a pillar in Future Yard’s annual
live programme, and in future years will seek to maximise the venue’s footprint, including outdoor
expansion, plus partner venues.
3.3 PROGRAMMING PARTNERS
Future Yard seeks to work with partners including external promoters, talent development partners and
cultural organisations to programme high-quality events and broaden the output of our live programme.
In this period, Future Yard strives to reach a 75/25 split between in-house promoted shows, and those
presented by external promoters and partners, such as Now Wave, Crosstown Concerts, Africa Oyé and
more. This is to provide variety to the programme, share financial risk and reduce a reliance on Future
Yard’s in-house programme, whilst reaching new audiences.
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4. SKILLS AND LEARNING
Future Yard reimagines a music venue as a training opportunity, providing a cradle-to-career pathway of
skills and learning programmes for children and young people to engage with live music, with a primary
focus on those living within our priority wards of Birkenhead and Tranmere, Rock Ferry and Bidston. This
currently sits across four core programmes for ages 3-16+: Mosh Tots, New Noise Music Centre, Sound
Check and Propeller.
Future Yard aims to build a tangible pipeline to working in the live music industry, both on and off stage.
This pipeline is integral to the future of the music industry, nurturing the future talent of both Future Yard
and the sector’s workforce and talent. We also envision a future where every young person in Birkenhead
has the opportunity to play and participate in live music.
4.1 CHILDREN & YOUNG PEOPLE
4.1.1 MOSH TOTS
Mosh Tots is Future Yard’s ‘gigs for kids’, taking place weekly on Sunday mornings during term time, for
children up to age 8 (as a guideline) and their families. Mosh Tots is an interactive live show delivered
by the Mosh Tots house band, exploring popular music, musical theatre, Disney and more. Children are
introduced to rhythm, melody, genre and expression through encouraged movement and participation.
Successfully established, Mosh Tots operates on a ticketed basis, with 1/3 of tickets committed as freeto-access,
distributed via schools and community partners. We will continue this model, and continue to
explore ‘specials’ including Earth Day, Easter, Halloween and Christmas, in addition to our annual Mosh
Tots Festival, where additional activity takes place, boosting sales.
Mosh Tots is the first entry for a child to experience live music at Future Yard, and an important vehicle
for engaging with families, who we are able to signpost to Future Yard’s wider activity. We will build our
relationships with our partner network to grow attendance, including those on free-to-access tickets.
4.1.2 NEW NOISE MUSIC CENTRE
New Noise Music Centre (NNMC) provides practical music-making for young people aged 11-16.
Delivered through weekly sessions during term-time with our New Noise tutors, NNMC gives young
people the opportunity to try their hand at bass, guitar, drums and vocals, through learning popular
songs. Young people participate in a range of workshops, rehearse in bands, and at the end of each term,
perform a showcase in Future Yard’s Live Room to friends and family. Throughout the programme, young
people learn musicianship, technique, songwriting, listening skills, as well as social and communication
skills. Sessions are currently delivered across two cohorts: 11-13s and 14-16s.
We have recently piloted New Noise Holiday Club for 7-11 year olds - a condensed, week-long
programme taking place during school holidays. Holiday Club provides a link between Mosh Tots and
NNMC, and a pipeline into regular NNMC sessions. Future Yard aims to grow and establish Holiday Club
to continue its delivery.
Future Yard has paused New Noise Club shows, dry-bar matinee shows for under 18s, following the need
to review and redesign the programme. We expect this work to follow on from the development of our
Schools’ Strategy, later in 2024, with shows relaunched by 2025.
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4.1.3 SCHOOLS ENGAGEMENT
In 2024, Future Yard will establish a Schools’ Strategy, to focus our engagement through deeper,
strategic relationships with primary and secondary schools, with a specific focus across CH41 and CH42.
Previously, this work has been focused on outreach sessions, with heavy reliance on schools to promote
Future Yard’s programmes to pupils and their families. Following consultation with local education
leaders, we will undertake this strategic approach to develop deep-rooted, two-way partnerships with
a small number of schools within our immediate geography. This will see comprehensive engagement
across Future Yard’s programmes, and the potential development of new work over this period.
