We’re rebranding!

For the past 27 years, Montage Theatre Arts has worked to create inclusive, supportive performing arts opportunities for young people in Lewisham. With free and reduced-rate places, end-of-term shows, and chances to perform at professional venues, Montage Theatre Arts has offered opportunities for children and young people to discover their creativity, grow their self-belief, and become thriving members of the community.

However, behind the scenes, we have long felt like our brand (our logo, fonts, colours, designs, mission statement, and website) don’t represent the exciting work being done on-site at Prendergast School and the Albany. Montage is bold, diverse, inclusive, and aspirational, and we really wanted our visual brand to reflect that.

So, we’re rebranding! In this blog, we take you on the journey of the past 18 months, and explain what is – and isn’t — changing.

Why rebrand?

18 months ago, conversations surrounding the brand began between Emma, our CEO, and Tarini, our Senior Marketing and Communications Executive. What they kept coming up against was that Montage Theatre Arts had evolved a lot over the years, from the creation of Saturday School to the Academy, and from holiday course shows to participation in local festivals. However, the branding had remained unchanged, and no longer represented the diversity, energy, and excitement of Montage Theatre Arts.

Step One: Brand consultations

We knew that something needed to change, but it can be hard to identify what needs changing when you’re on the inside. So, we crafted a survey for teachers, staff, grown-ups, and students with the support of Charlie Giles, our consulting brand strategist. Gathering the feedback involved sending the survey out to grown-ups, but also speaking to students on-site about their opinions.

The feedback was clear: our branding felt corporate, sometimes even like a secondary school, and was bland and plain in comparison to the work we actually do on-site. The words that grown-ups and students alike kept coming back to when asked to describe what they’d want for the new brand were ‘bold’, ‘colourful’, ‘energetic’, ‘positive’, and ‘uplifting’.

Step Two: Developing our ideas

Now that we had a clearer understanding of what was wrong, we could start looking at how to improve it. Our first step was to identify our mission, vision, and values, as these would shape any visual brand we created.

In late Autumn last year, Tarini and Emma took some preliminary designs to the Montage Theatre Arts Board to get their feedback. They were able to offer input from their professional experience, workshop the taglines, and refine our ideas for the logo and colours themselves.

We also gathered feedback from teachers, students and Montage staff, to see whether they felt the new ideas aligned with what we were trying to do.

Step Three: Bringing in the professionals

Once we had clarity on the direction we were going in, it was time to bring in some professionals. Dan Barber is a Montage parent and graphic designer, who was able to take our thoughts and ideas and turn them into two distinct proposals. We mulled both over for a while and brought them to our Board, but there was one that we all unanimously felt won out. It met the brief of being bold and colourful while also staying refined, and felt like something we could continue to use for years to come.

Tarini then used this brand to design a new layout and structure for the website, making it easier to read about classes, find out which one is right for your child, and make a booking.

We brought this proposal to Jamal Dayes, our freelance web developer, who is currently working behind the scenes to rebuild our website and make it a more functional and enjoyable experience for users.

Step Four: The launch

Before we could call the branding complete, we had to know that our students liked it. So, we went back to site and sat with a few different classes to get their feedback. The outcome? They loved it.

Now, it was time to figure out how to launch it. We loved the idea of getting students involved and doing something in-person, so we settled on announcing it at our Saturday School Summer Fête on 11 July! The website won’t be ready right away, but we want everyone to see and get used to the branding ahead of time, and learn more about why we’ve made these choices.

If you won’t be at the fête, we will also be announcing it on social media and via email, so stay tuned.