Beacon Arts Centre
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The Beacon Arts Centre is a
performing arts The performing arts are arts such as music, dance, and drama which are performed for an audience. They are different from the visual arts, which are the use of paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects. Perform ...
and
community art Community art, also known as social art, community-engaged art, community-based art, and, rarely, dialogical art, is the practice of art based in and generated in a community setting. It is closely related to social practice (art), social practice ...
venue in
Greenock Greenock (; sco, Greenock; gd, Grianaig, ) is a town and administrative centre in the Inverclyde council areas of Scotland, council area in Scotland, United Kingdom and a former burgh of barony, burgh within the Counties of Scotland, historic ...
, serving the Inverclyde area of Scotland. It is owned and operated by Greenock Arts Guild Ltd., a charitable organisation with core funding from
Creative Scotland Creative Scotland ( gd, Alba Chruthachail ; sco, Creative Scotlan) is the development body for the arts and creative industries in Scotland. Based in Edinburgh, it is an executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government. The o ...
and Inverclyde Council The guild formed in 1946, and adapted a disused
Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literature ...
swimming pool building on Campbell Street as their Arts Guild Theatre. A small theatre opened in 1949, followed by the Main Auditorium in 1955. It became a
receiving house A receiving house (sometimes called a roadhouse) is a theatre which does not produce its own repertoire but instead receives touring theatre companies, usually for a brief period such as three nights or a full week. The incoming company may receive ...
for touring shows, as well as
producing house A producing house is a theatre which ‘manufactures' its own shows in-house (such as plays, musicals, opera, or dance) and perhaps does everything from honing the script, building the set, casting the actors and designing and making the costum ...
with half the performances amateur, as well as providing classes and workshops in music, art and drama. In January 2013 the Arts Guild moved to their new Beacon Arts Centre on Greenock's waterfront, at Customhouse Quay. Its main performance spaces are the Main Auditorium and The Studio theatre space. A Gallery Suite hosts exhibitions and provides multifunction meeting, rehearsal and functions space. Full height glazed walls of the Gallery Suite and Cafe & Bar give views out over the
River Clyde The River Clyde ( gd, Abhainn Chluaidh, , sco, Clyde Watter, or ) is a river that flows into the Firth of Clyde in Scotland. It is the ninth-longest river in the United Kingdom, and the third-longest in Scotland. It runs through the major cit ...
and the Firth of Clyde to the hills of Dunbartonshire and Argyll.


Location

The Arts Guild Theatre was situated on Campbell Street in
Greenock Greenock (; sco, Greenock; gd, Grianaig, ) is a town and administrative centre in the Inverclyde council areas of Scotland, council area in Scotland, United Kingdom and a former burgh of barony, burgh within the Counties of Scotland, historic ...
, Inverclyde, immediately to the west of the railway line leading to Princes Pier, at the start of Greenock's West End residential area. The Beacon Arts Centre is at Customhouse Quay, just across the A8 main road from Greenock's town centre, between the area in front of the Custom House and the East India Harbour. Its Cafe & Bar and first floor Gallery Suite look out over the
River Clyde The River Clyde ( gd, Abhainn Chluaidh, , sco, Clyde Watter, or ) is a river that flows into the Firth of Clyde in Scotland. It is the ninth-longest river in the United Kingdom, and the third-longest in Scotland. It runs through the major cit ...
and Firth of Clyde to the hills of Dunbartonshire and Argyll.


