Privacy Policy

This privacy policy sets out what information The Acorn Theatre collects about you, for what purpose, how we store it and use it, and also how you can talk to us about it.

What information do we collect?

There are several ways in which we may collect information about you:

• When you contact The Acorn directly by phone, e-mail or otherwise
• When you take part in an Acorn Theatre project or workshop
• When you buy tickets to see a show at The Acorn via a Third Party Booking Agent or venue.
• When you book The Acorn Theatre for an event or performance
• When you make a donation
• When you supply us with feedback about your The Acorn Theatre experience
• When you become a volunteer

We collect personal information that you provide to us which may include your name, address, postcode, email, telephone number and age.

If you participate in an Acorn Theatre project or attend an event, we may collect evaluation data from you. It is your choice to add your name or keep it anonymous.

We use Google Analytics to analyse the use of our website. Google Analytics gathers information about website use by means of cookies. You can view and control cookies in your web browser using the privacy settings in your browser.

How do we use this information?

Developing a better understanding of people who we work with, watch our shows and who support us either through donations or by booking our events, or volunteering with us, allows us to make better decisions about our work and communicate more efficiently.

We use your personal contact information to communicate directly with you, with information which we think will be of interest to you. This may at times include information from organisations who we are working in partnership with.

We use your feedback from our activities to evaluate the activity, assess quality and to improve and develop The Acorn Theatre.

We use statistical data from our social media platforms & Google Analytics to track the effectiveness of our marketing and how our website is used.

We use anonymised information to create reports for funders and partners and to help us secure funding for The Acorn Theatre’s future. This includes but is not limited to geographical, age, social and economic reports.

We use anonymised information to create reports to measure how effective our marketing is and to understand more about how people like to book our work.

We use information you give us in order to fulfil a request you have made to us, which may include sending you information about our company and services.

To send e-newsletter subscribers promotional, marketing or fundraising information by post or electronic means (as applicable). These types of communications can include:

• Informing you of services or events related to The Acorn, such as live performances
• News and updates about The Acorn, such as What’s On guides
• Information on our fundraising operations, including occasional targeted requests to consider giving financial support to The Acorn, or to ask you to consider supporting us in other ways
• Other relevant communications based upon your relationship with The Acorn
• To organise volunteering activity you have told us you want to be involved in
• To process venue hire contracts
• To monitor the effectiveness of our communications with you, including email tracking, which records when an e-newsletter from us is opened and/or how many links are clicked within the message. The data from this tracking is generally used in an aggregated and anonymised form.
• To analyse the operation of our website and your interaction with our website/social media channels to improve these and their effectiveness.

You can opt out of any/all of our communications at any point simply by contacting admin@theacornpenzance.co.uk.

How do we share your information?

We do not sell, rent or share personal data to third parties for the purpose of marketing, or any other purpose. Unless:

• We are legally required to do so (e.g. by a law enforcement agency legitimately exercising a power or if compelled by an order of the Court)
• We believe it is necessary to protect or defend our rights, property or the personal safety of our employees or visitors to our premises, website or social media channels
• We are working with a carefully-selected partner that is carrying out work on our behalf. These partners may include marketing agencies or IT specialists. We only choose partners we can trust, who treat your information as carefully as we would and who only use the information for the purposes it was supplied.

Legitimate Interests

The term ‘legitimate interests’ applies to the business interests that we as an organisation have in collecting, holding and processing your personal data. These do not supersede your personal rights and interests.

Our legitimate interests are:

• Direct marketing to you, ensuring you are aware of The Acorn Theatre’s activities and opportunities, and that the marketing is relevant to you.
• Maintaining a relationship with you if you are an artist, venue, partner organisation, participant, donor, funder, stakeholder, volunteer, media, community group, education centre or business.

Photography

We may take photographs at our shows and events which may include the audience or participants.  We do this to showcase the location, and the wide variety of activities at The Acorn.  Photography is a part of our ‘legitimate interests’ to market our company and work.

Here are the most common ways in which we use our photographs.

