Lincoln Performing Arts Centre

Lincoln Performing Arts Centre (LPAC) is a contemporary arts organisation at the heart of the city of Lincoln, owned and operated by University of Lincoln. The Centre acts as a bridge between the University and the community, a place for creative exchange between artists, audiences and academia. We improves the creative and cultural opportunities for the people of Lincoln, empowering communities to flourish by maximising participation in the cultural life of our city.

Alongside hosting presented work from comedy to dance, family shows to classical music, and classics plays to contemporary performance, Lincoln Performing Arts Centre also commissions and self-produces shows with professional companies, whilst nurturing the next generation of artists and practitioners, and providing learning opportunities through LPAC Young Producers, Lincoln Young Company, our youth theatre, and wider participation programmes. We are the creative lead on PopOut Festival, Lincoln’s annual festival of performance taking place in non-traditional spaces, and a facilitator of community cultural events, working with local groups to co-create activity at a grass-roots level.

Officially opened to the public in 2008, the venue is also home to the School of Fine & Performing Arts. Around 400 students study Dance, Drama, Music, Musical Theatre and Technical Theatre & Stage Management in the building at undergraduate and postgraduate level.

Warwick Arts Centre

In September 2018 Warwick Arts Centre welcomed Doreen Foster, to take up one of the most exciting artistic leadership roles in the UK, as Director of one of the jewels in the crown of the University of Warwick. As a nationally recognised leader in the arts, Doreen’s broad-ranging experience makes her uniquely placed to help position both Warwick Arts Centre and the University of Warwick at the heart of the communities we seek to serve.

Warwick Arts Centre delivers a high quality, engaging and diverse programme of performing and visual arts, film and alternative content and creative learning. The Arts Centre also provides a home for collaboration, innovation and creativity to thrive, an environment where ideas and talent can grow. It has a loyal audience base, served by programming and operational teams with a wealth of knowledge and experience. The Arts Centre is well respected by artists, companies, press and peers.

2019/20 is a year of transition. Under new leadership we are using it as a year to challenge our understanding of the potential audience for a dynamic programme at Warwick Arts Centre; to explore taking our artistic programme into communities and working with communities to co-produce, commission and curate and; to bring new and more diverse voices and stories to our spaces.

WARWICK 20:20 PROJECT

Warwick Arts Centre capital project (Phase 2) commenced in early 2019 and involved the removal of the existing gallery and cinema and replacement with a large ground floor exhibition space, three new cinemas, a new café/restaurant and an extended foyer.

By 2020 Warwick Arts Centre will be:

• The beacon arts centre for the region
• An extended building for all communities and at the heart of the University of Warwick’s regional engagement strategy
• A comprehensive digital screen programme with 3 new cinemas
• A renewed and more accessible ground floor art gallery
• Improved facilities to support digital innovation, creative R&D, learning, thought  leadership, contemporary visual arts, cultural tourism
• Exemplary creative learning, performing and socialising opportunities for students.

A launch event will take place early 2021 and will also coincide with the Coventry City of Culture 2021.

John Hansard Gallery

Southampton’s arts and culture programme is locally relevant and internationally acclaimed, from our students and staff to the artists we work with. We support high quality, innovative and interdisciplinary practices that bring together artists with researchers in a unique creative environment. 

John Hansard Gallery (Director: Woodrow Kernohan) is an internationally recognised contemporary art gallery. The Gallery aims to change the world for the better through great art. The Gallery was established in 1979 at the University’s Highfield Campus. In 2018 it relocated to the new arts complex in the city centre, enabling an increase in its intergrated programme of exhibitions and events. Learning and engagement are at the heart of the Gallery and underpin all its activities. 

Turner Sims Southampton (Concert Hall Manager: Kevin Appleby) is a nationally renowned concert hall and live music producing organisation. With over 70 promoted concerts a year, some are devised and programmed exclusively by us with the artists involved. We regularly welcome internationally renowned musicians such as Jess Gillam, Carla Bley, London Sinfonietta, Isata Kanneh-Mason and Ute Lemper to Southampton. With a focus on classical music, jazz world music and folk, Turner Sims’ intimate auditorium, outstanding acoustic and garden setting make it a favourite destination for artists and audiences alike. 

