1.
Leeds
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Leeds /liːdz/ is a city in West Yorkshire, England. Historically in Yorkshires West Riding, the history of Leeds can be traced to the 5th century when the name referred to an area of the Kingdom of Elmet. The name has applied to many administrative entities over the centuries. It changed from being the appellation of a small borough in the 13th century, through several incarnations. In the 17th and 18th centuries Leeds became a centre for the production. During the Industrial Revolution, Leeds developed into a mill town, wool was the dominant industry but flax, engineering, iron foundries, printing. From being a market town in the valley of the River Aire in the 16th century Leeds expanded and absorbed the surrounding villages to become a populous urban centre by the mid-20th century. The city has the third largest jobs total by local authority area with 480,000 in employment and self-employment at the beginning of 2015. Leeds is also ranked as a world city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network. Leeds is served by four universities, and has the fourth largest student population in the country and has the fourth largest urban economy. After London, Leeds is the largest legal and financial centre in the UK, with over 30 national and international banks located in the city. Leeds is also the UKs third largest manufacturing centre with around 1,800 firms and 39,000 employees, the largest sub-sectors are engineering, printing and publishing, food and drink, chemicals and medical technology. Outside of London, Leeds has the third busiest railway station, Public transport, rail and road communications networks in the region are focused on Leeds and there are a number of twinning arrangements with towns and cities in other countries. The name Leeds derives from the old Brythonic word Ladenses meaning people of the fast-flowing river and this name originally referred to the forested area covering most of the Brythonic kingdom of Elmet, which existed during the 5th century into the early 7th century. An inhabitant of Leeds is locally known as a Loiner, a word of uncertain origin, the term Leodensian is also used, from the citys Latin name. Leeds developed as a town in the Middle Ages as part of the local agricultural economy. Before the Industrial Revolution it became a centre for the manufacture of woollen cloth. Leeds handled one sixth of Englands export trade in 1770, growth, initially in textiles, was accelerated by the building of the Aire and Calder Navigation in 1699 and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal in 1816
2.
Grand Theatre, Leeds
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The Grand Theatre is a theatre and Opera house in the centre of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was designed by James Robinson Watson, chief assistant in the office of Leeds-based architect George Corson, the exterior is in a mixture of Romanesque and Scottish baronial styles, while the interior has such Gothic motifs as fan-vaulting and clustered columns. The theatre is a Grade II* listed building, the theatre is home to Opera North and is regularly visited by Northern Ballet. It has hosted many touring productions, musical artists and comedians, the theatre closed at the end of May 2005 for a major refurbishment, entitled transformation, and reopened on 7 October 2006 with a production of Verdis Rigoletto. The Centre includes two new stage-sized rehearsal spaces and increased office space, the cost of the refurbishment has been estimated at £31.5 million. The Assembly Rooms opened in 1879 and functioned as the Plaza Cinema between 1912 and 1978 and subsequently as a room for Opera North. Since the transformation at the theatre, particularly after a state of the art automated flying system was introduced, productions at the theatre have included, The Phantom Of The Opera, Dirty Dancing, Shrek The Musical, Oliver, We Will Rock You and Wicked. Grand Memories, The Life and Times of the Grand Theatre and Opera House, Grand Theatre website Howard Assembly Room website Leeds City Council page on the theatre Historic England
3.