4.2 TALENT AND SKILLS DEVELOPMENT
4.2.1 SOUND CHECK
Sound Check is Future Yard’s practical live event production training programme for young people
aged 16-24+, delivered in partnership with The Learning Foundry. The programme continues to be
successful, with two cohorts running regularly: 12-week Monday Night AEB (Adult Education Budget
funding) programme, and 18-week daytime study programme, for those facing additional barriers
to employment. Both cohorts are regularly oversubscribed, with steady referrals from Future Yard’s
community network.
This period sees major expansions within the programme, as we launch Sound Check Bootcamp; a
follow-on 16-week training programme for those who already possess a working knowledge of live
events and production. Funded by Department for Education via The Learning Foundry, Bootcamp
includes work experience in partner venues, with Future Yard as the regional hub for Liverpool City
Region, working in partnership with venues including ACC Liverpool. Significantly, across 2024, an
additional three hub venues will be launched across the North to run Sound Check Bootcamp in their
regions, including Lancashire, Greater Manchester and West Yorkshire. The first hub has been confirmed
in Lancashire as The Ferret, Preston.
This expansion is supported by the appointment of a new Development Coach, who is now in post.
4.2.2 PROPELLER
Propeller is our artist development incubator, providing holistic, industry-level support to local music
creators through an open-access programme of mentorship and workshops. Each artist accessing the
programme has a profile on the Propeller web platform, where progress is tracked and their plans and
objectives are logged with support from the mentor team. This is initially targeted at those in the early
stages of their careers, naturally falling at 16+. Following a successful application, Propeller has now
joined the PRS Foundation Talent Development Partner programme, providing a significant financial
uplift to the programme to reach more artists at different career levels across the next three years. This
also provides the opportunity for peer collaboration and learning, with other leading talent development
organisations across the UK.
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5. AUDIENCES & MARKETING
Future Yard’s audience is broad, and our marketing runs across two core strands: marketing Future
Yard’s live programme, including ticketing, show announcements, web listings, digital and print
promotion; and project-based campaigns, including promotion of Future Yard’s bar and kitchen, and all
skills and learning programme recruitment.
5.1 AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT
As identified by our annual Audience Survey (January 2024), we understand Future Yard’s core live
audience to be:
• 67.5% male / 30.5% female
• 49.6% of audience aged between 40-59
• 10.3% of audience ‘young’, aged 18-29
• 54% of audience from Wirral, including 10.3% CH41 and 42
• 22.2% of audiences from Liverpool postcodes
Since its inception, Future Yard has been anchored in the tagline ‘The Future Is Birkenhead’ - as a core
part of the 2019 festival, the launch of the venue, and across all comms - an aspirational, bold statement,
intended to encourage optimism, and drive the place-making agenda locally. The tagline has become
synonymous with Future Yard, and the result of which is a strong local audience, over 50% of which from
Wirral and 10% hyper-local (CH41/42).
Across 2024-27, we aim to:
• Increase engagement of local residents across our target postcodes across free-to-access
neighbourhood tickets, and community venue use including space hire, and use of bar and café
functions.
• Grow our ticket-buying audience, including repeat attendance
• Launch a membership offer for our ticket-buying audience by March 2025.
AUDIENCE INSIGHTS & CRM
We will monitor and review the progress towards these aims through an annual audience insight report,
produced using ticket and customer data, combined with audience survey responses.
Future Yard has identified the need for an upgrade to its digital infrastructure, including a CRM system,
to increase reporting efficiency and provide insight into customer behaviour. In Summer 2024 we are
beginning the scoping phase of CRM development, and hope to build external partnerships to provide
additional expertise.
5.2 MARKETING PLAN
Future Yard will commit to an annualised Marketing Plan, anchored around large-scale and core live
events programming, such as Future Now, and the recruitment periods for our skills and training
programmes.
See Appendix 1 for 2024 Marketing Plan.
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5.3 PROMOTION
In our latest Audience Survey (January 2024), we saw the following responses to how people engage
with Future Yard’s live programme:
• 62.3% have engaged with Future Yard’s website
• 48.2% engage with emails/Future Yard’s mailing list
• 49.6% found out about upcoming events via Future Yard’s social media accounts
• 33% heard about events via word of mouth
• 14.8% don’t engage with Future Yard online at all, with 17.8% not engaging with social media
Future Yard will continue to utilise social media channels (Facebook, Instagram, X) to grow audiences,
directing traffic to Future Yard’s website. We are developing a mailer strategy to streamline email
communications and target audience segments.
