Members of the public and businesses are being given the chance to help protect and shape the future of one of Plymouth city centre’s most important cultural buildings: the Athenaeum.
The condition of the 1960s edifice, at Derry’s Cross, has deteriorated during the enforced closures of the Covid pandemic. So trustees of the Plymouth Athenaeum need help from the Plymouth community to address short-term repair and maintenance issues and a longer-term vision to make the building a sustainable and accessible arts and culture facility for the city.
They are staging public consultation events in February about a proposed community project to re-open the building’s theatre and carry out a wider regeneration of the entire Athenaeum building.
The public consultation events, which will be held at the Plymouth Athenaeum, will take place on: Thursday, February 10, from noon to 1pm and 7pm to 8pm; and on Sunday, February 13, from 2pm to 3pm
Individuals, groups, companies and businesses are being given the opportunity to provide support, which could include providing support by sharing expertise and skills or as partners, sponsors, donors or volunteers.
Consideration is also being given to exploring opportunities for community investment and community operation of the Athenaeum building.
If sufficient initial support for the project is forthcoming, the trustees would aim to re-open the theatre during 2022.
Owen Ryles, Athenaeum chief executive, said: “We wish to engage public support to enable the Plymouth Athenaeum building to become a sustainable, vibrant and community-focused arts and culture centre.
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“With public support, the building can once again provide community access to performing arts and learning facilities in Plymouth city centre.
“Our aim at the public consultation events is to gauge interest levels in supporting the project and to start a conversation about what a community-led partnership might look like.”
The Plymouth Athenaeum building, which opened on June 1, 1961, is part of the city’s unique post-war architecture and was included within Plymouth City Council’s city centre conservation area in July 2019.
Designed by Walls & Pearn, the building is inspired by Festival of Britain architecture. Its façade is a delicate miniaturisation of the Royal Festival Hall. The Athenaeum was structurally innovative too, using a revolutionary steelspace frame to span the auditorium.
Notable visitors to the modern Athenaeum building include The Beatles, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Malcolm McDowell and Harry Secombe.
The Plymouth Athenaeum building contains a theatre with about 340 seats, which has hosted thousands of productions and events in theatre, music, dance, comedy, spoken word and more. Regional and national organisations to have used the theatre include Westward Television, the BBC and Rambert.
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In recent years, it has played host to physical comedy theatre company, Le Navet Bete, Barbican Theatre Plymouth, Plymouth Comedy Club and city performing arts organisations including Plymkids Theatre Company, Geraldine Lamb Dance School, and Katie Su School of Dance. A partnership with Barbican Theatre Plymouth for the operation of the Athenaeum theatre ended in March 2020 and performing arts activities have been suspended since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Plymouth Athenaeum charitable society, which promotes learning in science, technology, literature and art, was founded in 1812 and the original Athenaeum building opened in 1819. Scientist Charles Darwin is among the many distinguished figures to have been members of the Society.