Louise Blackwell, founder of Creative Crawley, will run the Connaught, Pavilion, Assembly Hall and museum from January, as the council's yearly fee falls to £999,234.

Worthing Theatres and Museum has appointed Louise Blackwell as its new chief executive. She starts in January 2027 and goes full time in April 2027.

The announcement came from Adur & Worthing Councils on Thursday 15 October (PR26-092). The charity, known as WTM, runs four of the town’s best-known buildings:

  • the Connaught Theatre on Union Place
  • the Pavilion Theatre on the pier
  • the Assembly Hall, part of the town hall buildings
  • Worthing Museum and Art Gallery on Chapel Road

Jill Stewart has led WTM as interim chief executive since February, stepping up from her post as executive director. Tanya Peters has worked alongside her as executive director for culture and place.

Who she is

Louise Blackwell was born and raised in West Sussex, the release says. She has more than 25 years’ experience producing and running arts organisations.

Most recently she founded Creative Crawley, an arts charity that puts on festivals, performances and public art in Crawley. The release says she raised more than £2.5 million for arts and culture there. She co-directs Crawley’s Creative Playground, the town’s Arts Council England funded Creative People and Places programme, and sits on Arts Council England’s South East Area Council.

Before that, in 2004, she co-founded the producing company Fuel at Battersea Arts Centre. Over 12 years as co-director she grew it into a national producing charity, touring new work to venues including the National Theatre, Sadler’s Wells and Tate Britain.

“This extraordinary estate belongs to everyone in the town, and together we can make something remarkable happen for Worthing,” she said.

James Turnbull, who chairs WTM’s trustees, said the board “set out to find a leader who could secure the charity’s future”. He called the theatres and museum “Worthing’s crown jewels”.

The money she inherits

The appointment comes three months after the council settled WTM’s funding to 2032, and the settlement is a cut.

WTM is an independent charity, set up in November 2019. It runs the venues for Worthing Borough Council under a 25-year contract that lasts until October 2044. The council pays it an annual service fee, in two instalments each April and October. The council’s report calls that fee WTM’s “major source of core funding”.

On 14 July 2026 the Joint Strategic Committee agreed the fee for the five years from April 2027 (decision). According to the committee report:

  • the fee is £1,260,234 this year, 2026/27
  • it falls to £1,180,234 in 2027/28, Louise Blackwell’s first full year
  • it falls again to £1,100,234 in 2028/29 and £1,020,234 in 2029/30
  • it ends at £999,234 in 2031/32

That is 28.6% less than the £1,400,260 paid in 2024/25, which the report uses as its baseline. At its peak, in 2021/22, the fee was £1,477,900.

Bar chart of Worthing Borough Council's yearly service fee to Worthing Theatres and Museum, in thousands of pounds: 1,406 in 2020/21, 1,478 in 2021/22, 1,466 in 2022/23, 1,424 in 2023/24, 1,400 in 2024/25, 1,330 in 2025/26, 1,260 in 2026/27, then agreed figures of 1,180 in 2027/28, 1,100 in 2028/29, 1,020 in 2029/30, 1,009 in 2030/31 and 999 in 2031/32.
The council's fee to WTM, paid and agreed. Chart by The Worthing Express, from the Joint Strategic Committee report of 14 July 2026.
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The report says the council negotiated that WTM will, “within reason”, keep running every venue at the same programming level as before. The gap is to be closed by “additional commercial activity” by the charity. WTM has already appointed a director of commercial growth to lead that work.

The report also says it is not expected that there will be a reduction in service over the five years, “but this is subject to change according to WTM’s overall financial position”. It sets out why the council pushed for a cut: its own budget pressures, including its need for exceptional financial support from the government.

The deal was made five years long, rather than to the end of the existing tranche, so that WTM has some certainty while Worthing’s council is replaced by a new unitary authority under local government reorganisation.

What WTM says it will do next

WTM’s business plan, summarised in the same report, includes:

  • a bid to the Arts Council for National Portfolio Organisation funding
  • exploring extra cinema screens at the Connaught, to free the main auditorium for more theatre and dance
  • more space in the wings at the Pavilion Theatre, for bigger touring shows
  • carbon neutrality for all its venues by 2030

The report says the museum was refurbished while it was closed to be connected to the heat network, with Arts Council and Heritage Lottery money. The Connaught and the Assembly Hall are also now on the network, and the Pavilion is due to follow in Hemiko’s second phase. The Pavilion’s new windows were granted listed building consent on 12 October.

Councillor Dom Ford, the cabinet member for culture, said the new five-year partnership “will give the organisation the financial stability it needs”.

What it means for you

  • Nothing changes for ticket holders. Shows already on sale, including Puss in Boots at the Pavilion from 3 December, go ahead as booked. Box office: 01903 206206.
  • Expect more paid-for extras. With the fee falling every year to 2029/30, the council’s report says WTM’s plan is to earn more from its trading arm, membership and secondary spending in the venues.
  • The museum has reopened. It is open Wednesday to Saturday, and our things to do in Worthing page has the details.

Sources