As the Octagon begin another jam-packed year of programming, the Bolton venue have today released data from the previous 12 months, which demonstrates their social and economic impact for Bolton and the wider community.
The year in numbers reflect from January – December 2024, which saw them celebrate record-breaking performances; expand their work in the community with thousands of people attending their participation groups and take part in free activities and events; and reach even wider audiences by taking their co-productions on tour across the country.
The figures showed 87,562 audiences have attended the Octagon, making this one of the most successful years in the Octagon’s history, and its highest attendance since the building closed for complete re-development in 2018. The venue continued to cement their place as a top UK producing house theatre, with a record-breaking 70,323 people watching an Octagon co-production on tour across the UK, including two of The Stage’s Top Shows of 2024, Animal Farm and Brassed Off.
With their ongoing commitment to provide opportunities across the community and being an accessible venue, 2024 saw the Octagon launch a £4 Affordable Ticket Scheme, working with Bolton social housing companies, with 1457 people from low-income household’s attending a performance – providing over £24,000 in ticket discounts. Their education programmes increased the arts offering to young people who would not otherwise have had access to the arts, including: opportunities for pupils to attend productions as well as delivering drama and storytelling sessions and overall engaging with12,046 young people from 152 schools.
Attending Octagon productions, as well as participating in their creative engagement programmes, created an annual saving of over £500,000 to the NHS – taken from government research conducted which found that people would report being in better physical and mental health as a result of attending or participating in arts events. Recent reports and research, including UK Theatre research and AMION report show that the Octagon provide £10million of economic impact annually to Bolton and the local area.
2024 saw the Octagon win Greater Manchester Medium Business of the Year at the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce (GMCC) Excellence Awards as well as being shortlisted for the UK Theatre Awards prestigious title of UK’s Most Welcoming Theatre award. The Octagon’s Artistic Director, Lotte Wakeham, also picked up the Women in Leadership award at the SheInspires Awards and has been nominated in the Power List and Agent of Change categories at the 2025 Northern Power Women’s Awards.
Octagon’s Chief Executive, Roddy Gauld commented: “During the last twelve months we’ve delivered our promise to be an ambitious, inclusive and useful theatre for the people of Bolton, and a leading organisation in the UK’s theatre sector.
“Reflecting on the figures it is remarkable to see what we have accomplished – just a few years on from our re-development and the pandemic – with one of the highest attendance levels in our history. The business landscape is tough, with costs rising right across the organisation. We are working hard and making changes to keep up, and we are so encouraged by the rising audience numbers. Hopefully this is a great sign for the wider theatre and cultural landscape in the coming years.“We’ve welcomed thousands of new audiences as well as so many returning visitors, and we’re delighted by their feedback and the national recognition for our productions and our friendly welcome. We are proud that the Octagon’s work is seen across the UK, and our bold, adventurous and popular shows will be touring to even more venues in 2025.
“Our ambitious creative engagement programme ranges from family fun days to supporting young entrepreneurs, and a host of creative outlets for young theatre-makers, refugees and asylum seekers, older people, unpaid carers, adults with additional needs and many others. Every week, we provide cultural opportunities for countless children and families, not only in our building, but in communities, schools and libraries right across Bolton.
“All of the Octagon’s accomplishments over the last 12 months are a testament to the skill and commitment of everyone we work with, so thank you to our staff, volunteers, freelancers and collaborators. As a registered charity, we are profoundly grateful to all our supporters, who have helped us to achieve so much.”
To find out more about the Octagon visit octagonbolton.co.uk