Future Yard has a strong visual brand, and we distribute posters across our venue, and targeted venues
across Merseyside. We will increase the amount of distribution to reach venues on a more regular basis,
not just for flagship events.
We are moving towards a seasonal programming model, where we produce 3 x 4-month seasons of
programming at a time, to increase booking time and resource for marketing. We hope to see this in
effect from 2025, and will print an accompanying listings brochure with each season, with distribution of
c.10k regionally, becoming our most widely-circulated print asset.
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6. OPERATIONS
In Summer 2024, we will appoint a new Head of Operations to the Senior Leadership Team to oversee all
venue and facilities management and delivery. In doing so, we aim to see increased efficiency in the dayto-day
operations, and an increase in trading revenue.
6.1 FOOD & BEVERAGE
Our venue is open to the public 7 days a week, 10am-late, as a bar and café space, as well as servicing our
studios, workshop space, and other facilities.
Future Yard is heavily reliant on the commercial performance of our trading F&B revenue. As such, we
have established financial targets and KPIs in place to track the performance of our F&B offer, and make
operational changes to achieve such targets.
We have launched a new Instagram account, ‘FY Bar and Kitchen’, to promote Future Yard as a bar
and pizza kitchen to non-gig-attendees. We will continue to grow this platform and accompanying
promotions, as outlined in the Kitchen Development Plan, to maximise daytime, passing and non-events
trade.
6.1.1 BAR
We provide a high-quality offer across our F&B, rooted in our commitment to sustainability. Our house
beers are produced at Birkenhead-based Glen Affric Brewery, a contracted partnership which ensures
a supply commitment and keen costs consistent with our mission and values. We source locally or
sustainably-made alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks wherever possible.
6.1.2 KITCHEN
Our kitchen currently opens on show nights from 4pm, and Fridays and Saturdays. In January 2024,
we launched our newly-designed sustainable pizza menu, following a redevelopment of our menu and
kitchen facilities. The menu was designed to be easy-serve, environmentally friendly (vegan/vegetarian
only and using local produce), and realise a high gross profit target. Across F&B, we aim to achieve 70%
realised gross profit, reviewed monthly.
6.2 SPACE HIRES
6.2.1 EVENT SALES
Future Yard hires out its Live Room, Garden and Workshop space to local businesses, community groups
and creatives. We aim to have a minimum of two hires per week, to generate income on evenings
without events, and in September 2023 recruited for an Event Sales Coordinator to increase bookings
and manage the production of these events. We are devising a Sales Strategy encouraging business
bookings, targeting seasonal events such as Summer Socials and Christmas parties.
Additionally, we have launched a campaign to encourage wedding bookings at the venue, and have
confirmed 7 bookings since the appointment of the Event Sales Coordinator. These are high-value
events with full venue hire and catering, and we will run this campaign annually to increase bookings.
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6.2.2 STUDIOS
Our venue has five basement rehearsal studios with full backline, available for hourly hire via the
Propeller web platform. These are administered by the Venue Supervisors and serviced by a member
of our technical team weekly. We will run a survey amongst studio users to identify any areas for
improvement, and continue to drive studio usage across our digital and in-venue marketing channels.
6.3 BUILDING
6.3.1 FACILITIES
Our facilities across our bar and events spaces, studios and production are maintained in-house where
possible, with the appropriate department leads responsible for each area of the building.
Across 2024/25, we will undertake a facilities review to assess the management, maintenance,
requirements and potential upgrades to the venue, as well as implementing a streamlined inventory
process for technical equipment across the building.
6.3.2 CAPITAL DEVELOPMENT
Since buying our venue at 75 Argyle Street in 2020, we have undertaken significant capital works to
develop the site, with large-scale plans to increase the site’s footprint, adding an additional performance
space and workshop/studio spaces. This is supported through Wirral Council’s Birkenhead Town Deal
programme (£1.6m) and Arts Council England’s Capital Scheme (£500k).
