Aberdeen Arts Centre
Encyclopedia
Aberdeen Arts Centre is a theatre on King Street in Aberdeen
Aberdeen
Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of ....
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
.
The 350 seater auditorium regularly plays host to music and drama events and is the focus for much of Aberdeen's amateur dramatic activities.
The theatre is on two levels, with an upper and a lower gallery for audiences. There is a small orchestra pit and behind the stage there are dressing and rehearsal rooms for the shows and other projects such as local drama groups.
In addition the theatre has a large participatory arts programme. The centre is home to Castlegate Theatre School (formally established by Annie Inglis) and ACT 2, an award winning youth group for teenagers which focuses on devised theatre. Saturday Drama classes, led by Sheena Blackhall
Sheena Blackhall
Sheena Blackhall is a poet, novelist, short story writer, illustrator, traditional story teller and singer.Author of 76 poetry pamphlets, 12 short story collections, 4 novels and 2 televised plays for children, The Nicht Bus and The Broken Hert...
, Marie Skene and Barry Donaldson) run every Saturday for 3 to 11s. In addition the Arts Centre puts on a summer festival known in Aberdeen as 'The Arts Carnival' which is currently in its 29th year
The building also houses an exhibition area which hosts local and visiting art shows. 2007 has seen the start of an artist in residence
Artist in residence
Artist-in-residence programs and other residency opportunities allow visiting artists to stay and work so that they may apply singular focus to their art practice....
programme at the arts centre. The first artist was Will Teather.
The centre was the subject of controversy in 1998 when Aberdeen City Council
Aberdeen City Council
Aberdeen City Council represents the Aberdeen City council area of Scotland.The council area was created in 1996, under the Local Government etc. Act 1994...
withdrew core funding from the venue. A team of local people, led by Annie Inglis M.B.E, joined forces to take over the lease of the building and established Castlegate Arts Ltd, a volunteer led charity which now runs the centre.