Highlights Rural Touring Scheme

What Highlights Rural Touring Scheme does

Highlights Rural Touring Scheme, legally known as Highlights Productions (registered charity number 1100920 in England and Wales), is a non-profit rural arts touring organisation operating since 1989 across Cumbria, Northumberland and County Durham in North and North East England. From a small headquarters in Brough, Kirkby Stephen, the charity runs a network of approximately 50 volunteer-promoted village halls and community venues that host seasonal programmes of professional live music, theatre, dance, and storytelling performances curated by local volunteer promoters. Programming is split into Spring and Autumn seasons and is coordinated by Artistic Director Kate Lynch, with Community Programmer Joel Phillimore leading the Participate school-workshop stream and Creative Highlights creative-practice workshops.

The core product surface comprises four integrated offerings: the Live Events touring programme (the central rural-touring circuit), the Participate Workshops Programme (affordable creative workshops for schools and community groups across 26+ artforms including dance, music, theatre, animation, puppetry, storytelling and circus skills), the Young Promoters scheme for 12–25 year olds, and Creative Highlights artist-led workshops. Digital channels are limited: the organisation runs a WordPress-based marketing and ticketing website at highlightsnorth.co.uk, email newsletters (weekly during season, monthly off-season), and social channels on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. There is no proprietary technology platform, mobile app, or API offering; ticket booking carries a per-ticket booking fee (e.g., £0.75).

Revenue is mixed and grant-anchored rather than commercial. Funding streams include multi-year Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation core funding (in place until March 2027), separate grants from Northumberland County Council and Westmorland & Furness Council, ticket sales (transaction-fee model), workshop fees, online gift voucher sales in £10–£50 denominations, and donations processed through the Zeffy platform, including a BigGive Arts for Impact campaign that raised £3,860 (£4,247 with Gift Aid) in March 2025. Customers consist of rural audience members buying tickets to village-hall events, schools booking workshops, freelance artists engaged for touring and workshop delivery, and a small institutional donor base. The charity was founded in 1989 (with the first event, 'Rapunzel' by Horse & Bamboo Theatre at Lazonby Village Hall, performed by touring with a horse-drawn wagon), became a lead partner on the national Rural Touring Dance Initiative in July 2022, and currently operates with a small team of approximately eight staff.

Name

Highlights Rural Touring Scheme

Legal name

Highlights Productions

Website

https://highlightsnorth.co.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

1989

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Highlights Rural Touring Scheme (Highlights Productions, registered charity 1100920) is a UK non-profit that programmes professional live music, theatre, dance and storytelling performances plus school workshops into approximately 50 volunteer-promoted rural village halls and community venues across Cumbria, Northumberland and County Durham.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Community Arts Touring

NAICS

Performing Arts Companies (7111), Theater Companies and Dinner Theaters (711110), Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation (71), Musical Groups and Artists (71113)

SIC

Services-Amusement & Recreation Services (7900)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYTHAKAGAH

Performing Arts, Music & Theatre Group Tours

Travel & Hospitality/Travel Agencies, Tour Operators & OTAs/Group Travel & Educational Travel Operators

SECONDARYTHAJAKAC

Performing Arts & Music Lessons (Dance, Drumming, Instrument Lessons, Theater)

Travel & Hospitality/Tours, Attractions & Experiences/Workshops & Classes (Arts, Crafts, Skills & Local Lessons)

SECONDARYTHAJAKAO

Kids & Family Learning Workshops (Family Crafts, Junior Maker Classes)

Travel & Hospitality/Tours, Attractions & Experiences/Workshops & Classes (Arts, Crafts, Skills & Local Lessons)

SECONDARYMPAGADAJ

Dance Festivals & Dance Series

Media, Entertainment & Sports/Live Entertainment & Events (Concerts, Theater, Festivals)/Dance & Ballet Performances

SECONDARYTHAJAKAA

Arts & Crafts Workshops (Painting, Pottery, Ceramics, Sculpture)

Travel & Hospitality/Tours, Attractions & Experiences/Workshops & Classes (Arts, Crafts, Skills & Local Lessons)

Keywords

• Rural arts touring
• Community performing arts
• Creative workshop programmes
• School arts engagement
• Live event programming

