Birmingham Hippodrome unveils plan to place it at regeneration scheme's heart
An ambitious proposal to reinvent the Hippodrome as a key player in the regeneration of Southside has been unveiled positioning the venue as a major hub in the city’s cultural economy.
The Hippodrome wants to grow beyond being a theatre and launch a creative and physical expansion programme that would help it bring its cultural offering to more people.
Although the plans are at a very early stage, the venue wants to establish an International Centre of Dance with its long-standing resident partners Birmingham Royal Ballet and DanceXchange as well as become a “key anchor” in the city’s plans to regenerate the Southside district by offering more facilities in and around the venue such as cafes and retail space.
It has brought out a prospectus inviting approaches from public and private partners who can help it realise its vision through investment and partnerships.
A bid to expand its creative programme also forms part of the plans, building on work it has done with organisations like the city’s acclaimed Fierce! Festival to take a more imaginative approach to developing coproductions with a range of international partners.
Hippodrome chief executive Stuart Griffiths said: “Birmingham needs cultural attractions to help in terms of its international profile and it needs more in the way of cultural facilities to retain and attract the best talent here.
“With the economic regeneration of Birmingham, it needs cultural spaces and places that will attract visitors, engage residents and bring people in from the outskirts into the centre and give them things to do when they are here that are not just about shopping.”
Mr Griffiths said the plans would build on the Hippodrome’s status as a thriving performance arts venue which boasts the highest regular annual attendance of any single theatre in the UK.
“It’s about saying we are not just satisfied with being a successful theatre, although we have got to make sure we maintain that,” he said.
“It’s about saying we have got half a million people a year coming to us every year but what more can we do?”
Mr Griffiths said the venue was looking at examples from around the world where performing arts spaces offer much more than stage-based activities.
The Lincoln Centre in New York, which is spread over 16 acres and is home to 12 resident organisations including New York City Ballet and the New York Philharmonic, provided a good model for the Hippodrome’s plans, Mr Griffiths said.
