Transformation of the Newcastle Playhouse

Date: 2003-11-04, Publication: The Journal

Plans to transform the Newcastle Playhouse into a European centre for performing arts will receive a boost today as a £3m grant is awarded.

The money has been allocated by Arts Council England, North-East, as part of a multi-million-pound boost to the arts and culture structure in the region, with a further £4.5m lottery award going towards a major new £14.2m art gallery in Middlesbrough.

The grant will provide a major slice of the £8m needed to realise proposals for the Tyneside venue which would turn the Playhouse into a culture powerhouse including a new performance space, accommodation block and a new foyer.

Promising to present the best theatre from around the UK, Europe and beyond as well as continuing to provide a home for Northern Stage, the centre will also be used to encourage individuals to take part in the performing arts as spectators or participants.

Artistic director and chief executive of Northern Stage Alan Lyddiard said: \"It will be a place from which the ensemble can set off and tour Europe and beyond, a home to which it can return reinvigorated, a base for collaborations, where local people and international artists can meet and forge long-lasting relationships.\"

Northern Stage has been the resident company at Newcastle Playhouse for 10 years and will move out of the building in May 2004 but will continue touring work.

The development is expected to be complete in autumn 2005.

The plans have already won the support of many politicians, celebrities, writers, directors and leading lights in national theatre, including EastEnders actress Jill Halfpenny, Ant and Dec, Kevin Whately and writer Lee Hall.

Executive director of Arts Council England, North-East Andrew Dixon said the awards were about recognising vision.

He said: \"Alan Lyddiard\'s work in positioning Northern Stage as a European Arts Centre has put Newcastle on the international theatre map.

\"This is one of the most important and innovative theatres in the country and a key venue for the ambitions of Culture10, the relaunched culture strategy up to 2010 in Newcastle Gateshead.\" The Middlesbrough Art Gallery will be a major state-of-the-art venue hosting an international programme of events.

It will also bring together the collections of the crafts centre and the current art gallery and be a focus for the town centre regeneration.

The project will start on site in January 2004 and is due to open early 2006.

Mr Dixon said: \"In terms of the Tees Valley, it deserves the very best and the new gallery will be world class. Cultural development in the Tees Valley is critically important to the image and future educational attainment of the area.\"

Chief Executive of Newcastle Gateshead Initiative Neil Rami said: \"This announcement is a great boost for culture in the North-East.

\"Arts Council England plays a significant role in the cultural regeneration of the region.

\"From now until 2010, the region will continue to work together with the aim of becoming a world-class destination.

\"These two projects are a great example of the kind of cultural investment that new Culture10 campaign can deliver.\"

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