Member Article

Commercialising an arts venue

Anna Stacy is the head of conference and events at The Sage Gateshead. Here she talks through how corporate events help to generate commercial revenue for this internationally-renowned and well-loved charitable organisation.

Why has the Sage diversified into the corporate events market?

The Sage Gateshead was built with the primary reason of providing a venue for listening to music and learning music. Embedded into the original concept for The Sage Gateshead was that it would become the perfect meeting place, enabling a range of commercial activities in support of the core artistic work.

Conferences and corporate events have always been part of the strategy and The Sage Gateshead has become a well-established premier conference venue in the North East of England with a growing reputation in a relatively short space of time. We have hosted events such as the three political party conferences, Emirates launches and BT launch events. The commercial value of this type of event in supporting North Music Trust (the charitable arm of the organisation) is increasingly important in a challenging economic climate.

How do you balance the cultural credibility of the venue with the need to generate income?

The Sage Gateshead’s core ethos and mission is to connect people to music. The Sage Gateshead maintains very high artistic standards and these and the quality of artistic product are never compromised. The Sage Gateshead has a very tight £15m annual turnover and income must be generated from music as well as commercial events. The team at The Sage Gateshead make sure that they treat every booking they work on with the high standard expected, regardless of the cultural or commercial value involved.

Do you think it’s fair to say that Sage’s cultural significance is equally important in attracting inward investment to the region?

Yes, a strong cultural sector certainly contributes to the vibrancy and attractiveness of a city in terms of where people want to live and invest. NewcastleGateshead has made great strides in its cultural ambition in the last fifteen or so years, creating itself a national and international reputation. The Sage Gateshead has had over 5 million visitors to the building, and we estimate our economic contribution to be in the region of £236m in the eight years since opening.

What’s different about an event at the Sage?

The Sage Gateshead is very special venue overlooking NewcastleGateshead quayside and offers halls with world-class acoustics. When clients choose to host their event here they’re not just booking a space in an iconic venue, they get an expert team whose main objective is to ensure the perfect event takes place and that the brief is answered every time. We offer a whole lot more in terms of event support, expertise, guidance and creativity.

With such a range of events managed by The Sage Gateshead, the team has many transferable skills, whether that be lighting ideas used in a large music event transferred to a corporate event, or catering packages to suit small groups extended to large dining experiences on the Concourse. Ultimately, The Sage Gateshead offers state-of-the-art technical facilities; customer accessibility for all; multi-purpose rooms; a spectacular glazed Concourse; a shop, café, bars and Brasserie – not something you find everywhere, which gives us a real USP.

What are you doing to put the Sage ahead of the competition in this space?

We have a different approach to most when it comes to producing events and we always ensure that we fully understand the client brief as this is what the success of each event hinges on. It is critical the delegate experience is unforgettable so we work closely with our clients to develop new, fresh and creative event experiences that gives them a point of difference and something special to look back on too.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .