Our Secret Millionaire
Lyn Cecil made a huge impact on us when she popped in to 'volunteer' for a couple of weeks and ended up leaving us with enough funding to enable us to get exactly what the company needed: a new member of staff to support our rapidly expanding portfolio of work.
That was way back in October 2010. We've now got a General Manager, Kirsten Burrows, working alongside the Artistic Director, Ned Glasier, and the company is flourishing.
Ned Glasier, Artistic Director
We were blown away by what Lyn did for us. What an amazing thing and what a huge difference it's already made to our small company.
There have been many times when we've spent days on a single grant application, with no real idea if it'll be successful or not. Each of those times we've said "if only they funders could just come and spend a few days with us and see our work" - if they liked what we do, brilliant, if not, then no time wasted.
For it to happen, albeit in such strange circumstances, was a dream come true.
We recruited and employed Kirsten in December and she started work as our new General Manager in January. She's wonderful - calm and professional, already totally in control of the finances and all the things that keep the company ticking.
The sad truth about arts funding at the moment is that Lyn's gift was just part of what we need to raise this year in order to sustain our projects and continue our work with young people. We've got about 12 projects and productions happening in June and July alone - without them a lot of young people wouldn't have anything to do.
Lyn Cecil, the Millionaire
The main reason I chose to take part in Secret Millionaire was that I didn’t want to! It meant going out of my comfort zone and probably living somewhere that I didn’t feel particularly safe. Add to that the requirement to give away a large chunk of hard earnt cash to complete strangers, probably in some far flung corner of the British Isles – what sort of attention seeking lunatic would choose to take part in such a program?
I have battled hard to rebuild my business and life after a million pound fraud by my accountant in 2002 so there were lots of sound reasons I could give colleagues or friends as to why NOT to take part.
The real reason would have been I was afraid of the unknown! And I hate to back down from a challenge.
I claim – slightly tongue in cheek – that I’m allergic to children and young people. It was daunting therefore to discover that one of my projects was just that group. My fears were soon allayed and I discovered they were just like ‘normal’ people, but smaller and noisier!
Ned the director of the Islington Community Theatre gave me a warm welcome, as did everyone I met. His one ‘rule’ is that all members of his groups are warm and welcoming to newcomers and they treated me as one of them. I was a leading light in drama productions at school way back and just loved being back in the theatre. Ned made me feel part of what they were doing, which had taken considerable time thought and preparation on his part. My time with the different groups there was intense and fun – the light relief in my week!
I love Ned’s enthusiasm for the theatre and passion for trying to help the kids and emerging adults in the local community. He cares deeply, and that is inspirational.
The whole process of giving to my 3 projects was like a pendulum, weighing up what would be best. One major consideration was that I felt Islington Council should be continuing, despite cutbacks, to fund the Over 55 Caledonian Lunch Club and also the Junior Club at Centre 404 for those with learning difficulties. I wanted ideally to make a difference, not just keep something running.
I felt that ICT was about the future and making dreams become reality. It gives the kids the experience of speaking out in public, and confidence, which will be invaluable in the future when they come to interview for jobs.
Being in recruitment, I see that as helping people lead productive lives, without relying on benefits, and contributing to the community at large.
The whole experience was extremely intense, and the most humbling of my life. All these amazing inspirational individuals out there, large and small!! - who care so much about what they do, and will be successful!
I was reprimanded by my wonderful producer, Hannah Griffiths, for calling Ned ‘darling’, too middle class and luvvy for a (far from) retiring supposedly part time temp secretary, but he is an absolute darling- kind, passionate, inspirational!
Sammy on stage in Frank & FerdinandSammy Amokrane, ICT member
When we found out that Lyn was a secret millionaire we literally couldn’t believe it. We’d never imagined something like that ever happening to our company.
To be given this money means a great deal for me and on behalf of the rest of the company, a great deal for them too. It will allow us to create and take part in a range of different projects which will help us develop as young performers but also help us hone in more talented young people in Islington who aspire to work in the theatre industry.
It’s amazing to see how much we’ve grown and matured, not only as a company but as members of society, and to be right in the centre of it all is genuinely amazing.
Cllr Catherine West, Leader of Islington Council
I'm proud to be a supporter of Islington Community Theatre and delighted that the secret millionaire has recognised its inspiring work. Hundreds of our young people have had the chance to flourish over the last two and a half years through its projects and productions.
With government cuts hitting Islington harder than any other London borough, donations like this are more important than ever.
Kirsten Burrows, our new General Manager (funded by Lyn)
I initially saw the Islington Community Theatre situations vacant advertisement on the Arts Council arts jobs bulletin email – it struck a chord as I’d heard of the organisation, and understood it had a good reputation, but didn’t know much more about it, and was therefore intrigued. I was also heartened to see that the role was being made available, as it demonstrated that the company was growing and looking for management into the future.
Cleverly, the ad suggested that any interested candidates should come along and see the current show, It Snows, in production at the Pleasance – a brilliant way to test the determination of any candidate and a way for the candidates to see the work in action. I went to see the show without any pre-conceptions, ready to just absorb the work and think about whether I could fit in to the company and, it must be said, to find out if I would be sufficiently inspired to apply.
Luckily, not only did I thoroughly enjoy the show, but I was struck by the level of professionalism in the performing, staging and overall presentation of the show and the company. It was a huge amount of fun, and yet found a way to subtly hint at a bit of darkness. It also felt very much like a collective – a real sharing of work and a celebration of working together to build a show; this came through really strongly.
So, of course totally on board, I applied and was lucky enough to be asked for an interview which went well. My second interview was the really important one as this was where I met the ICT young people’s committee. We discussed possible future plans, mad cap ideas, serious considerations and worked together to build a brief framework for the company – very much as a team. I was extremely impressed with the level of ambition, theatre knowledge and confidence in the company which came from the young people – they were also a really lovely bunch of people so of course I was thrilled when I was offered the job!
Soon into the role, Ned Glasier, Artistic Director and I had a finance meeting, as I was keen to review the budgets and work on fundraising for the future of the company. With a glint in his eye, Ned asked if I knew where the money for my role had come from. I guessed at a couple of trusts and foundations to no avail as Ned started grinning. The grin become bigger and bigger as Ned referred to a ‘secret’ (whilst I suddenly wondered if my role was a) a joke and there wasn’t actually any money or b) the recipient of some embezzlement!). It was amazing to learn that our Secret was in fact the Secret Millionaire show and that Lyn had been so generous. It’s a real testament to Lyn that she had been so actively involved in the company through volunteering and on meeting her it’s so clear that her wonderful energy, advice and skills will be so important to ICT going forward.
Four months in now and we’ve completed a major site specific show with a cast of 60 young people, another show which toured around the country and we’re looking at a summer comprising of workshops and rehearsals for different productions. It’s been an amazing journey already and we’ve loads of plans with the young people to strengthen and nurture the future of the company. We have our work cut out for us, as whilst we want to produce shows, we need to think about the strategy for the future and finding a way to try to be as sustainable as possible, for as along as possible, for the next generations of Islington people. In this climate, it’s not easy, so we’re extremely grateful to Lyn for providing us (and me personally) with the opportunity to build the organisation and to develop Islington Community Theatre into an exciting and strong theatre company.