History: Arts Guild Theatre

In the immediate aftermath of World War II, people of
Greenock Greenock (; sco, Greenock; gd, Grianaig, ) is a town and administrative centre in the Inverclyde council areas of Scotland, council area in Scotland, United Kingdom and a former burgh of barony, burgh within the Counties of Scotland, historic ...
sought a war memorial to be "something worthy of the sacrifice of the fallen, and of practical value to those who have survived". The '' Greenock Telegraph'' publicised the need for ideas, and its managing director Ryrie J Erskine Orr spoke at the 1945 West Renfrewshire Drama Festival, proposing "a beautiful and living theatre that would be the headquarters of all the cultured arts." The Greenock Arts Guild Ltd was founded as a non-profit charitable company to promote local participation in arts activities, and incorporated on 4 December 1946. They bought the "West End Baths", a disused private swimming pool built in 1881 which had closed in 1941, put together plans and material, and raised funds for its conversion. They also promoted theatre productions in other halls in the interim. The Arts Guild Theatre opened in 1949 with two meeting rooms and a small 100-seat theatre on the first floor of the building, which was named the Wallace Bennett Theatre in memory of a Royal Air Force serviceman from Greenock, and occupied the former billiards room. This was the first new theatre in mainland Britain for more than twenty years, and was greeted with widespread expressions of support, including messages from Benjamin Britten, John Gielgud, Malcolm Sargent,
Sybil Thorndike Dame Agnes Sybil Thorndike, Lady Casson (24 October 18829 June 1976) was an English actress whose stage career lasted from 1904 to 1969. Trained in her youth as a concert pianist, Thorndike turned to the stage when a medical problem with her ...
and Vaughan Williams. Public performances in this theatre enabled the Arts Guild to gather a local reputation, which helped it to raise funds to cover the cost of building the Main Auditorium. The building had cost £1,000, and construction of the bottom floor theatre (now named the Main Auditorium) was estimated in 1947 to cost within the region of £18,000. The Scottish Arts Council at the time where impressed with the enthusiasm of the group and proposed to lend £9,000 to aid with its construction. The Main Auditorium which opened in 1955 was converted from the swimming pool itself, with the slope of the pool floor forming raked stalls giving good sightlines to the stage built at the pool's deep end. A live television broadcast from this theatre in 1956 made The Greenock Players (which had formed in 1943) the first amateur dramatic company in Scotland to be televised. The Arts Guild Theatre complex developed as an arts centre and community theatre, with performances from both amateur and professional theatre companies. A scenery store and two additional meeting rooms were added in the 1960s, and in the 1980s the Wallace Bennett Theatre was adapted to become a flexible studio space. The Main Auditorium provided 454 raked seats in total on two levels (120 circle, 334 stalls, including 5 wheelchair spaces). The Wallace Bennett Theatre allowed 80 seated places. The Arts Guild Theatre also had four dressing rooms, and four rehearsal rooms. It became a
receiving house A receiving house (sometimes called a roadhouse) is a theatre which does not produce its own repertoire but instead receives touring theatre companies, usually for a brief period such as three nights or a full week. The incoming company may receive ...
for touring shows, including well known names such as Scottish Opera and Dorothy Paul, as well as
producing house A producing house is a theatre which ‘manufactures' its own shows in-house (such as plays, musicals, opera, or dance) and perhaps does everything from honing the script, building the set, casting the actors and designing and making the costum ...
with half the performances amateur. It also put on classes and workshops in music, art and drama.


Redevelopment and replacement

In 2004 it was proposed that the Guild should seek funding to redevelop the Campbell Street premises. The estimated cost was £5.5million and in 2006, the Scottish Arts Council agreed to award £2.6 million towards the refurbishment, with the remainder to be raised by the Guild. Subsequently, however, Inverclyde Council approached the Guild to suggest that they might wish to relocate to a more central site on the waterfront that could lever additional support from Riverside Inverclyde. After several months of discussion and a feasibility study, the Guild opted to build a brand new arts centre - The Beacon - on reclaimed land incorporating the western section of the East India Harbour beside Customhouse Quay. The Arts Guild Theatre closed with a last show on Saturday 8 December 2012, a performance of the pantomime '' Cinderella'' by the Greenock Players amateur dramatic company. The building was subsequently used by the
Thistle Theatre Group Thistle is the common name of a group of flowering plants characterised by leaves with sharp prickles on the margins, mostly in the family Asteraceae. Prickles can also occur all over the planton the stem and on the flat parts of the leaves. ...
, but it continued to deteriorate and in December 2017 its owners
Peel Land and Property The Peel Group is a British infrastructure and property investment business, based in Manchester. In 2022, its Peel Land and Property estate extends to of buildings, and over of land and water. Peel retains minority stakes in its former ports ...
announced demolition of the old premises early in 2018. Demolition was carried out in February 2021.


The Beacon Arts Centre

Having opted for a new building on the waterfront site, Greenock Arts Guild, which owns and manages the Beacon Arts centre, arranged funding for the construction works with its project partners: Inverclyde Council, Riverside Inverclyde and
Creative Scotland Creative Scotland ( gd, Alba Chruthachail ; sco, Creative Scotlan) is the development body for the arts and creative industries in Scotland. Based in Edinburgh, it is an executive non-departmental public body of the Scottish Government. The o ...
were the main contributors, and
Big Lottery The National Lottery Community Fund, legally named the Big Lottery Fund, is a non-departmental public body responsible for distributing funds raised by the National Lottery for "good causes". Since 2004 it has awarded over £9 billion to ...
and
Social Investment Scotland Social organisms, including human(s), live collectively in interacting populations. This interaction is considered social whether they are aware of it or not, and whether the exchange is voluntary or not. Etymology The word "social" derives from ...
put in substantial funding, all secured against the title of the Beacon. There were also numerous major contributors as well as many others who donated to the redevelopment project.