• On our website
• On our Social Media
• In the Press
• In reports to stakeholder and funders

Children & Vulnerable Adults

A child is anyone under the age of 18. A vulnerable adult is anyone aged 18 years or over, and who is, or may be, in need of community care services because of mental or other disability, or age or illness, and who is or may be unable to protect themselves from significant harm or exploitation

We do not collect personal information about children under the age of 18 or vulnerable adults at the time of booking events or activities with us. 

We may collect personal contact information from a child or vulnerable adult if they are part of an ongoing project or activity. Consent will be obtained from the parent or carer of the child or vulnerable adult at the time of collecting this data, and the consent will cover the terms of collection, holding and processing the information. The terms of consent and information on the use of the data will also be fully explained to the child or vulnerable adult, and /or the adult responsible for them.

We collect evaluation data from children and vulnerable adults who take part in our events. This data is then anonymised and used to create statistical reports and to improve the quality of our activities. Permission to collect this data is obtained from either the parent/carer or the school/college, when acting ‘in loco parentis’.

How is my information stored?

Your personal information, including any images of you, is stored on our secure, password protected network. It can only be accessed by staff who have a legitimate business need. The latest released updates from our software and network providers are applied to our systems which ensure their continued security. However, no company or system can guarantee complete security as this can be affected by unknown, outside factors.

We place great important on the security of all personally identifiable information associated with our supporters, customers and users. We have implemented security procedures, rules and technical measures to protect the personal data that we have under our control.

Any third parties who handle personal data, such as customer ticketing data, are selected with care. We provide these third parties with the information that is necessary to provide the service and will ensure they operate with the same care over data protection as we do.

Information is stored by us on computers located in the UK. Our server is kept secure and all computers and relevant software is password protected.

How long will my data be stored for?

We will keep your personal data for as long as it is relevant and appropriate to our legitimate business uses as outlined above. We believe it is reasonable to obtain new consent to holding personal data every 5 years, so that individuals can re-evaluate how and why their data is held by us. When we no longer need information we will always dispose of it securely.

What are my options? What rights do I have to access, change or remove your information?

You can ask us if we are keeping any personal data about you and you can also request to receive a copy of that personal data – this is called a Subject Access Request.

To make a Subject Access Request you will need to provide adequate proof of identity such as a copy of your passport, birth certificate or driving licence before your request can be processed. In line with GDPR, a reasonable fee may be charged to cover the administrative costs of providing the information if the request is unfounded, excessive or repetitive.

Please try to be as clear as possible about the information you are seeking.

Once we have received your Subject Access Request, the agreed fee (if applicable) and proof of identity, you will receive a response from us within one month and you will be able to get copies of any information we hold on you. However, exemptions to disclosure may apply in some circumstances. 

You do not have to provide your personal contact information to us, but do please be mindful there may be instances that may hinder our ability to provide a service to you. You do not have to provide us with evaluation data, but if you do, you can anonymise it.

You have the right to a copy of the information we have collected from you. Additionally, you are entitled to have inaccurate personal data rectified or destroyed.

You also have the right to remove your personal information by ‘opting out’ at any time, by either clicking on the unsubscribe link at the bottom of all emails or:

Email: admin@theacornpenzance.co.uk

Call on:         01736 363545

Write to: The Acorn Theatre, Parade Street, Penzance TR18 4BU

We welcome any amendments you may suggest. It is our obligation to keep any data we collect as accurate as reasonably possible and in accordance with General Data Protection Regulations.

Change in Policy

We may change this Privacy Policy from time to time. If we make any significant changes in the way we treat your personal information, we will make this clear on our website.

How to contact us

If you have any questions or would like to lodge a complaint about our use of your personal data, you can contact us on 01736 363545.

You may also contact the Information Commissioners Office 0303 123 1113.

Social media sites

We operate a number of social media pages (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram). Although this policy covers how we will use any data collected from those pages it does not cover how the providers of social media websites will use your information. Please ensure you read the privacy policy of the social media website before sharing data and make use of the privacy settings and reporting mechanisms to control how your data is used.