Dance City Newcastle

Client Background

Established over 40 years ago, in 2006 Dance City moved to a new purpose built centre with six studios, a 250 seat theatre and space to host other organisations, as the dance development agency for the North East of England.

The organisation faced significant challenges following the COVID pandemic, with the decline in student numbers forcing the closure of MA and BA courses, the increases in the costs of running a large building, and the proliferation of new dance organisations in the region fulfilling parts of Dance City’s role.

Difficult staff restructures to reduce costs had led to low morale and high staff turnover, but financial losses continued.

The resignation of the CEO at the start of 2026 left the organisation without an experienced deputy to lead the organisation through a transition period.


The Challenge

Jim Hollington Arts & Culture was engaged by the board in March 2026 to lead the organisation through the interim period, including:

• Supporting the staff team to improve morale and continue to deliver agreed activity
• Ensuring finances and risks effectively managed
• Researching potential future sustainable business models for incoming CEO to take forward
• Managing an effective handover to the incoming CEO


My Approach

Based on my recent experience at Cumbernauld Theatre I conducted a rapid review into the financial situation of the organisation, and identified a number of significant risks that were not getting sufficient attention at CEO and board level. Through presenting a report with specific recommendations to the board in my first two weeks we agreed on a revised list of priorities

My work included:

• Bringing in an experienced co-consultant to act as Interim General Manager, to focus on staff morale and project delivery while I focused on finance and external relations
• Setting up a Board Task Force to meet weekly to monitor and support my work
• Building an effective new Senior Leadership Team, including identifying and retaining key staff scheduled for redundancy
• Rebuilding organisational budgets with involvement from all budget managers to provide reliable forecasts and deliver a balanced budget
• Implementing new spending approval and budget management systems to improve compliance and accuracy, and reduce workload
• Finalising significant new support from Newcastle City Council
• Building an effective working relationship with Arts Council England, including developing a successful capital funding expression of interest at short notice
• Building relationships with North East Mayoral Strategic Authority
• Consulting with leaders of dance organisations and with dance artists to improve relationships and as a result clarify organisation’s vision, mission and aims and recruit new specialist staff to support artist development
• Providing incoming CEO with detailed handover, including financial projections and options until 2033 to support upcoming Arts Council England five year funding application

The Solution & Results

I handed over the organisation to the incoming CEO with a confident and collegiate Senior Management Team in place, working to an updated vision of the organisation’s mission developed and shared with the dance sector in the region.

Reliable budgets were in place that showed a predicted surplus for the first time in a number of years, with clear and devolved budget management responsibility across relevant team members.

Main funder Arts Council England felt reassured about the current and future health of the organisation just as their new five year funding round was about to be launched, and supporting the first phase of a capital bid. Newcastle City Council agreed the detail of an updated lease and financial support package that would provide stability and support for further business transformation.