The Stage

Tottenham’s Bernie Grant Arts Centre unveiled as flagship for cultural diversity in theatre

Published Tuesday 2 October 2007 at 16:30 by Alistair Smith

A purpose-built £15 million arts centre has opened in Tottenham, north London, with a brief to develop the next generation of black and culturally diverse theatre practitioners.

The Bernie Grant Arts Centre, named after the Haringey MP who died in 2000, features a 300-seat theatre, rehearsal rooms and extensive training facilities. It will host courses in performance, BTEC qualifications for theatre technicians and training in arts management and producing. It is hoped that the range of courses will help address a shortage within the sector of culturally diverse arts managers and technicians.

The centre is being led by Doreen Foster as chief executive, Diane Morgan as head of creative development and Gaylene Gould as head of creative programming. Foster explained that the centre had been developed from Grant’s vision for a space in his local constituency where artists from a range of backgrounds could develop and perform.

She added: “Black and culturally diverse artists are the centrepiece because we know there is a need to support those artists. There is a massive gap in terms of cultural development for BME practitioners and we want to fill that gap.”

Forthcoming shows include the appearance of Sadler’s Wells associate artist Jonzi D with his hip-hop theatre production TAG Me v The City, and Mary Seacole, the Opera, produced by black opera company Gyenyame for Performing Arts. The programme will also feature a range of touring theatre productions, as well as music and comedy nights.

The artistic policy will focus on interdisciplinary work and while the first season is predominantly received product and short runs of touring work, there is a hope the venue might produce in-house in the future.

Gyenyame artistic director Larry Coke, whose production of Mary Seacole is one of the arts centre’s opening shows, said that he was expecting to make a loss on its run at the venue, but stressed that it was important that established practitioners within the industry showed their support by taking those kind of risks.

He added: “I know I’m going to make a loss - there’s no way a 300-seat venue can support a full opera. But that is the gift we have to give to centres like this. I think the centre is worth that risk. We need new black ballet dancers, singers, people who can read music, technicians, administrators. This all needs to be developed. I genuinely hope this place will be recognised as a beacon for the arts.”

The building has been designed by David Adjaye, who has also been responsible for the Nobel Peace Centre in Oslo and the Idea Store in Tower Hamlets, which was shortlisted for the Stirling Prize.