The chief executive of Theatre Royal Plymouth is to step down after 31 years in the job saying it is the “ideal time” to bring the curtain down on his career.
Adrian Vinken has been in charge at the South West's principal performing arts centre, and the largest producing regional theatre in the UK, since 1990.
He has seen it become a major cultural venue, undergo an extensive revamp, and oversaw the installation of the huge Messenger statue outside it in 2019.
He also steered it though the challenges posed by the Covid pandemic, which has seen the theatre closed for more than a year, aside from a short, restricted opening in late 2020.
He will remain in post until a successor is appointed and will continue to chair Destination Plymouth and the Mayflower 400 Partnership and serve on the board of The Lowry, in Salford.
Mr Vinken, aged 67, who remains a leading voice for the hospitality sector in the city and region, said: “Leading TRP has been a dream job for which I’ll be forever grateful.
“The opportunity to work in this exceptional theatre in an amazing city with positive, dedicated colleagues, inspirational world-class artists and jaw-dropping, life-affirming shows has been a rare privilege.
“Choosing the right time to leave was always going to be a tough call. But Plymouth’s cultural scene is currently on a roll with The Box now open, Mayflower 400 shows and events coming to fruition and the British Art Show arriving.
“We’ve also just launched Plymouth’s new Culture and Visitor Plans for 2020-30 and we’re approaching the Arts Council’s next four-year funding round so it felt like an ideal time to step aside for a new team to take TRP forward.”
Mr Vinken, a winner of the Plymouth Business Awards lifetime achievement honour in 2013, joined TRP after a 10-year career in Sheffield during which he founded and directed the Leadmill music venue.
Since then he has built an organisation with an enviable reputation for its broad and eclectic artistic programme drawing audiences of more than 350,000 each year - and in 2019/20 more than 81,000 people of diverse backgrounds through its sector-leading engagement and learning programme.
The TRP, a charity, operates across two sites. Theatre Royal Plymouth opened in 1982 is the youngest listed theatre in the UK and houses three auditoria.
It is complemented by TRP’s award-winning 2003 production and learning centre TR2, on Plymouth's waterfront, which houses the theatre’s learning and engagement programmes plus its world-class rehearsal and production manufacturing facilities.
In April 2019 Mr Vinken also oversaw the commissioning and installation of Messenger, the UK's largest “lost wax” bronze sculpture created by Joseph Hillier, situated in front of the theatre.
Prior to Covid, TRP’s programme of touring and produced stage work was as distinctive as ever, but the theatre was forced to close just after presenting Robert Lepage in his biographical masterpiece 887, whilst Sally Abbott's I Think We Are Alone, a TRP co-production with Frantic Assembly had just premiered prior to a UK tour.
At the time Jen Silverman’s The Roommate was in production as was TRP’s ambitious large-scale trans-Atlantic community production, This Land as part of the Mayflower 400 commemorations. TRP will continue to partner with national companies Birmingham Royal Ballet, Welsh National Opera and Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures. The theatre will reopen in May with the world premiere of Rambert’s Draw From Within.
Mr Vinken said: “Despite the horrendous hardships of this last Covid year, TRP remains on a sound footing and, given the emergence of Plymouth’s new Culture Plan, the Art Council’s new round of funds, and our recent award of funding from the second round of the Government’s Culture Recovery Fund, it’s an ideal time to handover to a new chief executive to lead the theatre from 2022”.
Nick Buckland, chair of the board of trustees at TRP, said: "Adrian is an incredibly well-respected figure in the sector. His vision and leadership has not just sustained TRP for many years, creating a unique model of operation unlike any other in the UK, he has spearheaded a number of initiatives to develop Plymouth as a cultural and tourist destination, his commitment to which is especially evident with the Mayflower 400 programme.
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“The trustees are now actively seeking a successor to Adrian who can build on that legacy, developing the work of this cherished organisation during a period of great potential."
Tudor Evans, leader of Plymouth City Council, said: “TRP is one of Plymouth's enduring success stories of the past 30 years - a bright cultural beacon for the city and the region with a well-earned national reputation for quality.
“This hasn’t happened by accident but has been nurtured and brilliantly led by Adrian Vinken. Adrian set out from day one to ensure that the people of Plymouth can access the same quality of theatre as people living in London.
“He has championed TRP and Plymouth nationally and internationally, most recently leading Destination Plymouth and overseeing the Mayflower 400 commemoration. Adrian has also steered TRP through its darkest times with Covid19 and has managed to ensure that not only has it survived but with an absolutely stunning reopening programme for 2021/22.
“We will miss Adrian terribly but he leaves our theatre in the best shape, and I am sure this job will be one of the hottest opportunities in the UK cultural sector.”
