The Exeter Phoenix Solar Powered Auditorium

Aim

Help us replace our theatre lights with low energy LED ones, making us cleaner, greener and a better place for you all to have fun in!

Help us make Exeter’s arts scene green by installing LED lights in our auditorium.

Help us make our auditorium shows, concerts and gigs greener!

If we raise £3,000 by Monday 16th December, we're in with a chance of winning an additional £5,000 from the M&S Energy Community Fund towards purchasing more environmentally friendly LED theatre lights.

These would be powered by solar panels on our auditorium roof, creating Exeter Phoenix's Solar Powered auditorium!

Bang in the heart of Exeter city centre, Exeter Phoenix is a vibrant, world-class multi-artform venue.  We are home to several art galleries, a theatre, gig spaces, art studios, dance studios, a cinema, film production resources and more, all centred around a buzzing Café Bar.

Each year we host hundreds of events and artistic activity spanning contemporary art, live music, DJs, cinema, theatre, dance, comedy, talks, creative courses, family events and everything in between.

Exeter Phoenix is a registered charity and with less than 20% of our activity covered by statutory funding, the support from the community helps make what we do on a daily basis possible. Your support is the reason we are able to offer free workshops and classes for young people, artist development and support schemes, access to the arts for all, and entry to our contemporary art gallery for free.

One of our most recognisable and lively spaces is a large auditorium and performance area - here we hold music, theatre, comedy and dance events throughout the year.

Our theatre lights use a huge amount of electricity. We think that each day they're used, the lights use around 60kWh, which is a lot. Because of this, we want to replace the majority of our theatre lights with LED lighting. This would mean each day they would use 14.5kWh instead of 60kWh - that's a huge difference!

Using less electricity is good for a couple of reasons. It means less carbon going in to the atmosphere, and this would be a big step towards reduce our impact on the environment and our planet. It would also mean we're spending less money on bills, which we can put back in to your favourite venue to help keep ticket prices low.

Back in 2018 we put 54 solar panels on the auditorium roof. Help us to make the events in our auditorium fully powered by the sun - this would be something that would make a big difference to our environmental impact and the future of our planet, and your support could make that happen! 

This would mean that Exeter has a solar powered auditorium, a perfect fit alongside our solar powered cinema which you helped fund a few years ago. You can hear all about that project in this M&S Energy Community Fund video below. The funding received then means that we have used solar power to screen over 4000 films.  

We're offering a myriad of unique rewards as part of this fundraising campaign that will only be available to our fantastic donators. Don't want to miss out on some once in a lifetime Exeter Phoenix experiences? See what we'll be offering below.

• £5 - Your name proudly displayed on a permanent Exeter Phoenix webpage and a thank you shoutout on Twitter.
• £15 - A limited edition postcard tailor made for this fundraising campaign plus the same rewards as above.
• £50 - A pair of cinema tickets to see any film at our solar-powered, independent cinema Studio 74 plus the same rewards as above.
• £100 - A bespoke, limited edition and ever so shiny enamel pin made especially for this fundraising campaign plus the same rewards as above.
• £250 - Experience the best of Exeter Phoenix's cultural programme with 10 free tickets to any Exeter Phoenix promoted event (Please note that this does not cover all events, but we will talk you through your options) plus the same rewards as above.
• £750 - Your name up in (LED!) lights, as we will name the Exeter Phoenix Auditorium after you for 6 months. Plus all of the awards above, excluding the 10 free event tickets.
• £1000 - We'll roll out the red-carpet and treat you like cinematic royalty with a free private film screening of your choice at Studio 74 including snacks plus the same rewards as above (excluding the free 10 event tickets and Auditorium renaming).

• When would the work be commencing?

We'll start this project as soon as we have all the funding for it. We're really hoping this will be in the Spring, but it might take a little longer. Once we have the funding, it will only take a couple of days to actually get the lights bought, delivered and swapped over.

• When will I receive my donation rewards?

All rewards will be received by the end of February 2020. Some, such as your name on our website, will be earlier.

Thank you so much for your help and support in making this big change to Exeter Phoenix and for helping the environment. We can't do this without you!

No matter how big or small your donation we appreciate your contribution all the same. If you’re not in a position to donate you can still help us out by sharing the project far and wide! From everyone at Exeter Phoenix, thanks again.

(Main Image credit: Peter Stephens Photography)

This project successfully funded on 16th December 2019