Chapter Arts Centre (often just referred to as Chapter) is an

arts centre An art centre or arts center is distinct from an art gallery or art museum. An arts centre is a functional community centre with a specific remit to encourage arts practice and to provide facilities such as theatre space, gallery space, venues fo ...

in Canton,

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

, Wales, opened in 1971.

Description

Chapter hosts

film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

s, plays,

performance art Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...

and live music, and includes a free

art gallery An art gallery is a room or a building in which visual art is displayed. In Western cultures from the mid-15th century, a gallery was any long, narrow covered passage along a wall, first used in the sense of a place for art in the 1590s. The long ...

café A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café (), is an establishment that serves various types of coffee, espresso, latte, americano and cappuccino, among other hot beverages. Many coffeehouses in West Asia offer ''shisha'' (actually called ''nargi ...

and bars. There are also over 60 work spaces, used for an eclectic range of purposes including Chapter's own training courses. Twenty per cent of the centre's income comes from the film theatres. It shows mainstream

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood ...

films as well as a considerable array of foreign and

independent film An independent film, independent movie, indie film, or indie movie is a feature film or short film that is film production, produced outside the Major film studios, major film studio system in addition to being produced and distributed by independ ...

s on a regular basis. The centre receives a major annual grant from the Arts Council for Wales.

Spaces

*Gallery spaces *Two film theatres (capacities: 188 and 57) *Two theatres (capacities: 96 and 60 seated, also standing) *Two bars (ground floor has normal opening hours; upstairs is open for specific events) *Café *Shop *Several spaces for hire (varying sizes) *Many spaces for ongoing art production, resident artists, etc.

History

Chapter was founded by Welsh artists, Christine Kinsey and Bryan Jones with journalist Mike Flood and opened in 1971.A Brief History of Chapter
, Chapter Arts Centre website. Retrieved 2011-11-15. The building was previously a school, Canton High School, and was built in 1905.Rory Olcayt
''Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff, by Ash Sakula Architects''
The Architects' Journal, 11 March 2010. Retrieved 2011-11-15.

21st century

In the 2000s Chapter underwent a £3.8 million redevelopment, designed by architects Ash Sakula Architects, who were appointed in 2006. The practice prioritised remodelling of the public areas on the ground floor, while adding a storey-high 'light box' above the main entrance as an 'artistic billboard'. The centre remained open through the redevelopment and the new Chapter opened in November 2009. The building won a R.I.B.A. Wales Award in 2010. The new open-plan design was described as user friendly with many great details. Following the centre's refurbishment in 2009, the number of visitors doubled to 800,000 per year, making it the second most popular attraction in Cardiff.Cathy Owen (11 April 2014
"Chapter Arts Centre unveils plans for £6m expansion"
''WalesOnline''. Retrieved 2014-04-14. As of March 2014 Chapter installed 60 photovoltaic

solar panels A solar panel is a device that converts sunlight into electricity by using photovoltaic (PV) cells. PV cells are made of materials that produce excited electrons when exposed to light. These electrons flow through a circuit and produce direct ...

to their roof providing up to 15KW of electricity. In the autumn of 2014 Chapter became a venue for the international

Artes Mundi Artes Mundi (Latin: ''arts of the world'') is an international arts organisation based in Cardiff, Wales. Established in 2002, it is committed to supporting international contemporary visual artists whose work engages with social reality and lived ...

exhibition and art prize, which expanded for the first time beyond the

National Museum Cardiff National Museum Cardiff (), formerly known as the National Museum of Wales, is a museum and art gallery in Cardiff, Wales. The museum is part of the wider network of Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales. Entry is kept free by a grant from the Wel ...

. In December 2015 Chapter renamed the main Theatre and Stiwdio spaces as Theatr Seligman Theatre and Stiwdio Seligman, following a significant donation from local benefactor David Seligman.

References

External links