Theatre Royal, Nottingham
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The Theatre Royal attracts major touring dramas, opera, ballet, West End musicals and an annual pantomime. The Theatre Royal was completed in 1865, after six months of work and costing the clients, lace manufacturers John, the Classic façade and Corinthian columns designed by Charles J. Phipps are still a major Nottingham landmark. The Theatre Royal opened on Monday,25 September 1865 with Sheridan’s The School for Scandal, baroness Orczy’s The Scarlet Pimpernel was first produced at the Theatre Royal by Fred Terry and Julia Neilson before being published as a novel. Although initially the play was met with success, the novel is credited with influencing the mystery genre. On October 6,1952, the theatre made history with the premiere of The Mousetrap. The play has gone on to be the theatrical production in the world. In 1969 the city bought the theatre and began restoring it at a cost of £4 million in the day. It was in need of restoration and had earned a reputation as one of the worst theatres for backstage conditions in the country and it was officially reopened 6 June 1978 by Princess Anne who was “impressed and delighted” and said “…what an improvement on the old place. All you had there was the smell of gas. ”Inside she met with “…City Council leader Coun, Jack Green…” and unveiled a plaque in the foyer. The elegant portico, with its six Corinthian columns of Ancaster stone, indeed, the orientation of the portico was designed to afford maximum effect, closing a new street from the Great Market Place, Market Street. The Theatre Royal was closed between the end of April and September 1897 for remodelling, the works included building new dressing rooms at the rear to clear part of the site for the Empire. Matcham also refashioned the existing auditorium, Frank Matcham pioneered the use of cantilevered steel in his designs, and patented his design. This allowed balconies to be built without the use of supporting pillars, without pillars, lowering the stage and increasing the rake of the tiers, sight lines were much improved and the audience capacity increased to around 3,000. The theatre has four tiers of seating, the stalls, dress circle, upper circle and it has seven fully licensed bars including The Green Room Cafe Bar on the ground floor and The Restaurant on the dress circle level. The theatre is served by the adjacent Royal Centre tram stop on the Nottingham Express Transit, the theatre has an annual pantomime, usually starring local or national celebrities. Some of them include,2016 Jack and the Beanstalk with the Chuckle Brothers,2015 Aladdin with Christopher Biggins, Simon Webbe & Ben Nickless 2014 Snow White with Lesley Joseph 2013 Peter Pan with David Hasselhoff. 2011 Sleeping Beauty with Joe Pasquale,2010 Aladdin with Stephen Mulhern and Gray OBrien. 2009 Jack and the Beanstalk with Nigel Havers and Jenna-Louise Coleman,2007 Peter Pan with Debra Stephenson and John Challis
4.
The Lowry
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The Lowry is a theatre and gallery complex situated on Pier 8 at Salford Quays, in Salford, Greater Manchester, England. It is named after the early 20th century painter L. S. Lowry, the complex was officially opened on 12 October 2000 by Queen Elizabeth II. The initial proposals were for two theatres and an art gallery on a prominent site on Pier 8, between 1990 and 1991 a competition was launched and architects James Stirling Michael Wilford Associates was selected. After the death of James Stirling in June 1992 Michael Wilford continued the project, the city council bid for Millennium and other British and European funds and private sector finance to progress the project. Funding was secured in 1996 and The Lowry Trust became responsible for the project which comprised The Lowry Centre, the plaza, a footbridge, the National Lottery provided over £21 million of funding towards its construction. The project was completed in 1999 at a cost of £106 million, the Lowry name was adopted in honour of the local artist, L. S. Lowry. The complex is close to the Imperial War Museum North and the Old Trafford football stadium and it is served by the MediaCityUK stop on the Metrolink tram network. In 2010 and 2011 it was Greater Manchesters most visited tourist attraction, a sting operation by the Salford Star in 2006 attempted to demonstrate intolerance towards unaccompanied teenagers in hoodies entering the complex. The complex was designed by Michael Wilford with structural engineer Buro Happold, groundbreaking took place on 19 June 1997. The Lowry is built on a site at the end of Pier 8 and has a triangular plan. A promenade encircling the building provides views of the Manchester Ship Canal, MediaCityUK, the foyer faces the public plaza, where there is a large aerofoil canopy at the entrance clad with perforated steel and illuminated from inside at night. Much of the building is clad in steel and glass. The Lowry was described as not quite Salfords Guggenheim and it is ultimately too small and too well behaved. Although there are obvious shared aims, a reference to the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, the Lowry footbridge spanning the ship canal was designed and project managed by Parkman, with design support from Carlos Fernandez Casado. It is a bridge with a clear span of 100 metres. The bridge span is an arch and the towers are constructed in tubular steelwork to provide an open aspect to view the lifting counterweight. In November 2015, the Lowry opened a new bar and restaurant, called Pier 8, after a 12 week closure on the original bar and restaurant. The new space cost £3m to develop and is part of an ongoing £5m investment programme to improve facilities, the new features include a zinc topped curving bar with room to seat 150 people for casual dining
5.
