Cornerhouse to join Library Theatre in new city venue

The new cultural centre will be home to both the Cornerhouse and the Library Theatre

Manchester's famous art house cinema, the Cornerhouse, is set to move into a brand new £19m arts centre.

The iconic Oxford Street venue is celebrating 25 years of showing independent films and exhibitions.

Now, Manchester City Council is proposing to build a new cultural facility to house both the Cornerhouse and the Library Theatre.

It's hoped the centre will help to attract investment to the 20-acre First Street site creating 10,000 jobs.

Nostalgic

The Library Theatre and the Cornerhouse have, until now, each played significant yet separate roles in the artistic landscape in Manchester, offering high quality film, drama and exhibitions.

Cornerhouse is celebrating 25 years on Oxford Street

But they're now looking at a new future together at a purpose-built new arts centre opposite the Hacienda apartments off Whitworth Street West.

Dave Moutrey, chief executive of Cornerhouse, welcomed the plans saying it was no time to be nostalgic about leaving their iconic wedge-shaped building.

"It's quirky and it's played a really important function," he said. "But our customers know that the site we currently own is not ideal for the work that we do.

"We could continue operating there but we're always going to be hand to mouth. This gives us an opportunity to be more entrepreneurial in terms of conferencing and catering."

Creative ideas

The Library Theatre was already promised a new home after being moved out of the basement of the Central Library as part of the refurbishment of the Town Hall complex.

Describing the new arts centre as "terrific news," artistic director Chris Horner said it would help to realise their vision of becoming a major centre for contemporary theatre outside London.

"The artistic potential of the collaboration with Cornerhouse is immense," he said.

"It will enable the company to develop and expand its work and achieve its aspirations."

Dave Moutrey added that he was looking forward to sharing creative ideas with the Library Theatre.

"No-one else is doing this," he said. "This is a first - a producing theatre, a contemporary art gallery and a cinema complex all tooled up digitally to connect to audiences."

Arches

If approved, the building behind the railway arches on Whitworth Street West will boast up to five cinemas, 600 sq m of contemporary gallery space, and a 500-seat theatre

The Library Theatre has outgrown its Central Library basement location

Also proposed is a smaller studio/education space and an outdoor performance space as well as a café and state-of-the-art back of house facilities.

The council said the £19m scheme would be funded mainly from £16m already earmarked for the Library Theatre relocation.

It's a significant investment at a time when many arts organisations are facing a major squeeze in funding.

Manchester City Council leader Sir Richard Leese said he hoped it would stimulate the regeneration of the 20-acre First Street site, attracting other leisure and retail investment in 1.25 million sq ft of commercial floor space.

"In the aftermath of the recession and facing unprecedented public sector cuts this is exactly the sort of scheme we need to get people into work, get our economy moving even faster, and show the world that Manchester is still an ambitious city still on the up."

The new arts centre at First Street is expected to be completed by 2014.