Business model canvas

Who will help you? 

KEY PARTNERS 

Collaboration and working with partners will be key for my business because of how many areas I will need assistance with. Primarily I will need members for the team, which will include both crew and cast members. I will hold auditions for cast members for each show, allowing more people to have an opportunity to work with my company. The crew members will be hired to be in charge of the more technical aspects such as lighting and sound. I will also need to audition musicians to at least record for a backing track. Whether I will have them for live performances depends on the performance venues I am able to book and how much I’d be able to pay them. Another partner I would need is a theatre, where I’d be able to stage the performances and possibly rehearse in if the space was available. If not, I’d have to find and partner with studios that have bookings available. It would be good to have a theatre my business could have a consistent partnership with, meaning I could use it for all future performances. However, I will likely have to start with a smaller, more affordable theatre space and if my business was successful, then I’d likely expand to bigger and better theatres. I will also form multiple partnerships with various rental services for various assets such as microphones, lighting and camera equipment/crew. Depending on what is available at the performance venues, I may need to hire additional lighting and tech equipment to produce the desired product. The cameras will be needed to record the performances as making them accessible to more people online is a key value of my company. Depending on how much money I have available, I may be able to hire a camera crew to film them or will just have to hire the equipment and set it up before the shows. Last of all, I will work with companies that offer services such as sign language translators and audio descriptions so I can fulfill my goal of making theatre accessible to as many people as possible.  

How do you do it?  

KEY ACTIVITIES 

The primary key activity needed to fulfill my value proposition is the creation and development of the musicals. This includes writing the script, writing the music, holding auditions, rehearsals and the final performances. All of these are key to bring the stories to life and I will be considerate of my values throughout the entire process, thinking of how I can make the shows diverse (in terms of both characters and cast) and how I can integrate the accessibility services into them. This is important for all areas of my business because I can use content gained from each stage of the process to advertise the shows and spark people’s interests. For my distribution channels, my key activity will be the creation and maintenance of the website and social media pages for the company. I will update them regularly to keep my audience informed about upcoming productions and the creative process behind them, keeping them engaged with my company when there aren’t any current shows on. A lack of updates may cause them to forget about or lose interest in my company, so having this as a primary activity will allow me to maintain a positive relationship with them. I will also be posting recordings of any performances onto these platforms to make them accessible to a wider range of people who may not be able to access them otherwise because of issues such as money or location, thus upholding my most important values.  

What do you need? 

KEY RESOURCES 

The key resources needed to fulfil my value proposition are: a performance/rehearsal space, cast and crew, technical equipment (e.g. lighting, audio, cameras) and accessibility services. Pretty much all of these resources are necessary for any theatre company to run, but the ones that make my business stand out from the others are the filming equipment and accessibility services. These are both needed to allow me to fulfill my goal of making my productions as accessible as possible to the widest range of audiences I can reach.  

What do you do? 

VALUE PROPOSITION 

The core values Beehive Theatre aims to deliver to its audience are diversity and accessibility. My mission is to create original theatrical productions which are highly accessible, with diverse casting and crew members so everybody feels represented both on and off stage. I want everybody to feel welcome when either auditioning for my company or attending one of the shows. It is a very current issue in the theatre industry with most musical theatre enthusiasts feeling disappointed by the lack of representation and inclusivity. There have been some progressions made in recent years, but it is still a major problem that isn’t very close to being resolved. This is why I want to do my part and satisfy the audience’s need for representation and accessibility. Furthermore, I will be delivering purely original content as many of the major recent productions have been based off of pre-existing media. People have a desire to see something new after being constantly exposed to the same stories over and over again, so I want to guarantee exciting original content to my audiences.  

How do you interact?  

AUDIENCE RELATIONSHIPS 

I have two different audiences that I will need to target through my business: the audience and the performers. I want to establish a positive relationship with both, but I will need to go about this in different ways. For the audience, I will primarily be communicating with them through my distribution channels such as Beehive’s website and social media platforms. I will need to make sure these platforms are accessible and easy to navigate, especially when it comes to contacting my business and booking tickets for the shows to encourage people to interact with, and continue to interact with, the company. For the performers, I will maintain a positive relationship through honest communication, providing them with kind but constructive criticisms, but also necessary praises, throughout the audition and rehearsal processes. Teamwork is one of my company’s key values so I need to make sure all members of the team are able to work well together. By setting an approachable and friendly tone from the beginning, I should be able to maintain a positive relationship with the performers. Furthermore, working with a diverse range of people will mean I need to be aware of the different needs some may have (e.g. disabilities, mental disorders). I will make sure they all feel comfortable and communicate with them regularly so they feel like they can express their needs to me.  

How do you reach them? 

DISTRIBUTION CHANNELS 

I will primarily be targeting my audience online because it makes my business more accessible, with the internet being available in many places all over the world. It reduces location barriers and provides content to those who may not be able to see the productions live. Social media will play a large part in this because of its popularity, especially amongst my target demographic, which is young adults. I will likely be present on most social media platforms so I can reach the largest audience possible, but the primary platforms I’d use are Instagram and TikTok. They are two of the most popular platforms and focus on primarily visual content (i.e. photos and videos), which is likely what I’ll be producing the most. It is also free to make and post on these platforms, though you can further promote yourself by paying for adverts. However, it is possible to gain popularity without ads by paying attention to trends and making sure you target your intended audience through elements such as hashtags. People typically check their social media at least once a day, so it is already something heavily integrated into their routines. I will just need to make sure I post regularly to keep the people interested and make my company more memorable. I will also provide links to my website on all of these platforms as that’s likely where all content and updates will be posted. 

Who do you help? 

AUDIENCE SEGMENTS 

I have identified my main audience as young adults (17-35 years) who are from the UK. Through market research I have also discovered that the people who would be interested in my business are primarily female. They will likely either be in a creative career/studying a creative subject or have creative hobbies (especially linking to theatre). They will be invested in media such as theatre, books, TV shows and social media (especially Instagram and Pinterest) and will be great supporters of amateur theatre, as well as advocates for diversity and accessibility. The primary commonality amongst them though is their love for musical theatre and their desire to see it evolve even more in the future. This kind of audience can be applied to both the physical audience and the performers I may hire because they’d be the kind of people who love to both watch and take part in theatre. 

What will it cost? 

COST STRUCTURE 

The main costs I will be focusing on are: tech equipment hire, venue hire, props/sets/costumes (will either buy or hire them), accessibility services and filming (either hiring a company or hiring the equipment). All of these will be absolutely vital to stage the productions and fulfil my value proposition of providing accessible theatre content. I believe that whilst all of these will cost a lot, the venue and tech hire will likely end up being the most expensive. The venue hire will last the longest out of all the costs because it’s needed for rehearsals and performances, so the costs will add up more and more over time. The tech equipment will also be rather expensive, even if it is just for hire because I will want the equipment to be high quality and will likely want to rehearse with it and not just use it for performances. 

How much will you make? 

REVENUE STREAM 

Most of the money my company earns will come from ticket sales for the productions, which will likely cost between £10 to £15. I decided on this using a survey for my market research in which I asked how much people would be willing to pay to watch an amateur theatre production. This would possibly change slightly if the company became more successful and could move on to bigger venues and productions, but I would still keep the price reasonably low due to the major issue of theatre tickets being far too expensive for most people these days. The tickets would be available to purchase on the company website so I can then easily keep track of sales and it’s easier for potential customers to know where to buy them, whilst also being able to access information about the show. Between productions, I could use other methods of making money such as selling merchandise, providing licensing for the productions and releasing music from them on platforms like iTunes.