Both venues are part of the University of Southampton and Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisations. 

Derby Theatre

Led by Artistic Director and Chief Executive, Sarah Brigham, Derby Theatre is bringing together creative professionals and audiences to tell compelling stories and take artistic risks. For 2018 – 2022, Derby Theatre received a 59% increase in its funding from Arts Council England, to enable it to continue and build upon the valuable work that it has started. With the increase in funding, this will enable Derby Theatre to produce more home-grown, professional produced work, more community work, more work with children and young people and deeper, more meaningful engagement with audiences. 

Derby Theatre is a vibrant and thriving theatre. A producing house that combines its professional programme with an exciting suite of undergraduate and postgraduate courses, as well as an emerging talent programme aimed at developing the next generation of artists. Meanwhile its community engagement programme reaches out across our region including people of all ages and from all backgrounds in the work of the theatre. 

In 2019, Derby Theatre, in partnership with an exciting and diverse range of partners and venues, also received (£1.5 million from Arts Council England Producing Hubs fund, and £1.1 million from Arts Council England Youth Performance Partnerships fund – a total of £2.6 million) to work to support and strengthen the performing arts sector in the local area to provide new opportunities for more children and young people, aged 8-18, to take part in high quality cultural activities. 

‘Increasingly the most crucial theatre in the region because of its emphasis on learning, nurturing and nourishing’ Lyn Gardner, The Guardian 

Macrobert Arts Centre

Located at the heart of the University of Stirling, Macrobert Arts Centre is a cultural hub for Stirling, the Forth Valley and Scotland, making active connections with people communities and ideas, for entertainment, wellbeing and understanding

Led by Artistic Director Julie Ellen Macrobert, Macrobert offers a huge variety of activities with over 400 live performances every year. From comedy, dance, family shows, music, opera, art exhibitions, a range of opportunities for all ages to get involved and a year round cinema programme.

Macrobert Arts Centre is proud to be one of Creative Scotland’s Regularly Funded Organisations, selected for their contribution to a creative Scotland in terms of talent, quality productions, access, audience development, participation and outreach work.

Gulbenkian

Gulbenkian’s Story: Radical Roots & Dangerous Ideas

Gulbenkian is 50 in summer 2019, forged in a time when conventions were being questioned and traditions being challenged. In 1969, The Vietnam War raged, Woodstock raved, man landed on the moon, the Paris student rebellion was fresh in the mind. Young people felt they could change the world, the University of Kent was a hotbed of radical action, using creative thinking to find answers to society’s problems.

50 years on, Gulbenkian remains an organisation with a radical vision. We believe that young people’s voices must be heard and we are committed to providing time, space and opportunities for them to experiment, discover and create. Time that is squeezed from busy daily life, artistic space that is in short supply here in Kent, precious opportunities to speak up and change the world.

Gulbenkian is a powder keg, where young people, artists, academics and communities meet and exchange ideas. As these new ideas explode, we see confidence grow, careers form, talent get uncovered, work get created and the future unfurl.

Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art

The new Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art (NGCA) reopened in March 2018 at National Glass Centre. The building is owned by the University of Sunderland and has been operated since September 2017 by Sunderland Culture, an independent charity set up to manage venues across Wearside and build Sunderland’s growing reputation as a cultural city.

In March 2018, after 18 months creating a brand new space for art and artists in Sunderland, Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art reopened with a major new commission with artist Fiona Crisp. The generous 3000 square foot space inside National Glass Centre has an initial focus on artists whose work is being created across Europe, whether made in the Alps or the heart of fascist Rome, or from the most advanced laboratories in Italy to the eastern most city in the continent deep inside the former Soviet Union.

Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2021 having been one of the very first contemporary art galleries in Britain. It has provided major international figures with their first UK exhibitions, including Harun Farocki (Germany) and Cory Arcangel (USA), and exhibited fourteen Turner Prize nominees.