At present, we have completed Phase 1 of our capital development programme, refurbishing and
redeveloping the existing building to build our bar spaces, studios, garden and Live Room, ensuring
it is fit-for-purpose. This phase also saw the development of the building’s first floor which houses a
management office, workshop space and four new public toilets to service the front bar, all completed in
April 2023.
Phases 2 and 3 will see us construct a new outdoor 1,200 capacity performance space reimagined
from a disused railway cutting which runs alongside our venue, alongside 10 acoustically treated and
soundproofed music studios. The fully accessible, net zero complex will be constructed to support
musicians at every stage of their career, housing our youth and artist development programmes. This
work will take place from Winter 2024 to Summer 2027.
6.3.3 DIGITAL INFRASTRUCTURE
Future Yard’s Digital Infrastructure has grown organically and quickly as the organisation has scaled. We
are currently heavily reliant on G Suite for internal processes and operational management. We have
identified the need to implement an ‘enquiry-to-evaluation’ Event Management system, to successfully
manage enquiries - both incoming and outgoing - and event delivery. We have applied to Bloomberg’s
Digital Accelerator programme to support this work - along with the development of audience CRM -
and are accessing Arts Council’s Digital Culture Network to support this process.
6.4 SUSTAINABILITY
Future Yard is committed to operating as sustainably as possible, and upon our inception, set the goal to
become the first carbon-neutral grassroots music venue in the North of England, and one of the first in
the UK. The steps to achieve this are laid out in our Sustainability Roadmap, designed in partnership with
Liverpool John Moores University Low-Carbon Eco-Innovatory, published in March 2022.
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Led internally by a dedicated Sustainability Lead, we produced a Sustainability Action Plan (see appendix
2) as an internal strategic plan to reduce our emissions across departments, and importantly, our
audience.
We identified in the 2022 Roadmap that audience travel accounted for 95% of our Scope 3 emissions.
To reduce this, we will launch an audience-facing events series, ‘Future Planet’, as a banner to include
events including our pedal-powered festival Wax + Gears and POP29 industry conference to encourage
audiences to engage with climate debate and activism. We will also continue to run targeted marketing
campaigns, as demonstrated in the Action Plan.
Over the next year, we will devise a plan to achieve net zero. This will be supported by training
undertaken by our Sustainability Lead, a dedicated Sustainability Sub-Group reporting to Future Yard’s
Board of Directors, and the establishment of Future Yard’s internal ‘Green Team’ to drive on-the-ground
improvements across departments.
We are active members of Shift Liverpool, as well as Liverpool Visitor Economy Taskforce and Liverpool
City Region Music Board, where we will continue to share best-practice approaches to sustainability, and
work in partnership to achieve our goals.
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7. IMPACT AND EVALUATION
7.1 PARTNERSHIPS
Future Yard has a comprehensive partnership network with the most relevant place-based organisations
to enable us to reach the most excluded within our community, and embed cultural, wellbeing and
development pathways for those who need it most.
They include:
• Local place-based organisations including Birkenhead Job Centre, Magenta Living, The Learning
Foundry (Regenda), Merseyside Music Hub Alliance, Hive Youth Zone, Wirral Council and Wirral Met
College
• Regional and national partnerships with organisations including Arts Council England, Youth Music,
Paul Hamlyn Foundation and PRS Foundation
• Evaluation and impact partnerships including Liverpool John Moores University Low Carbon Eco-
Innovatory, NESTA and Liverpool City Region Music Board.
These partnerships enable us to:
i. Consult with local residents, teachers and support workers
ii.
Identify need and demand for programming priorities
iii. Co-design programming that responds to community need
iv. Identify and recruit participants to our skills and training programmes
v. Identify and support participant needs, such as travel and subsistence support to enable
participation
vi. Develop audiences
vii. Influence regional creative industries policy and strategy
viii. Access funding and other resources such as strategic planning, evaluation and programming
consultancy.
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT & NEIGHBOURHOOD
CHAMPIONS
As an organisation rooted in its local impact, Future Yard has built trusted relationships with a network
of Wirral-based third-sector organisations, known as our ‘Neighbourhood Champions’. This network
encapsulates the above outlined aims with peer support to consult, shape programming and reach the
most vulnerable in our community.