Site and design

The site lies between the Custom House and the East India Harbour. Formerly the entrance frontage to the square was occupied by an 1850s harbourmasters' office and waiting room for the Clyde steamers, and the harbourside area by
James Lamont & Co James Lamont & Co was a shipbuilder and ship-repairer on the Clyde. History James Lamont & Co were established as a ship repairer at East India Harbour, Greenock, in 1870. After the collapse of the Clyde Shipbuilding Co, Lamonts purchased the Ca ...
ship repairers: both were cleared away in the 1990s.
Lamont's
dry dock A dry dock (sometimes drydock or dry-dock) is a narrow basin or vessel that can be flooded to allow a load to be floated in, then drained to allow that load to come to rest on a dry platform. Dry docks are used for the construction, maintenance, ...
s had to be infilled before work commenced; this was done by the Spring of 2010. The Arts Guild obtained this waterfront site as a land swap with
Peel Holdings The Peel Group is a British infrastructure and property investment business, based in Manchester. In 2022, its Peel Land and Property estate extends to of buildings, and over of land and water. Peel retains minority stakes in its former ports ...
which owned the docklands. The new building was designed by
LDN Architects LDN is usually contractional slang for London, UK. LDN may also refer to: Arts and media * London Daily News, former newspaper * BBC London (formerly ''BBC LDN''), broadcasting body * "LDN" (song), a 2006 single by Lily Allen Language * Láadan, ...
, who aimed to provide a focal point for performing arts in the area as well as a local community asset. It was to form part of proposed redevelopment of the harbourside area. In 2013, the
Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland The Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland (RIAS) is the professional body for architects in Scotland. History Previously the (lapsed) Architectural Institute of Scotland, it was re-founded in 1916 as the Incorporation of Architects in ...
selected the building as one of the 12 entries receiving their annual award. The judging panel said that "This building seems wholly appropriate for its superb waterside setting. It is elegantly contemporary in its materials and form, both open and welcoming."


Naming and construction

Construction work was carried out by
Graham Graham and Graeme may refer to: People * Graham (given name), an English-language given name * Graham (surname), an English-language surname * Graeme (surname), an English-language surname * Graham (musician) (born 1979), Burmese singer * Clan G ...
contractors. In 2010, the cost of completion of the Arts Centre was estimated at £9.3 million. The theatre's new name was announced as The Beacon Arts Centre on 25 November 2010, when the Patron of Greenock Arts Guild, HRH The Earl of Wessex, visited the Customhouse in the week before construction work started. The name was chosen as the new theatre would be near a 19th-century ornamental cast iron clock tower with lantern in front of the Customhouse. Originally known as The Beacon, the lantern had been used to guide ships mooring at the quayside: it was erected in 1868 to a design by Greenockian artist William Clark, and its cast iron structure was made by the nearby foundry of
Rankin & Blackmore Rankin & Blackmore Ltd were a Scottish firm of marine engine makers. The firms origins lie in the purchase of the Johnstone and Leitch's Eagle Foundry in Greenock in 1862 by Daniel Rankin and Edward Blackmore. The firm was incorporated in 1914 an ...
. During the visit, the Earl of Wessex unveiled a commemorative artwork by glass artist Alec Galloway, to be placed in the new building on completion. HRH became patron of Greenock Arts Guild in 2009 and had a longstanding involvement with theatre; in the 1980s he worked with
Andrew Lloyd Webber Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber (born 22 March 1948), is an English composer and impresario of musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 21 musicals, ...
's Really Useful Theatre Company on shows such as The Phantom of the Opera, Starlight Express and
Cats The cat (''Felis catus'') is a domestic species of small carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species in the family Felidae and is commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat to distinguish it from the wild members of t ...
. In July 2011 Lloyd-Webber’s foundation awarded a £100,000 grant to the Beacon Youth Theatre project, and he subsequently attended the topping out ceremony of the new building. The contractor handed the keys of the building over to the Arts Guild on 27 December 2012, and in January 2013 the Beacon Arts Centre opened to the public with the "First Beam of Light" performed as a community celebration of the opening. It was officially opened by HRH The Earl of Wessex on 16 August 2013, following a Gala variety performance by artists including Keith Jack and the award-winning Inverclyde Junior Choir, with music from Andrew Lloyd Webber productions.