The gallery’s visitors can also take advance of its new location in National Glass Centre, learning about the history of glassmaking, viewing contemporary glass and ceramic exhibitions, watching glassmaking demonstrations, browsing the shop and enjoying lunch with panoramic views in The Glass Yard café.

National Glass Centre

National Glass Centre (NGC) has been open to visitors for 21 years and has just had a high-profile year of celebration. The building is owned by the University of Sunderland and has been operated since September 2017 by Sunderland Culture, an independent charity set up to manage venues across Wearside and build Sunderland’s growing reputation as a cultural city.

Visitors can do everything from learn about the history of glass within its heritage gallery, view contemporary exhibitions by international artists as well as having a hands on glass experience.

Free daily glass blowing demonstrations allow visitors to learn about and watch glass being made within in a working hot glass studio.

The centre runs an extensive adults, families and schools programme which sees activity throughout the year.

Visitors can enjoy browsing the shop, containing products made by local artists and crafters as well as enjoy lunch with panoramic views in The Glass Yard café

The recent addition of the Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art (NGCA) brings a new contemporary art gallery to the Centre’s visitor offering. NGCA was one of the first contemporary art galleries in the UK, and have recently, alongside National Glass Centre, began a new collection of contemporary art for the city of Sunderland.

The Centre also houses the University of Sunderland’s Glass and Ceramics degree courses, allowing student’s access to work with some of the world’s biggest contemporary artists.

The Byre Theatre

Part of the University of St Andrews, The Byre Theatre hosts a varied and vibrant programme of University, amateur and professional touring productions of theatre, dance, musicals, music and opera, and children’s performances, as well as conferences, exhibitions and activities in the café bar.

Over 800 events take place annually with over 40% directly linked to the activity of the University. The Byre is the base venue for several student societies and festivals, as well as being the home of world-class teaching by the School of English, led by award-winning playwrights Professor Zinnie Harris and Oliver Emanuel. There are regular strands of programming connected to the School of Modern Languages and Film Studies. As part of a cultural partnership with colleagues across the University’s Music Centre, Museums, Libraries and Special Collections, The Byre is leading a strategic approach to culture, engagement and audiences.

The original Byre Theatre was founded in 1933. The current building (the third to have that name) was opened by Sir Sean Connery in 2001 and contains a 216-seat main auditorium and an 80-seat studio as well as a conference room, café bar and extensive foyer and office areas.

The Byre has been part of the University of St Andrews since 2014 delivering a diverse and balanced programme of events that reach a broad range of audience segments achieving income targets; maximising opportunities to play a leading role in public engagement and research impact activity for the University through the creation and presentation of high-quality arts activity; developing a growing and sustainable business/financial model; engaging diverse audiences from a range of backgrounds; and exploring opportunities within activity for learning, training and professional development.

University of Sheffield Performance Venues

The University of Sheffield Performance Venues sit in the heart of the University Campus and are part of the Estates and Facilities Management department, within the University’s professional services portfolio. Led by Nick Hopwood (Head of Performance Venues), the team provide event management support to a wide variety of University ‘core’ events, Students Union programme, external hires and promotions, and also curate theatre and music festivals across three principle venues.

The Performance Venues estate consists of the Octagon, a 1500 capacity variable format venue suitable for conferences, exhibitions, awards events, larger scale performances and live music. The Drama Studio is a traditional theatre performance space with 190 seats, and Firth Hall a 380 seat space ideally suited to a classical setting, situated in the Grade II* listed Firth Court.

Two key programming strands are the University of Sheffield Concerts series and the Enable US Festival. The Concerts series presents around 100 music performances each year, an eclectic mix of internationally renowned performers, choirs and collectives as well as Student ensembles and recitals.

The Enable US Festival brings award winning dance, drama, comedy, physical theatre and circus to the Drama Studio in two seasons each spring and autumn. The festival also provides Students and other participant access to learning and development opportunities through workshops, internships and creative collaboration with professional arts practitioners.