Headquarters

HQ city

Brough, Kirkby Stephen

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Others, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Ticket sales: Revenue is generated through ticket sales for live performances of music, theatre, dance, and other arts events at rural village halls and community venues.
2. Workshop fees: Affordable creative workshops are delivered to schools and community groups, generating fee income. The programme supports artists with income streams while providing arts access to rural areas.
3. Gift vouchers: Gift vouchers sold online at £10, £20, £30, £40 and £50 price points, redeemable against online purchases of tickets and workshops.
4. Donations: Donations are accepted via Zeffy platform. The BigGive Arts for Impact campaign raised £3,860 (or £4,247 with Gift Aid) for free secondary school workshops.
5. Arts Council England National Portfolio funding: Regular core funding from Arts Council England as a National Portfolio Organisation, in place until March 2027.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Highlights Rural Touring Scheme programmes professional live arts performances (music, theatre, dance) into village halls and community venues across Cumbria, Northumberland and County Durham through a network of volunteer promoters. Alongside this touring programme, the Participate workshops programme delivers affordable creative workshops by professional artists into schools and community groups, covering artforms including dance, music, theatre, animation, puppetry, storytelling, circus skills, poetry and creative writing.

Product overview

Highlights Rural Touring Scheme is an arts charity operating as a single integrated programme rather than a platform-plus-modules architecture. The core offering consists of a Rural Touring Programme that programmes live arts events into village halls across Cumbria, Northumberland, and County Durham, complemented by the Participate Workshops Programme that brings affordable creative workshops into schools and communities. Supporting programmes include the Young Promoters youth scheme and Creative Highlights artist-led workshops. The scheme is funded by Arts Council England and local councils, and connects professional artists with rural audiences through a network of volunteer promoters.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Live Events Touring Programme

Quantifiable outcome

• Approximately 50 village hall venues served across three counties
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Rural Touring Dance Initiative (RTDI)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 July 2022National project supporting dance artists and rural promoters to make dance performances happen in rural spaces. Since July 2022, Highlights has been a lead partner alongside The Place, NRTF, Take Art and Sonia Sabri Company. Highlights Artistic Director Kate Lynch appears as a host in the Rural Moves podcast series documenting RTDI's decade of work.
• National Rural Touring Forum (NRTF)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNRTF is a national network of rural touring schemes and members including artists, venues, promoters, producers and festivals. Highlights participates in this network for resource sharing, joint promotion, and strategic planning.
• Northern Consortium of Rural Touring SchemesminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerHighlights is a partner in the Northern Consortium, cooperating in fundraising, resource sharing, joint promotion, and strategic planning for rural touring across the North of England. Other schemes include Arts Out West, Arts Alive, Blaize, Cheshire Rural Touring Arts, Rural Arts On Tour and Spot On Lancashire.
• Northern School of Contemporary DanceminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership for the KnottedHawk Dance Company tour, which included both dance theatre performances and workshops in schools, facilitated through NSCD's connection to RTDI.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Take Art: Rural touring scheme in Somerset operating a near-identical model of volunteer-promoted village hall performances and is a fellow lead partner in the Rural Touring Dance Initiative alongside Highlights.
• Arts Out West: Northern Consortium partner delivering live performing arts into rural community venues, sharing the same touring-and-workshop model and volunteer promoter approach as Highlights.
• Spot On Lancashire: Lancashire's rural touring scheme and fellow member of the Northern Consortium of Rural Touring Schemes, delivering professional live arts into rural venues using a volunteer promoter network.
• Arts Alive: Rural touring scheme and Northern Consortium partner operating in rural venues with professional performances and creative workshops, comparable in mission and operating model.
• Blaize (rural touring): Northern Consortium member delivering rural arts programming across village and community venues in the North of England on a comparable touring and workshop basis.
• Rural Arts On Tour: Northern Consortium rural touring partner delivering live music, theatre and dance into rural North Yorkshire venues via community promoters on a comparable operational model.
• Cheshire Rural Touring Arts: Cheshire-focused rural touring scheme and Northern Consortium member using a volunteer-promoter model to deliver professional performances and workshops into village halls.

Broad incumbents

• National Rural Touring Forum (NRTF): National umbrella body for rural touring schemes including Highlights; sets standards, shares resources and runs joint national initiatives across all member schemes.

Emerging players

• The Place: London-based dance organisation and RTDI lead partner alongside Highlights. Comparable in that it co-develops rural dance touring strategy, though its primary footprint is urban and venue-based.
• Sonia Sabri Company: Dance company and RTDI lead partner with Highlights, focused on developing and touring dance works into rural and community venues with associated workshop and engagement programming.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCx
• Facebookfacebook.com/highlightsruraltouring
• Instagraminstagram.com/highlightsruraltouring
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/highlights-rural-touring-scheme

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Highlights Rural Touring Scheme