Skip to content

About

Privacy Policy

Magnetic North is committed to keeping your information secure and managing it in accordance with our legal responsibilities under privacy and data protection laws, including the UK GDPR, the Data Protection Act 2018 and the Data (Use and Access) Act 2025.

This privacy policy explains how we use any personal information we hold about you and your rights in this regard.

About us

We are Magnetic North Theatre Productions Ltd., a company registered in Scotland (no. 199210), Charity no. SC029351, at Summerhall, 1 Summerhall Place, Edinburgh, EH9 1PL. We are the “data controller” for the personal information described in this policy.

About you

You are a person who has done one or more of the following:

  • used our website which is currently at www.magneticnorth.org.uk.
  • subscribed to our mailing list.
  • completed an online or paper feedback form.
  • contacted us via email, via the contact form on our website or otherwise.
  • interacted with us on social media, either directly or indirectly.
  • donated money via Givey, cheque, cash or services in kind.
  • told a venue where we perform that you are happy for them to pass on your information to us.
  • submitted a script to us.
  • submitted a CV to us.
  • contacted us regarding auditions and/or has auditioned for us.
  • attended one of our workshops, productions or events.

This privacy policy doesn’t cover personal data we may hold about you as a result of you being an employee, trustee, supplier or freelance/sole trader with whom we work or we are discussing working with.

The information we may hold about you

Information we hold about you might include:

  • information you provide us in an online or paper form (for example, your name and contact details, postcode, age, feedback about our work).
  • details of tickets you have requested from us and/or your attendance at our productions, guest nights, press nights or other events.
  • communications with us (for example, using the contact form on our website, by email, or notes of phone calls).
  • information about your purchases, donations, event attendance and interactions with our communications — including the information available through the services we use to do this, currently Mailchimp, Givey and Google Forms.
  • information you send to us by email, via the contact form on our website or otherwise (e.g. your CV, information about your work).
  • your publicly available social media activity or analytics on you provided by social media platforms, e.g. your handle, posts and location.
  • information about you that you have provided to a venue where we perform which you are happy for them to pass on to us securely.

How we use information about you, and our lawful basis

We collect and hold information about you so we can:

  • personalise your experience of our website and/or communications you receive from us.
  • record who has given money or services to us so that we can tell them how their money has helped, and to claim Gift Aid where possible.
  • manage our organisation effectively and continually improve what we do.
  • develop our relationship with you as someone who may want to collaborate with us.
  • inform future programming of events, including better understanding of specific locations and tailoring work to specific audiences.
  • encourage bookings for our events and donations so we are less dependent on funding — according to what marketing communications you have agreed to:
    • to communicate with you about ourselves, our work, future shows, other things we think you might find interesting, and opportunities to support us.
    • to communicate with you about upcoming Open Auditions.
    • to communicate with you about training and workshops.

Under the UK GDPR we must have a lawful basis for using your information. Depending on the activity, we rely on one or more of the following:

  • Consent — for marketing emails and for non-essential cookies. You can withdraw consent at any time.
  • Contract — where we need your information to provide a service you have asked for, such as a ticket, workshop place or event booking.
  • Legal obligation — for example, keeping financial records and claiming Gift Aid.
  • Legitimate interests — to run, develop and improve our organisation, manage our relationships and understand our audiences, in a way that does not override your rights.

Although we sometimes tell you about work from others, we won’t pass information we hold about you to them unless you explicitly give us your permission.

Any feedback you give us we may use in public communications, but not in a way that identifies you unless we have your permission.

We may share information about you with other organisations who help us deliver services to you, but always under the same conditions we are bound by under this policy. We may also share information with law enforcement agencies or others where we are obliged to by law.

Use of anonymised data and analytics

The information we use to demonstrate the impact and reach of our work to funders is anonymised, so we will not share anything which identifies you personally.

We use Google Analytics to collect standard internet log information and details of visitor behaviour, such as pages viewed, traffic data, approximate location and information about your device and browser, including your IP address where your browser provides it. We use this only with your consent via our cookie banner, we use it in aggregate to understand how the site is used, and we do not attempt to identify individual visitors.

We use Mailchimp to deliver our e-newsletters. Through Mailchimp we gather statistics around email opens and clicks.

Marketing

We would like to communicate with you about ourselves, our work, future shows, other things we think you might find interesting and opportunities to support us. We will only do this if you explicitly give us permission — for example, we won’t add you to our mailing list just because you gave feedback or used the contact form.

You have the right to opt out at any time. If you no longer want to be contacted for marketing purposes, email us or click ‘unsubscribe’ in any email we send.

Storage, transfers and retention

We store your information securely. Some of the services we use (for example Mailchimp and Google) may process information outside the UK. Where information is transferred outside the UK, we make sure appropriate safeguards are in place, such as the ICO’s International Data Transfer Agreement (IDTA) or transfers to organisations certified under the UK Extension to the EU–US Data Privacy Framework.

We keep your information only for as long as needed to provide the service you have requested, to meet our legal and accounting obligations, or for as long as you remain subscribed to our communications. When information is no longer required, we dispose of it securely.

Your rights

Under data protection law you have the right to:

  • be informed about how we use your information (this policy);
  • request a copy of the information we hold about you (a “subject access request”);
  • ask us to correct information that is inaccurate or incomplete;
  • ask us to erase your information in certain circumstances;
  • ask us to restrict or object to our use of your information;
  • ask us to transfer your information to another organisation (data portability); and
  • withdraw your consent at any time, where we rely on consent.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us at mail@magneticnorth.org.uk or write to us at the address below. We will respond within one month.

How to make a data protection complaint

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your personal information, you can make a complaint to us at any time. Please email mail@magneticnorth.org.uk or write to Magnetic North, Summerhall, 1 Summerhall Place, Edinburgh, EH9 1PL.

When you make a complaint we will:

  • acknowledge it within 30 days of receiving it;
  • take appropriate steps to investigate it without undue delay and keep you informed of progress; and
  • tell you the outcome.

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), the UK regulator for data protection. We would, however, appreciate the chance to address your concerns first. You can contact the ICO at ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint or by calling 0303 123 1113.

Cookies

Cookies are small text files placed on your device by a website to collect standard internet log information and information about how visitors use the site. We use essential cookies to make the site work, and non-essential cookies (such as analytics) only with your consent, which you can give or withdraw through our cookie banner.

You can also set your browser to refuse cookies; in a few cases some features of our website may then not function fully. For more information on cookies, visit www.aboutcookies.org.

Other websites

Our website contains links to other websites. If you follow them, you should read their own privacy policies to see how they use information about you.

Changes

We keep our privacy policy under regular review and will place any updates on this website. This privacy policy was last updated on 10 June 2026.

Things that could change in the future without us coming back to you for agreement:

  • we could move our website to a different address.
  • we could change the services we use to sell tickets or do mailings.

Contact

This privacy policy was drafted with brevity and clarity in mind. It does not provide exhaustive detail of all aspects of Magnetic North’s collection and use of personal information, but we are happy to provide any additional information or explanation needed.

If you have any questions about this policy or feedback on it, or would like to exercise your rights with respect to your personal information, please contact us via mail@magneticnorth.org.uk or write to Magnetic North, Summerhall, 1 Summerhall Place, Edinburgh, EH9 1PL.

Version 2 (Published 24 May 2018 — last updated 30 June 2026)