This network is largely mobilised through our Neighbourhood Ticket Scheme - a free-to-access ticket
scheme targeting those in CH41/42 who face barriers to engaging with cultural activity. Tickets are
distributed monthly for a variety of in-house Future Yard live shows, to our Neighbourhood Champion
partners. Tickets are then distributed via partners to service users in a way that suits the need of the
organisation - for example, via group trips, membership offers, or independent access.
The scheme was launched in April 2023 as a pilot, with a small number of partners. At present, we have
ten organisations on the scheme, including Compañeros Crisis Café, Forum Housing, Open Door Charity,
and Hive Youth Zone. We are currently reviewing the scheme with all partners involved, and will produce
a report evaluating the pilot, along with a strategy outlining its further development.
Our short-term aim is to grow the scheme to include more partner organisations, with additional comms
and opportunities beyond show attendance, such as meeting artists, and backstage tours. Long-term,
we aim to run a scheme which enables tickets to be claimed on an individual basis, without need for a
referral organisation. This is dependent on the development of our audience CRM, and this function will
be a priority upon the development of our digital infrastructure.
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As an organisation anchored within a permanent venue, we understand the importance of increased
visibility in our local community. As part of the development of our Neighbourhood Strategy, we will
seek more opportunities to present Future Yard’s offer within our target postcodes. Due to staffing
capacity, we have had limited presence at community fairs and open days, however the recruitment of a
Development and Engagement Coordinator in Summer 2024 will see importance placed on attending
outreach events delivered by our partners, with the aims of:
• Raising awareness of Future Yard’s core offers
• Increasing recruitment into Future Yard’s skills and learning programmes
• Building trust with local community members, helping to remove barriers to access
• Encouraging uptake of free-to-access Neighbourhood tickets, when visiting a partner organisation.
7.2 EVALUATION AND MONITORING
Future Yard implements a robust evaluation procedure across all of our core live and training
programmes. This allows us to develop a strong evidence base which informs ongoing programme
development and outreach.
Our evaluation system comprises of:
• Participant’s self evaluation of their cultural experiences, wellbeing, skills, understanding, confidence
and resilience.
• Staff and mentor evaluations of young people’s experiences, skills and development across our
training programmes.
• Quantitative audience and participant data relating to attendance numbers, age, diversity and
background, accessibility needs and retention.
• Case studies, verbal and written feedback from community partners based on the experiences their
service users have had, through the context of the challenge in which their organisation supports
them for.
• Our biennial community consultation to assess the community-wide impact of our programmes on
families, schools and individuals outside of participants, audiences and staff.
This is all collected through post-event surveys sent to audiences, on-the-day verbal feedback, ticket
buying and distribution data collected from Box Office, and through surveys and questions sent to
partners to prompt and collect feedback.
All outcome indicators will be collated into our first Annual Report, which we will use to guide internal
planning and development, and share externally with partners to share impacts benefits.
We disseminate our learning with stakeholders including Wirral Council, Youth Music, Arts Council
England, and Liverpool City Region Music Board to share best practice, using our case study as a sectorleading
example to influence music-led, place-shaping activity regionally and nationally.
We will re-launch our ‘What Does Music Mean To You?’ (WDMM2U?) community consultation project
in Spring 2025. This listening project, originally undertaken in Summer 2022, saw us conduct surveys
and focus groups across our community, to identify barriers that local people faced when engaging
with cultural activity. The results of which were published in a report, and were instrumental in shaping
pathways into our live and skills and training programmes.
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8. FINANCE
8.1 INCOME
Future Yard works consistently to overcome the challenging economic landscape. In order to ensure
financial resilience, Future Yard has a diverse range of income streams to reduce reliance on any one
income source, spread evenly across fundraised and earned income.
8.1.1 FUNDRAISING
At present, Future Yard generates fundraised income through corporate partnerships and trusts and
foundations, in line with the funding streams available to our organisation, as a Community Interest
Company (CIC).
Across 2024/25, we will be making the conversion from a CIC to a charitable organisation, and this is
reflected in our fundraising strategy across the period of this Strategic Plan. For further detail on this
conversion, please see section 9.2 within this document.
MAJOR FUNDERS
We have significant relationships with a number of national funders, who have committed to multi-year
support towards Future Yard’s core activities. These include:
• Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation - £150k pa from 2023-2027.
