The Curve, Leicester City

Source: www.curveonline.co.uk

Project description

Aims and objectives

Services offered

  • Performances of theatre, dance, music and comedy on two stages that are designed to be adapted to diverse arrangements.
  • Inspires and involves passers-by on street level as a result of its inside-out design.

Benefits of co-location

Leicester City Council, together with a number of partners, is working on a range of complementary cultural initiatives, of which The Curve is a focal point.

This co-location approach forms a vision of regenerating the St Georges area as a Cultural Quarter that will stimulate economic growth whilst establishing Leicester as the major regional centre for the creative industries.
 

Success factors

  • The project was able to secure a large amount of funding from a number of different organisations.
  • The integration of the project within a wider Cultural Quarter will be important to the buildings success, allowing it to become a focal point within the city.
  • The regeneration vision of an attractive surrounding environment for the creative business sector to locate will help the projects long term success by ensuring it is located within an a thriving part of the city.

Risk factors

  • In spite of a generally successful history its predecessor the Haymarket Theatre was forced to close between 2003 and 2004 due to financial problems.

Business/operational model

  • The Leicester Theatre Trust was formed in 1969. The trust receives regular funding from the Arts Council England (ACE) and receives annual revenue funding from Leicester City Council.
  • Leicester Theatre Trust is revenue funded by Leicester City Council, Arts Council England and Leicestershire County Council.

Financing and delivery/procurement

The Curve is the second of the three capital projects to be completed in the cultural quarter. It was commissioned and developed by Leicester City Council. The project is a partnership between the City Council, East Midlands Development Agency, Arts Council England, Leicester Shire Economic Partnership, the European Regional Development Fund, Leicester Theatre Trust and Leicester Arts Centre Trust.