Warwick Arts Centre

The Beginning

After being established for just five years itself, The University of Warwick commissioned the building of an arts centre in 1970. The creation of the Arts Centre came about primarily through the vision of the University and an anonymous local benefactor who wished to make a direct link with local people in Coventry and Warwickshire by providing a first class arts resource ‘on the doorstep’ in a green field environment. The benefactor provided £400k for the development of the Arts Centre and encouraged other bodies, including the Arts Council, to support the project.

Under the design of architects Renton, Howard, Wood Associates, the £1 million project finally opened in October 1974, with the building itself immediately making a mark on the cultural landscape by winning a prestigious R.I.B.A award. (The Royal Institute of British Architects Award – West Midlands region.) The completion of the first phase of the building produced a Theatre (573 seats), a Studio Theatre (150 seats), a Conference Room (250 seats), a Music Centre with an Ensemble Room (100 seats) and 9 practice rooms, as well as a bookshop and bars. Attached to the Theatre and Studio is a fully equipped workshop and paint-frame with dressing room and office accommodation on three floors.

The opening ceremony in October 1974 was an impressive affair, including a ceremony bestowing honorary degrees for notables such as playwright Eugène Ionesco, actress Dame Peggy Ashcroft, “West Side Story” composer Leonard Bernstein and one of the 20th century’s foremost British composers, Sir Michael Tippett.

In their first few weeks of operation, events at the Arts Centre included The Orbit Company (resident company at The Nuffield Theatre, University of Lancaster) performing a double-bill of Tom Stoppard plays and The Hull Truck Theatre Company improvising and performing a play called “The Knowledge”. Billed as a show where the audience are involved in shaping the plot whilst “their values are put to the test,” it seemed a fitting start for a venue where artistic boundaries continue to be challenged today.

Developing Phases of the Building

Other early performances included the renowned Amadeus Quartet performing Mozart, Bartòk and Beethoven. It seemed a natural progression that the second phase of the Arts Centre (completed in January 1981) was the addition of the Butterworth Hall, a flexible concert hall, seating up to 1500, and set to accommodate the finest orchestras from all over the world.

In 1986 the third phase was completed with the building of the Mead Gallery, which provided for up to 3 galleries totalling 6000 square feet, a Cinema seating 225, a new University bookshop and a new restaurant, converted from the existing bookshop.
In 1997, the Arts Centre undertook a major £4m capital development project of all its public areas and venues. Significant improvements were made in the form of a glass atrium above and cinema and Mead gallery. The Box Office was relocated whilst new slate flooring was laid throughout the foyer spaces. Lift access was installed to the upper floors.

In 2009, an £8m redevelopment of The Butterworth Hall saw increased benefits for both performer and audience, with improved acoustics, new seating and furnishing, enhanced stage and backstage space. This stage also saw the creation of a creative learning block providing an education suite and further rehearsal space.

Today, Warwick Arts Centre remains wholly owned by the University and is one of the largest performing and visual arts complexes in the UK outside London, situated at the very centre of the University campus.

Mead

The Mead Gallery is one of the most important venues in the West Midlands for the presentation for contemporary visual art. The gallery hosts an average of four exhibitions each year and also manages a collection of some 800 works of modern and contemporary art on behalf of the University. The collection is on display across five square miles of campus. The Gallery is also responsible for works on loan to the University. The Mead Gallery is also a venue for live art, either as single events or as installations. For the remaining 16 weeks of the year, the Gallery hosts a wide variety of conference activity including trade exhibitions and meetings.

The Building Locality

The Arts Centre’s immediate market, within a 15-mile radius, takes in the City of Coventry and the towns of Kenilworth, Leamington Spa, Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwick, Nuneaton, Bedworth, Rugby, Solihull, Knowle and the surrounding villages and hamlets (population one million plus). Within a 30-mile radius are Birmingham, Bromsgrove, Redditch, Sutton Coldfield, Lichfield, Tamworth, Hinckley, Leicester, Northampton, Banbury, Daventry, Alcester, Atherstone, Wolverhampton and Walsall. (The combined population of the West Midlands, Warwickshire and Northamptonshire is 3.5 million.)

Finances

The Arts Centre’s turnover is in excess of £4.5m, of which it earns around 56% from ticket sales, income from conferences, catering, lettings, donations and sponsorship. It receives revenue funding from the University and Arts Council, West Midlands. The Arts Centre is a recipient of project funding from both West Midlands Arts and the Arts Council for various strands of programming. The Arts Centre’s original Benefactor continues to make a major annual donation.

A further breakdown of income and expenditure can be found in our annual report here (link).

Programme and Spaces

The Arts Centre is open seven days a week and events are primarily presented during the three 10-week University terms, except for films, which are shown for 52 weeks of the year. At Christmas the Theatre and Studio are used for family shows. During vacations, particularly Easter and Summer, Warwick Arts Centre acts as a major conference centre for the University’s award winning conference operation. This provides an important source of income for the Arts Centre. Conferences are serviced by Arts Centre technical and front of house staff.

The five main auditoria and visual art spaces (Butterworth Hall, Theatre, Studio Theatre, Cinema and Gallery) present over 2300 events and performances a year of music, drama, dance, mime, comedy, film, visual arts and literature. The programme is further supported by a vigorous strand of education activities participated in by over 87,000 young people annually. The cultural programme ranges from the classical to the experimental across a diversity of cultures with the accent firmly on the contemporary. Audiences are similarly diverse and number over 300,000 visits annually.

As well as presenting a programme drawn from national and international artists and companies, the Arts Centre encourages participation in the practice of a wide range of artforms by students and the local community through the use of its resources, facilities and professional expertise.

The Arts Centre also manages a substantial number of commercial activities, which make use of its various facilities, such as recording, antiques and craft fairs, sales seminars and meetings.

Collaborations with the University

The Arts Centre has relationships with a number of academic departments, notably but not exclusively, Film and Television, History of Art, English, the Institute of Education, Philosophy, History, Engineering and Theatre Studies where it is involved in the MA in European Cultural Policy and Administration. The Arts Centre hosts placements for post-Graduate students when appropriate. Both the marketing department and Mead Gallery offer internships to Warwick students only.

It also collaborates with the University’s Director of Music to present the work of various ensembles under the aegis of the Music Centre. Each year student drama societies present shows for up to 9 weeks in the Studio and 2 weeks in the Theatre. The Arts Centre’s pool of 150 stewards is recruited from the student body, and the Youth Theatre Group, which meets on Saturday mornings and Monday evenings during term-time, is run by students, under the supervision of the Arts Centre.

The University of Warwick’s graduation ceremonies are held in the Arts Centre. In addition a number of other University activities take place in the Arts Centre throughout the year. The Centre serves as a social focal point for the University throughout the day, with its café bar at the heart of the building.