• Paul Hamlyn Foundation - £64,125 pa from 2023-2026.
• Youth Music - repeat project investment securing over £100k since 2022.
We continue to maintain these relationships to secure further investment.
FUNDRAISING STRATEGY
For the 2024/25 financial year, we have increased and adjusted fundraising targets to prioritise securing
grant income (2024 - £100k target across core/projects, 2023- £60k). Our corporate fundraising target
is £40k (2023 - £75k) to reflect market trends towards a decline in corporate giving, and to build on our
successful track record with trusts & foundations.
We will bring in new grant income alongside maintaining existing relationships, and increasing the
number of applications to secure smaller grants (<£25k).
We will continue to service corporate partnerships to achieve an 80% renewal rate, leaving a
manageable shortfall to fund through new relationships.
At the launch of our charity conversion, we will launch an audience-facing campaign, and individual
giving scheme, which will be designed across 2024.
This will be summarised in a 3-year funding strategy, complete in 2024 once the timescales of the
charity conversion have been finalised.
Alongside this will sit a capital fundraising strategy for the development taking place across 2024-27. At
present, our shortfall is estimated to be £500k.
8.1.2 EARNED INCOME
Future Yard generates trading revenue from ticket sales, venue hire and food and beverage spend.
Additionally, Future Yard receives commissioned income through Department for Education, via The
Learning Foundry, for the delivery of our Sound Check programme.
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8.2 EXPENDITURE
We have recently undertaken a review of our F&B cost of sales in order to reduce expenditure and
increase gross profit across all F&B spend. We identified a number of cost-saving changes, particularly
around non-alcoholic drinks, and will continue to monitor this stringently.
At present, we are also reviewing our utilities contracts in order to reduce our overheads, which has seen
us change electricity and internet supplier.
Our payroll continues to be the largest proportion of our expenditure, forecasted at £674,741 in 2024/25
across management, F&B, events delivery and payroll on-costs. As a young organisation which has
scaled rapidly in the past two years, we expect to see this, and over the next three years, we will see the
fully resourced team (which are largely in situ) grow our core programmes and delivery to generate a
surplus. This will be further aided by additional revenue capacity provided by our Capital investment.
In Spring 2024 we have undertaken a financial process review, improving efficiency and ownership
amongst departments to manage their departments’ expenditure. We are rolling this out in Summer
2024, alongside accompanying financial management training to department leads and those directly
responsible for paying invoices, to improve the financial literacy amongst all levels of the organisation.
8.3 BUDGET
Future Yard’s 2024-25 budget can be found in Appendix 3.
Future Yard has a target to achieve a £102,291.96 surplus in 2024/25. Our free reserves target is 3
months of staff and overhead costs (£175k) & we are building towards this with the target to achieve
two months reserves within two years of completion of our Capital Investment programme. This is to
increase our organisational resilience to changes in the economy, such as COVID or the cost-of-living
crisis.
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9. GOVERNANCE
As of Spring 2024, Future Yard is a Community Interest Company limited by guarantee with a four-strong
Board of Directors with varied skill sets and expertise.
As part of our organisational development, we identified the need to re-establish Future Yard’s Board
to bring new expertise and perspectives to sustain our growth and organisational health. This Board
of Non-Executive Directors will see us through our planned charity conversion, and will transition to
becoming a Board of Trustees once the organisation’s new structure is established.
9.1 BOARD RESTRUCTURE
We have recently completed the recruitment process to establish an entirely new Board of Non-
Executive Directors to Future Yard CIC, which will be made up of eight members.
Following a skills audit completed in Autumn 2023 by Future Yard’s Senior Leadership Team (SLT), we
identified the need to recruit Board members with the following specialisms: finance, governance, risk
management, HR, fundraising, evaluation and education. Through a thorough recruitment process, we
have recruited a strong Board, catering to the varied skill sets outlined previously, who will be inducted
and onboarded throughout Spring 2024. The first formal Board meeting taking place at the end of Q1 in
July 2024.
9.2 CHARITY CONVERSION
Future Yard CIC was established in February 2019 as a non-profit to produce and deliver Future
Yard Festival in 2019. At the time, it was intended to launch a series of pop-up performances across
Birkenhead following the festival, to continue the legacy of the inaugural festival.