Facilities

The entrance to the Beacon Arts Centre is through a two storey foyer space, which includes the booking office, and there is lift access to the first floor. Externally, a stepped plinth incorporates a wide ramp up from eight disabled parking bays. The plinth adds to the scale as well as protecting against potential flooding, and the mass of the fly tower above the stage forms a striking external feature, with glazed panels lit at night to form a beacon. The Main Auditorium is an end-stage theatre designed primarily for drama, with a broad
proscenium A proscenium ( grc-gre, προσκήνιον, ) is the metaphorical vertical plane of space in a theatre, usually surrounded on the top and sides by a physical proscenium arch (whether or not truly "arched") and on the bottom by the stage floor ...
and a full fly system housed in the high fly tower above the stage. The auditorium seats 500: above the raked stalls, the circle and upper circle balconies are stepped downwards at each side as open boxes looking towards the stage. There are nine wheelchair spaces. Internal finishes include perforated metal panels in front of the balconies to deflect sound back to the stage, the side walls are finished to reflect sound without causing echoes. The Studio Theatre is designed as a black box theatre and fitted with retractable seating which can be arranged in various configurations, seating up to 128 people. There are six wheelchair spaces. The Gallery Suite provides multifunction meeting, rehearsal and functions rooms, which can be combined into one large space, and all have full height windows looking out to the view over the Clyde. The Beacon Cafe & Bar is open 10am - 5pm Monday - Sunday (and later on show nights). The Beacon has a secure fenced yard providing parking space which can be used by outside broadcasting units for televised events or digital recording of performances. Cable portholes enable direct connection into the communications and control systems of the two theatres.


Activities

From the outset, the Arts Guild has promoted and encouraged public participation in arts activities. The BBC Domesday Project for 1986 noted that the Arts Guild Theatre building had multiple uses. It featured both amateur and professional drama, with an annual
Greenock Academy The Greenock Academy was a mixed non-denominational school in the west end of Greenock, Scotland, founded in 1855, originally independent, later a grammar school with a primary department, and finally a Comprehensive school only for ages eleven t ...
school opera production, generally a Savoy opera, and a Christmas pantomime. There were also dance classes, elocution lessons, and classes in music and chess. The various rooms were actively used in evenings, and provided a venue for local clubs and societies to hold meetings. The Beacon Arts Centre puts on a wide range of performances, including national companies such as Scottish Opera and National Theatre of Scotland, classical chamber music, rock concerts, community musicals, and amateur theatre and dance. It also has an exhibition programme, and puts on classes and courses. Beacon Youth Theatre provides weekly workshop sessions led by professional specialist tutors for various age groups, between 5 and 21 years old, to gain acting and performance skills, learn about drama production, and put together original performances with new scripts. Beacon Youth Dance began with taster classes in advance of access to the new building, and put on a dance performance in celebration of the centre opening. Participants (11 to 21 years old) get training in contemporary dance and choreography, and have put on productions, with performances both in the Main Auditorium and in other venues including the Tramway and
Theatre Royal, Glasgow The Theatre Royal is the oldest theatre in Glasgow and the longest running in Scotland. Located at 282 Hope Street, its front door was originally round the corner in Cowcaddens Street. It currently accommodates 1,541 people and is owned by Scotti ...
, and the
Macrobert Arts Centre Macrobert Arts Centre is a multi-arts venue located on the main campus of the University of Stirling, Scotland. The Arts Centre offers a varied programme of events and experiences – cinema, comedy, dance, exhibitions, family, get involved, ...
in Stirling. There are also dance classes for 6 to 10 year olds, including junior ballet. For adults, there are DanceWorkout classes, and the Platinum Project improving mobility and balance for those over 60. The Creatability movement and dance programme provides sessions for disabled and autistic young people, and the centre offers the Dance For Parkinson's programme developed in a partnership between Scottish Ballet and
Dance Base Dance Base is the national centre for dance in Scotland. As a company it has existed since 1984, promoting and delivering dance activity in Edinburgh. In June 2001, it moved into £6.4 million purpose-built premises on the Grassmarket in the ...
. The centre also accommodates well-being classes including yoga and Pilates.


References

* Book -
James L. Dow James Leslie Dow (5 March 1908 – 1977) was a Church of Scotland minister, broadcaster and author. Born at Paisley and educated at Glasgow University (Trinity College), Dow was ordained in 1932 and spent several years as a chaplain in Assam, ...
- Greenock - *https://web.archive.org/web/20110927005721/http://www.culturalprofiles.org.uk/scotland/Units/432.html *https://web.archive.org/web/20101024005409/http://guide.visitscotland.com/vs/guide/5%2Cen%2CSCH1/objectId%2CENT50192Svs%2Ccurr%2CGBP%2Cseason%2Cat1%2CselectedEntry%2Chome/home.html


External links


Beacon Arts Centre website
* {{Scottish Theatres Greenock Scottish artist groups and collectives