Our Vision
The Meteor Theatre is operated by the One Victoria Trust, which exists to foster, develop, and encourage all forms of creative and performing art, in a manner that benefits the community.
On the 1st February 2014, the keys to the Meteor Theatre were formally handed over to the One Victoria Trust. Over the next three years community support for the venue to operate as a fully functioning theatre flowed through the space. Key Performance Indicators set by Hamilton City Council were smashed as thousands of people came through the doors to use the theatre. As the 3-year trial period of community operation came to an end, the One Victoria Trust had achieved all the HCC conditions on the Deed of Gift and the theatre officially passed into OVT ownership.
In 2017 the building was upgraded and earthquake strengthened. In 2018 the venue won the Hamilton CBD Award for ‘Best CBD Experience’. New local production companies began to emerge, as did new festivals, and new local stories. Improved facilities, an increase to seating capacity, and superb staff saw the venue come into demand by touring NZ companies.
Then, of course 2020 hit a fatal blow to the whole world, and the creative sector was only one of those to suffer severe impacts through closure and cancellations. The One Victoria Trust is indebted to all those who stepped up to support our local creative industry. Our thanks goes out to local Council, Community Funders, Creative NZ, and all the wonderful people who continued to support the mahi of the Meteor Theatre.
One of the ongoing strengths of the Meteor has been its ability to flex and adapt its Black Box theatre space. Perhaps at no other time in history did the perfect size of the Meteor come into play when the time came to re-open the theatre doors. Gathering size, spacing restrictions, and sign-in protocols were challenges for our theatre staff there is no doubt. Fears of whether the audience would come were put aside as shows performed to sold-out nights. We have been lucky. Many countries have not fared so well.
It has been seven years, and the Meteor now steps up from the enormous learnings of childhood, into adolescence. It is time to re-focus and cement our place in not only the local landscape of performance venues, but on a national platform. We have faced, and risen to, significant challenges in the past seven years and now we turn our efforts to a new 3-year strategic plan. With three new trustees on board, we have revisited our Vision, Mission and Values. We have identified goals in four focus areas.
We are looking to the future. As this strategic plan comes to an end in 2023 we know that a new regional theatre will be opening its doors. This will bring a new focus to Kirikiriroa, and a significant boost to creative activity in the Waikato region. We are already forming our place in this journey.
As always, this is an exciting time for the Meteor as we look to nurture, host, and celebrate our relationships with creators, audiences, and external partners. Community wellbeing and social connectedness has been raised to new levels of awareness around the world. The arts continue to help us to define and express ourselves, as well as engage with each other in our communities. By continuing to provide a space where the community can engage with various art forms, both as audience and participants, we allow all our users to increase their own capacity for life.
We are but the guardians of this space. We welcome you to join the journey.
Adrienne Clothier
Chair – The One Victoria Trust Board
Our Purpose
- Build and support the culture and creativity of our community, artistic and audience, in all forms of creative and performing art.
- Develop upon the legacy of the space and the various groups that have inhabited it whilst remaining forward thinking, with values and philosophy that respect the past, present and future.
- Operate a safe, affordable but sustainable space with a culture of accessibility and innovative support.
- Provide opportunities for development and presentation of unique and diverse performances.
- Respect and engage with the community and adapt to any change in their needs.
- Maintain a financial sustainability that facilitates the above purposes.
- Endeavour to impact the wider community and culture of Hamilton both for the current and future generations.
Our Structure
- Legal
- Financial
- Local Community
- Creative Representation
- Technical
- Marketing
- Youth
- Diversity
- Sponsorship and Funding
- Strategic
- Hospitality
- Institutions
- Business Leaders
- Abide by the terms and conditions given in the Deed of Charitable Trust of The One Victoria Trust Board Incorporated.
- Employ staff to fill particular roles.
- Form sub-committees in areas agreed upon by The Trust.
- Pay on-going operational costs include electricity, heating, insurance, telephones and internet, administration costs, cleaning, bar licences, etc.
Our Operation
Programming
- The Theatre building will be artistically programmed.
- While the building is ‘open’ to all, the right to say ‘No’ is reserved.
- The building will not be a home for any resident group; the artist(s) vacate once a project is completed.
User Accessibility
- Any person or group may ‘apply’ to use the building.
- The programming of the building to be so structured that ‘new’ users or ‘alternative’ projects are given opportunity alongside ‘established artists’, and this to be actively promoted.
- The right to decline a person or group or project is reserved.
- The building may be used for more than one purpose or more than one performance on any one day.
- Use of the building implies and assumes trust, informed by a responsible and professional work ethic. That trust may be abused and thereby lost, and the right to use the building removed.
- Each project – an identified person in the project – is issued with an entrance code which enables people to work whenever they wish, within the agreed time frame of the project and respecting any negotiated use of the space(s) by others.
User Affordability
- Each user will pay a small amount for the right to use the space, observing the principle that many pay little (and thereby have access) rather than a few paying a lot (excluding the many who cannot afford a higher fee).
Procedures
- User contracts will be used for each artist or group project.
- While acknowledging the need for creative and innovative activity, the observation of safety protocols, following established guidelines for theatre spaces, will be required by all users.
- Liability insurance cover may be required to protect the interests of both The Trust and the user(s).
- A mechanism to enable users to register comments, complaints, or suggestions about the building and its facilities will be established.