Salford Quays
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Salford Quays is an area of Salford, Greater Manchester, England, near the end of the Manchester Ship Canal. Previously the site of Manchester Docks, it one of the first and largest urban regeneration projects in the United Kingdom following the closure of the dockyards in 1982. Built by the Manchester Ship Canal Company, Salford Docks was the larger of two sections made up Manchester Docks, the other being Pomona Docks to the east. They were opened in 1894 by Queen Victoria and spanned 120 acres of water and 1,000 acres of land and they closed in 1982, resulting in the loss of 3000 jobs. In 1983 Salford City Council acquired parts of the docks covering 220 acres from the Manchester Ship Canal Company with the aid of a land grant. The area was rebranded as Salford Quays and redevelopment by Urban Waterside began in 1985 under the Salford Quays Development Plan, within two years the quality was sufficient to introduce 12,000 coarse fish, which have thrived in the environment. Between 1986 and 1990 the infrastructure of the docks was modified to create a waterway network. Roads and bridges were built and a promenade along the waterfront constructed and landscaped, moorings and watersports facilities were provided and a railway swing bridge moved to cross Dock 9. A hotel, cinema, housing, offices were built on Piers 5 and 6 followed by developments on Pier 7. Public funding and private investment totalled around £280 million by the early 1990s and it had secured £64 million in funding by 22 February 1996. The Lowry stands at the end of Pier 8, largely surrounded by the waters of the Manchester Ship Canal. Designed by James Stirling and Michael Wilford, it opened on 28 April 2000 and houses the 1,730 seat Lyric theatre, there are cafes, bars and a restaurant at the south-western end of the building. The centre is associated with L. S. Lowry, the Imperial War Museum North, on Trafford Wharf Road in Trafford Park, overlooks the Manchester Ship Canal on the opposite bank to the Lowry and MediaCityUK. The area was bombed during the Manchester Blitz in December 1940. The museum, designed by architect Daniel Libeskind, opened in July 2002 and its structure was designed to be a metaphor for a world shattered by war with sloping walls and ceilings. Three areas, the Air, Earth and Water Shards house exhibition and gallery space, public areas, at the moment, the exhibition is dedicated to Medicine Through Time. The museum also currently has an artifact from the New York 9/11 Twin Tower disaster. MediaCityUK is a 200-acre mixed-use property development on Pier 9 of the Quays with a focus on creative industries and it was developed by the Peel Group
6.
