Stratford Circus is a contemporary performing arts venue in Stratford in the London Borough of Newham, east London. It was designed by

Levitt Bernstein Levitt Bernstein is an architecture, landscape architecture and urban design practice established in 1968 by David Levitt and David Bernstein with studios in London and Manchester. Levitt Bernstein's long-standing commitment to housing and urban de ...

architects and built with funding from the National Lottery, and has been operated by the Stratford Arts Trust charity since 2011. Stratford Circus has conference and meeting facilities, hosting six "flexible spaces", three of which are theatre spaces that have been used by organisations for training, conferences and away days. Stratford Circus leads the National Partnership of Arts Centres (NPAC) through their Director and NPAC co-chair Clare Connor. Organisations who have been based at the venue include East London Dance, Urban Development, Theatre Venture, and the Newham Youth and Community Education Service. The

University of East London , mottoeng = Knowledge and the fulfilment of vows , established = 1898 – West Ham Technical Institute1952 – West Ham College of Technology1970 – North East London Polytechnic1989 – Polytechnic of East London ...

's Institute of Performing Arts Development (iPAD) and the London International Festival of Theatre (LIFT) are also working in partnership with the centre.

History

Stratford Circus was situated on a site which was occupied by a chemical works until the 1970s. In 1995, London Borough of Newham and

Theatre Royal Stratford East The Theatre Royal Stratford East is a 460 seat Victorian producing theatre in Stratford in the London Borough of Newham. Since 1953, it has been the home of the Theatre Workshop company, famously associated with director Joan Littlewood, whose ...

successfully bid to the National Lottery for funds to construct Stratford Circus and to refurbish the Theatre Royal. In 1998, Jon Harris was appointed to lead the building project and establish the operating company. The name "Stratford Circus" was chosen as the result of a research and branding exercise undertaken by the new company. The building was opened in 2001 by Tony Banks. Jon Harris left the organisation in 1992 to become Producer of

Shared Experience Shared Experience is a British theatre company.
Its current joint

. The new Director was Peter Conway. The organisation's board went into voluntary liquidation in August 2003, following a loss of funding. The London Borough of Newham stepped in and assumed interim management responsibility. In 2005,

Newham Sixth Form College Newham Sixth Form College (NewVIc) is a sixth form college located in the East London borough of Newham. Situated on a single site in Plaistow, the college was established in 1992 to provide for students in Newham and neighbouring boroughs who ...

(NewVIc), who had been a partner from the outset, took over the management and a ten-year lease for the venue, under the leadership of Clare Connor. In 2011, Stratford Arts Trust was formed and took over management of the venue. From 2011 to 2021 Stratford Circus hosted over 1 million audience members in person and online, 2,000 artists & practitioners, worked with 350,000 participants and supported the development of new work by over 350 emerging and established artists. The decision to wind up was taken in 2021 by the charity's trustees following the termination of its tenancy of Stratford Circus Arts Centre by the London Borough of Newham and the subsequent withdrawal of funding by Arts Council England. The centre hosted the first ever

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

...

Question Time A question time in a parliament occurs when members of the parliament ask questions of government ministers (including the prime minister), which they are obliged to answer. It usually occurs daily while parliament is sitting, though it can be ca ...

pre-election debate in 2005 featuring all three leaders of the mainstream political parties: then Prime Minister

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of th ...

, then Tory Leader Michael Howard and then Liberal Democrat Leader

Charles Kennedy Charles Peter Kennedy (25 November 1959 – 1 June 2015) was a British Liberal Democrat politician who served as Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 1999 to 2006, and was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Ross, Skye and Lochaber from 1983 ...

. Artists who have performed their work at Stratford Circus include

Andy Hamilton Andrew Neil Hamilton (born 28 May 1954) is a British comedian, game show panellist, television director, comedy screenwriter, radio dramatist, novelist and actor. Early life and education Hamilton was born in Fulham, southwest London. He ...

, Billy Bragg,

John Hegley John Richard Hegley (born 1 October 1953) is an English performance poet, comedian, musician and songwriter. Early life He was born in the Newington Green area of Islington, London, England, into a Roman Catholic household. He was brought up i ...

Seun Kuti Oluseun Anikulapo Kuti (born 11 January 1983), who is called by the name Seun Kuti, is a Nigerian musician, singer and the youngest son of the famous Afrobeat pioneer, Fela Kuti. Seun leads his father's former band Egypt 80. Biography The y ...

and

60x60 60x60 is a collection of 60 electroacoustic or acousmatic works from 60 different composers/artists, each work 60 seconds or less in duration. 60x60 project showcases sixty new works, each sixty seconds or less, by sixty composers in a continuous ...

. 60x60 Dance held its European debut at Stratford Circus in 2010.''60x60 Dance''
, Big Dance The event featured more than 150 dancers with 60 choreographers creating dances to each of the 60 one-minute works in the 60x60 project. Stratford Circus was the training facility for the Japanese athletes during the 2012 Olympics in London.

References

Blake, A. (2005) 'Collaboration or collapse? NewVIc and the Stratford Cultural Quarter', in Jeffery, G. (ed) (2005) ''The Creative College: building a successful learning culture in the arts'', Stoke-on-Trent, Trentham Books.

External links

Stratford Circus website
{{Coord, 51.5427, 0.0015, type:landmark_region:GB-NWM, display=title * https://www.theguardian.com/culture-professionals-network/culture-professionals-blog/2014/apr/03/art-centres-uk-culture-future Education in the London Borough of Newham Theatres in the London Borough of Newham Arts centres in London Cultural and educational buildings in London Stratford, London