Aberystwyth Arts Centre
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Aberystwyth Arts Centre is an arts centre in Aberystwyth, Wales. It hosts films, plays, performance art and live music, and includes four free art galleries, two cafés and two bars, plus craft and book shops. It is located on the Penglais Campus of the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, which is on the A487 heading North out of the town centre.
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[edit] History
Aberystwyth Arts Centre originally opened in 1970 and work continued until the final phase was completed in 1972 with the construction of Theatr y Werin. The architect of the project was Dale Owen of Percy Thomas Partnership, architects of Cardiff's new Wales Millennium Centre, and the cost was around £1 million.
The community arts and education programme was established in 1984, initially teaching visual arts but quickly expanding to cover many traditional artistic pursuits.
In 2000 the venue underwent a £4.3 million overhaul creating new spaces including a pottery studio, print room, darkroom, video suite, recording studio and music rooms - plus a new 120 seater cinema, dance studios, studio theatre (125 seats), a new Grade 1 gallery (taking the total to four) plus total refurbishment of the theatre foyer, bars, craftshop and bookshop.
[edit] Venues
The arts centre has four main types of exhibition areas, as follows.
[edit] Cinema
The 125 seat cinema is one of only two in the town and dedicates itself to showing a variety of films including Hollywood, foreign and independent films, and classic films, ranging from Casablanca to Raiders of the Lost Ark.
It is also currently home to the Abertoir horror film festival.
[edit] Galleries
As well as playing host to various special events throughout the year including the International Ceramics Festival, the Arts Centre also has four custom built galleries.
Gallery 1 is a flexible interior space which is readily modified to suit the needs of touring exhibits.
Gallery 2 centres on contemporary photography exhibitions
The cafe gallery showcases work mainly by local artists/printmakers.
The ceramics gallery on the ground floor features an ever growing permanent collection, and frequently features the work of invited artists.
[edit] Great Hall
This venue with 900 seats was the original performance space until the theatre was built, and still hosts larger events including live bands, symphony orchestra concerts, and stand-up comedy acts, as well as conferences and the University's examinations and Graduation Ceremonies
[edit] Theatre
Theatr y Werin, 312 seats is the Arts Centre's main venue for touring companies including Theatr Clwyd, Theatre Genedlaethol Cymru, National Theatre, Hull Truck Theatre Company, and Northern Stage Theatre Company. It is also a major centre for Welsh language drama productions. The Arts Centre traditionally creates an annual in-house performance which is exhibited here, typically a popular musical.
There is also the Studio Theatre with a capacity of around 80, geared towards providing performance space for smaller productions and emerging young theatre companies.
[edit] Statistics
The arts centre currently receives over 650,000 visitors a year to the over 800 scheduled events, including 98,000 to the community arts and education programme, according to the latest published annual report.
With a turnover of around £5.5 million the Arts Centre is recognised as the most successful centre for the arts in Wales.
