Our Impact in 2024
Summary from our Executive Director
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​"It is with great pleasure that I present our impact report on activities in 2024. This was a year filled with challenges, opportunities, some amazing highs and one or two lows. 2024 has been somewhat of a transformational year for The Audio Story Company, with our executive team exploring new ways of work, whilst also enjoying a return to their individual freelance practice.
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This year started with us returning to the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, to continue our delivery of the Acting For Audio Module for the the Junior Conservatoire. This 12 week block of specialised teaching saw us work with 40 young artists to introduce them to the exciting world of digital media, voice-artistry and immersive performance styles. We also delivered a bridge week intensive project, which allowed 20 young artists to experience what devising an "immersive style" performance was; giving them insight into our processes, whilst encouraging and facilitating inter-disciplinary practice with their peers.
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​​In February we started work on a brand new Audio Trail for the RAF Museums, in London and Birmingham. We were tasked with bringing a new audience experience to the museum, working with the existing exhibits to enhance the historical storytelling already on offer. We wanted to make the experience particularly engaging for young people, and created two unique characters - Antis The Dog and Percy The Parachuting Penguin - inspired by real events, to aid the journey of quite heavy subjects. The trail was well received by audiences during the month of May, and opened the company to a brand new audience demographic.
​In the summer, we started the second stage of development for Daring To Dig. The core artistic team spent two days in the National Theatre of Scotland, discussing and investigating story ideas, characters, technical ambitions and audience aspirations. The team left feeling excited, knowing that it wouldn't be long before the started creating this brand new immersive theatrical experience, with a schools and community tour booked for the Autumn.
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Daring To Dig, which was our most ambitious project to date, taught me a great deal about how best to manage our productions, and in particular how to empower our largest artistic and production team that we've had. I will be eternally grateful to our amazing freelance collaborators for their detailed work and dedication to the production and to the company.
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After a summer of personal projects for myself and Sarah (and an extremely busy Edinburgh Festival), the Autumn provided relief as we were able to fully concentrate on Daring To Dig. We were joined by a performer for 3 days of development in late August. This was instrumental in crafting a detailed narrative, and informed a lot of technical decisions. After a few weeks of script writing and sound design, we gathered the whole team for rehearsals, which was a joyous time, spent putting all the elements of this experience together.
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Daring To Dig was beautifully received by audiences, and we were blown away the gorgeous reception it received from our peers and fellow artists, who spoke of it's innovation in storytelling for young and family audiences.
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It would be disingenuous to only speak about the positives from 2024, because the wider industry was not a particularly healthy environment to operate in. The public subsidised arts sector faces significant challenges, especially when it comes to finance and resource, with lots of companies facing uncertain futures. What we know for sure, is that the way things have operated, historically, must change and shift towards new models of work and opportunity creation. I personally believe that the whole industry will need to adapt and become even more creative in order to survive.
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Not to end this summary on a sour point, I do wish to note the Scottish Governments increased budget for Creative Scotland is a start in the rectification of third-sector financial challenges. For us, we are committed to examining and exploring new models of operation, with the hope of becoming less reliant on public subsidy. Being an organised who is project funding dependent has been difficult and the failure to become part of Creative Scotland's Multi-Year portfolio has inhibited us from achieving all of our organisation goals. While we would love to only work on the projects that we feel make a positive difference to our society and our culture, we still need to ensure that our company and our individuals are safe and secure. This means often having to do private, corporate or commercial work to sustain the business and our livelihoods.
One final thing to say is a massive thank you to all of our supporters, collaborators and audiences. You are all a valued part of The Audio Story Company, and we look forward to forging ahead with you to continuing redefining the theatrical boundaries between art the people it's serves. We will continue to fight for accessible arts experiences."
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Calum Paterson.
2024 in Numbers
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Daring To Dig:
- 28 Schools Performances
- 8 Community Performances
- 12 Freelancers Employed
- Over 2500 audience members reached
- Over 1000 biscuits consumed by the team
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RAF Museums Audio Trail
- 4 Freelancers Employed
- 1402 unique listeners
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Royal Conservatoire of Scotland
- 12 Acting For Audio Masterclasses
- 40 Young Participants
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
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Objective: Increase Representation and Inclusion in our Collaborators
Measurement: Achieve 20% proportion of collaborators from artists identifying from any of the groups with protected characteristics or from any other under/non-represented identity, by 2026.
Progress: On Track​
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Objective: Increase Access and Participation within our Programme of Activity
Progress: On Track
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Objective: Expand Collaboration and Partnerships
Measurement: Achieve 5 New Collaborative Partnerships by 2026.
Progress: On Track
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Objective: Artistic Programming
Measurement: Achieve 20% inclusion rate of artistic expressions from/for any of the groups with protected characteristics or from any other under/non-represented identity, particularly low-income or socially deprived artistic expressions, by 2026.
Progress: On Track
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Executive Director Feedback:
Having an EDI Action Plan was of vital importance to our executive team, as we understand and value the contribution of different voices and different perspectives have on the continued development of our work. I am pleased to report that we are on track to meet our goals, despite the ongoing redevelopment of our funding and business model.
Working with the RAF Museums was an fascinating opportunity within a different marketplace which we feel was hugely beneficial to our organisation, and helped us with our goal of generating new collaborative partnerships.
Daring To Dig was our biggest project of the year and allowed us to re-enforce our commitment to improving the accessibility and diversity of our work. Our casting process was, once again, conducted with transparency and allowed for a high number of non-represented performers to be seen for a job. Daring To Dig was the result of a year's worth of research with audiences in Falkirk, where we conducted first hand interviews with participants and attendees. The outcome of this research informed the Daring To Dig touring schedule, places of delivery and content. For schools, we worked with Falkirk Council to target areas of social deprivation, as defined by the SIMD, allowing them access to high-quality experiences which would have otherwise been out of reach for the majority of their pupils. For public performances, we operated a reduced ticketing price, offered travel bursaries and included pre-show snacks for all young people. We targeted specific areas of Falkirk where social deprivation was at high levels and worked with community leaders to offer some performances for free.​​​​
Environmental Sustainability
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Objective: Reduce Energy Consumption
Progress: On Track
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Objective: Minimise Waste Generation and Promote Responsible Waste Management
Progress: On Track
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Objective: Promote Sustainable Procurement
Progress: On Track
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Executive Director Feedback:
​2024 allowed us plenty of opportunity to put our best foot forward, showcasing our commitment to environmentally conscious practices with our work. As a creative organisation who works in the digital space, we are constantly learning about the impacts our energy consumption has on the world around us. As such, we prioritise energy efficient technologies. Our wireless headphone equipment utilises power saving features, ensuring that batteries are used efficiently, resulting in less charging, resulting in reduced power consumption. This was particularly effective during Daring To Dig, which saw us reduce our charging times by 31% compared to previous tours.
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​Our waste management and sustainable procurement practices tend to work hand-in-hand, and in 2024 we continued to employ our '3R' policy, which saw us Re-use, Reduce and Recycle across all of our projects. During Daring To Dig, this process was lead by the organisation and implemented by our Set, Costume & Illusion Designer, Fergus. Paying particular reference to Set and Costume, we used a 'second-hand first' process, which empowered the team to use our 3R policy practically throughout the design and build of the show. The result was a beautiful, and environmentally conscious, set design that spoke to the themes of the production whilst being sourced and built responsibly and sympathetically.
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As part of our commitment to transparency, awareness and education, this impact report is publicly available though our website. ​​
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