Theatre Royal, Newcastle
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The Theatre Royal is a Grade I listed building situated on Grey Street in Newcastle upon Tyne. One of the first managers here was Thomas Ternan who employed his wife, following a performance of William Shakespeares play Macbeth, a huge fire destroyed the interior of the building in 1899. It had its interior redesigned by Frank Matcham and reopened on 31 December 1901, externally, the building is exactly as it was when it was first built. It underwent a refurbishment and restoration in the latter part of the 1980s. The Theatre Royal went dark on 14 March 2011 due to a restoration of the auditorium, box office, bars. The restoration restored the theatre to the original 1901 Frank Matcham Edwardian interior, the whole interior was stripped apart from the original plasterwork which was carefully preserved. The proscenium arch, tiers and boxes were gold leafed and the plasterwork restored, on all levels the seats were replaced with Edwardian-style theatre seats in keeping with the restoration. The amphitheatre which was removed during previous renovations was restored to offer more leg room and this took the theatre to five distinct seating areas, the stalls, grand circle, upper circle, amphitheatre and gallery. Wheelchair spaces were installed on levels which had previously been inaccessible, as well as the boxes near the stage, boxes at the rear of the grand and upper circles were also restored taking the total number of boxes up to ten. The stage lift and orchestra pit were replaced to better facilities for opera. A new ventilation system was put in place to improve comfort levels in the theatre, new frescos for the lobby and upper circle were commissioned and put in place. This £4. 75m project introduced higher standards of comfort and improved energy, the Theatre Royal reopened on 12 September 2011 with Alan Bennett’s epic period drama The Madness of George III, George III was in fact the monarch who gave the Theatre Royal its charter. The theatre currently hosts a variety of shows, including ballet, contemporary dance, drama, musicals, almost all of the shows that come to the Theatre Royal are part of national British tours, and in a typical year the theatre will have 30 to 35 visiting shows. For the annual pantomime, and any visiting musicals and opera performances, the stage itself is also of substantial size, and can house 50 singers, dancers, actors and musicians. Newcastles original Theatre Royal opened on 21 January 1788 and its location on Mosley Street obstructed plans for the redevelopment of the city centre, so it was demolished to make way for the present building. One of the theatres most successful managers at this time was Stephen Kemble of the famous Kemble family, the original theatres final performance was on 25 June 1836. The current theatre has a stage, and accommodates a variable orchestra pit on 2 lifts - which reduces the stall seating. The audience is seated on four levels, stalls, grand circle, upper circle, project A is a one-year actor training programme led by an artistic director and supported by leading industry specialists
7.
Arts Council England
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Arts Council England was formed in 1994 when the Arts Council of Great Britain was divided into three separate bodies for England, Scotland and Wales. It is a public body of the Department of Culture, Media. Arts Council England is a body dedicated to promoting the performing, visual. Since 1994, Arts Council England has been responsible for distributing lottery funding and this investment has helped to transform the building stock of arts organisations and to create lots of additional high quality arts activity. Since October 2011, Arts Council England has been responsible for supporting and developing museums, at the same time, the National Lottery was established and the Arts Council of England became one of the distribution bodies. This increased responsibility saw the Arts Council of England grow back in size to the point where it was larger than before the 1987 restructure, Arts Council England has a national council of 15 members, including the Chair. The national council meets ten times a year and is made up of representatives of the community with five of the members also representing the area councils. Each area council has a board of 15 members made up of representatives of their arts community and local government. There are five area councils, The appointment of the Arts Council England Chief Executive is made by the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, each area council has an Executive Director and each art form has a specialist advisor. She developed over 40 permanent artistic commissions integrated into the Olympic Park Arts Council England supports a number of museums as Major Partnership Museums. 16 single museums or consortia were supported 2012-2015, and a further five were added for 2015-2018 bringing the total to 21, there was also a series of costly capital projects such as the Royal Opera House and the Lowry Centre that required additional funding. In the case of the Royal Opera House the select committee found the Arts Council had broken its own procedures, in 2005 it was announced that the Arts Council Englands budget was capped resulting in an effective £30m reduction in its budget. The Arts Council of England funds a controversial cultural festival, the Festival of Muslim Cultures, Arts Council Englands music policy was controversial within the jazz world. Chris Hodgkins, in his 1998 paper Jazz in the UK, pointed out more than 90% of its music budget went on opera while jazz, with an equivalent audience size. The funding landscape has improved since with funding for NWJazzworks and Manchester Jazz Festival 2012, among other areas funding has diversified into youth music such as National Youth Choirs of Great Britain, National Youth Jazz Collective and South Asian Music Youth Orchestra etc. More recently it was raised in the House of Lords by Lord Colwyn on 11 May 2006 as documented in the Lords Hansard Columns. Creative Partnerships Community art Artsmark State planning Arts Council England consultation website Arts Council England Artists taking the lead Arts energy Arts jobs Own art Take it away
