The Queens Park Arts Centre is an independent

arts centre An art centre or arts center is distinct from an art gallery or art museum. An arts centre is a functional community centre with a specific remit to encourage arts practice and to provide facilities such as theatre space, gallery space, venues for ...

and

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

Aylesbury Aylesbury ( ) is the county town of Buckinghamshire, South East England. It is home to the Roald Dahl Children's Gallery, David Tugwell`s house on Watermead and the Waterside Theatre. It is in central Buckinghamshire, midway between High Wy ...

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

, England.

Programme

Queens Park Arts Centre offers more than 100 workshops on a weekly basis, covering artistic disciplines such as pottery, painting & drawing, drama, dance, music, woodwork, textiles and jewellery making. Additional classes run during the school holidays, whilst other one-off workshops explore more specialised subjects such as blacksmithing. Queens Park is also the home of the Limelight Theatre, a 120-seater venue which offers live music, theatre and comedy on Friday and Saturday nights. Acts who have performed at the theatre include

Eddie Izzard Edward John Izzard (; born 7 February 1962) is a British stand-up comedian, actor and activist. Her comedic style takes the form of what appears to the audience as rambling whimsical monologues and self-referential pantomime. Izzard's stand- ...

Jo Brand Josephine Grace Brand (born 23 July 1957) is an English comedian, writer, presenter and actress. Starting her entertainment career with a move from psychiatric nursing to the alternative comedy stand-up scene and early performances on '' Saturd ...

John Otway John Otway (born 2 October 1952) is an English singer-songwriter who has built a cult audience through extensive touring. Biography 1970s and 1980s Otway was born in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire. Although his first single, "Gypsy"/"Misty Mounta ...

, Wild Willy Barrett and Chris Ramsey. Additional facilities at the Centre include multiple exhibition spaces, a Coffee Shop, licensed bar, and a shop selling art supplies and resources. The Centre regularly holds events for the local community, including Art & Craft Fairs and Maker's Fairs. Successful projects at the Centre included the WanderHouse Outreach Project - which has enabled artistic collaborations with thousands of children in schools across Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire, and still ongoing, Unbound - the Centre's resident theatre company which stages multiple productions each year, including a

pantomime Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment. It was developed in England and is performed throughout the United Kingdom, Ireland and (to a lesser extent) in other English-speaking ...

. Sarah Lewis is the Chief Executive at the centre. The centre's Limelight Theatre Manager is Dario Knight. Ellie Kirkup is currently the Arts Centre Co-ordinator.

History

Queens Park Arts Centre is based in a former

Edwardian The Edwardian era or Edwardian period of British history spanned the reign of King Edward VII, 1901 to 1910 and is sometimes extended to the start of the First World War. The death of Queen Victoria in January 1901 marked the end of the Victori ...

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...

and receives no funding from

local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...

. It is the largest independent arts centre in the United Kingdom. It was established in 1980 and was first directed by Malcolm Thackwray through funding by Buckinghamshire County Council. In 1998, the Centre became an independent company when its government funding was withdrawn. £325,000 was raised to purchase the freehold to the site, which was secured in 2009. Since then in excess of £200,000 has been raised to refurbish and restore the building.

References

External links

* Arts centres in England Aylesbury Theatres in Buckinghamshire 1980 establishments in England {{art-org-stub