Rambert

The Organisation

Rambert is the UK’s oldest dance company. Originally focused on classical ballet, it is now a leading contemporary dance company presenting some of the most progressive and diverse dance in the UK and internationally. The organisation produces and co-produces original work and tours extensively with its company of close to 20 dancers. Rambert also offers wide-ranging opportunities for participation and engagement in classes and courses at its London South Bank studios and through online content. The company is known for its strong culture of diversity and inclusion as well as its progressive voice in the dance sector. Rambert is not afraid to take artistic risks, putting on new work by exciting choreographers that might not otherwise be presented on UK stages.

The Opportunity

Since a leadership change in 2017, Rambert has been progressing a refreshed business plan aimed at diversifying its income portfolio, with three new strategies emerging. Firstly, the company has decided to invest in branded productions to be introduced alongside its more typical work. For the first such production, Rambert developed a dance adaptation of the hit TV show Peaky Blinders. The show was co-created by the series’ creator Steven Knight and Rambert’s Artistic Director Benoit Swan Pouffer and completed a successful UK tour in 2022 and 2023. Due to the high upfront costs involved in touring, Rambert subsequently sought loan capital from the Arts & Culture Impact Fund (ACIF) to restage the production and invest in another tour starting in autumn 2024. The tour will travel to both national and international venues, with profits to support loan repayments.  

As a second element of its new strategy, Rambert has set up a joint venture with Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance (a separate company) to bring to market one the first accredited contemporary dance teaching frameworks and exams – Rambert Grades – filling a gap in the dance market for a distinctly contemporary syllabus with strong focus on inclusion. Thirdly, Rambert has been investing time and resources to monetise its large catalogue of online dance classes and behind-the-scenes content through its digital subscription-based channel, Rambert Plus. 

The Process

The investment due diligence process focused primarily on Rambert’s Peaky Blinders touring plans as the key investment area that ACIF would support. The team spent time understanding the touring model in detail, including assumptions around ticket sales, future interest in booking the show from venues in the USA and Asia, the recoupment schedule involving other investors, as well as the financial arrangements between the company and touring venues, which are distinctly different in the UK and overseas. ACIF also took into consideration the risk of significant touring cost increases due to the inflationary pressures at the time of the investment (September 2023). In addition, ACIF interrogated Rambert’s plans around Rambert Grades and Rambert Plus in order to get comfortable with the company’s approach to risk management within these areas. 

Finally, through the process the ACIF team had the opportunity to get to know Rambert’s impressive executive team and board, who gave them much confidence in the organisation’s ability to execute its plans, navigate any challenges and, crucially, have a productive, open and collaborative relationship with the fund team. 

The Impact

It is clear that Rambert’s mission to promote diverse contemporary dance and its strong focus on inclusion underpin all of the organisation’s activities. Examples include classes for visually impaired dancers, affordable classes in a local community centre and subsidised curriculum dance activities in schools. When working together with Rambert on the investment opportunity, the ACIF team focused its social impact assessment on Future Movement, Rambert’s creative youth programme for 16-20 year olds delivered in London, Mansfield and Rochdale. The programme targets young people with an interest in pursuing a career in the creative industries, prioritising those facing barriers to engagement in the arts. Some of the positive outcomes Future Movement aims to achieve include improved understanding of activities and jobs within the creative industries, increased self-belief in the ability to exercise agency and increased engagement of diverse voices through inclusive activities. 

The ACIF team enjoyed delving into the positive change Rambert’s work generates, and looks forward to supporting the company to further refine its approach to evaluating its work with people facing barriers to accessing dance and creativity.