As the pandemic disrupted and altered plans, Future Yard was established as a permanent venue in
2020, and has since grown to an organisation with a £1.3m+ turnover, and team of over 53 (including
part-time and freelance staff) with established, ongoing programmes serving the local community.
The decision to convert to a charitable governing structure was made for a number of reasons:
• To increase fundraising opportunities, particularly in support of our capital development.
• To better align with our core aims, which are fundamentally charitable in nature.
• To provide the founding-leadership with a strong, stable succession strategy rooted in organisational
resilience, led by an independent Board of Trustees.
We are still in the scoping phase of the conversion, and have a pro-bono relationship with international
law firm Taylor Wessing who will support us with all legal aspects of the conversion process.
It is anticipated that the current CIC will transition into a Charitable Company Limited by Guarantee
(the FY Charity) and incorporate a trading subsidiary (the FY Company) which will operate the food and
beverage and merchandising workstreams of Future Yard. We expect to reach an informed decision in
Summer 2024, guided by the Board, legal advice, and sector-specific guidance.
9.3 ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE
We have reviewed and streamlined our staffing structure significantly since January 2023, creating clear
lines of management and defined department structures.
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Our core management team consists of 12 full-time and 6 part-time staff members, led by our Chief
Executive. Additionally we have a bookkeeper from our accountants, McEwan Wallace, who spends one
office day per week with us.
We have established our SLT who meet monthly, comprising of Heads of each of the below departments,
as displayed in the organisational structure (Appendix XX). We will appoint a new Head of Operations
in Summer 2024 and plan to recruit for a new Head of Skills and Learning later in 2024 to support the
growth of our children and schools’ engagement.
Each department is supported by managers and coordinators, dependent on department-specific
requirements. Our F&B team, including Venue Supervisors and Bar staff, and Production team, including
Event Managers, Sound & Lighting Engineers and Box Office staff, are supported within our Operations
department, and are a vital function of our organisation and event delivery. Team members are a mix of
contracted and casual workers, including freelance, and are involved regularly in department-specific
and organisation training and development.
Where possible, we recruit Production team members from our Sound Check programme, offering
tangible pathways into live music for our trainees. At present, 95% of our Production team have joined us
through Sound Check.
TRAINING
Future Yard has a young workforce, with 72.1% under the age of 30. This is largely due to our recruitment
through Sound Check, and the nature of being a vibrant, creative organisation. To ensure that our team
are equipped with the skills and knowledge to succeed in their roles, we have established a Training
Matrix to ensure that every employee undergoes ongoing training relevant to their department. This
includes statutory training, such as safeguarding, first aid, and fire safety, and additional support such as
people management training for line managers. Training needs are reviewed and identified on a regular
basis.
Additionally, Future Yard holds two company-wide Team Development Days per year in which the venue
shuts to the public to allow for practical training and sharing of company-wide updates.
9.4 WORKING GROUPS & POLICIES
We are in the process of developing our refreshed Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility (IDEA)
policy, outlining an organisation-wide approach to working inclusively with everyone who engages with
our work, and ensuring the relevant support is in place to make our venue accessible and welcoming
to people from all walks of life. This policy will be rolled out in Summer 2024, shared at our Team
Development Day. This policy will outline ongoing training and operational considerations.
In addition to the appointment of our new Board, Future Yard will establish a number of sub-committees
and working groups to provide strategic oversight and support to priorities within our work. We intend
to design the specifics (inc. terms of reference) of these sub-groups (with delegated powers), working
groups (advisory) and task & finish groups with our new board. We envisages these would initially
include:
• Finance Sub-Group - with delegated powers from the Board in relation to the organisation’s financial
position and affairs.
• HR Sub-Group - supporting the HR function of the organisation.
• Sustainability Working Group - to ensure an organisation-wide approach to meeting our sustainability
targets.
• IDEA Working Group - to monitor and implement Future Yard’s policy across the organisation, and
ensure practices remain in line with our guidelines.
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• Youth Participant Voice Working Group - seeking the views, ideas, experiences and feedback of
young people from our local community who engage with our programmes to shape their ongoing
development.
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