For the past decade, Gosforth Civic Theatre has become one of the North East’s most distinctive arts venues, combining live performance and community-led projects with a strong focus on inclusion. Founded by a group of people with learning disabilities alongside CEO Rob Ward, the venue has welcomed more than 324,000 visitors over the last ten years, delivering 1,276 shows and events alongside thousands of community and SEND sessions. Liza-Lou Campy spoke with Rob Huggins and Programming Manager Scott Forbes about the venue’s 10th anniversary, its community impact and the financial pressures facing the arts sector.
Did you expect Gosforth Civic Theatre to grow into what it is today?
Rob Huggins: The journey really surprised me. I founded the organisation to give people with learning disabilities the skills and opportunity to run their own arts organisation, because I’d seen how few choices and how little power they often had in society. We’re very clear on why we exist and what social impact we want to achieve. That has stayed the same from day one.
What does the 10-year anniversary mean to you?
Rob Huggins: I’m incredibly proud and grateful. Gosforth Civic Theatre is the result of collective effort from staff, company members and supporters over many years. When we come to work, it feels normal, but what we are trying to achieve still isn’t normal in wider society. We put people with learning disabilities at the centre of a high-quality arts organisation and don’t make a big deal out of it. We want that to feel normal. A lot of people come here for gigs or theatre shows without knowing the venue’s origin story, and celebrating ten years is a chance to share that more widely.
Have attitudes changed over the last decade?
Rob Huggins: Absolutely. When we first opened, people were visibly nervous about walking through the door. Now it’s completely normal to see people having business meetings alongside programme users, with everyone feeling comfortable together. That’s an incredible thing to witness. One example is a young autistic dancer we met through outreach work in SEND schools. He joined our youth dance company and eventually gained a place at the National Youth Dance Company, competing against hundreds of applicants nationwide. Over the last decade, the theatre has also delivered more than 2,100 SEND sessions with almost 24,000 attendances, alongside nearly 2,000 community activity sessions.
Community projects seem central to the theatre’s identity…
Rob Huggins: We want people to feel a sense of belonging here. One of the projects I’m most proud of is our gaming sessions for young people, which began after a mother contacted us about her autistic son who rarely left his bedroom because he spent all his time gaming. Now the sessions are among our most inclusive activities, bringing neurodivergent and non-neurodivergent young people together in a shared, comfortable space.
How important is the anniversary year financially?
Rob Huggins: The environment for arts organisations is really challenging, and we would be lying if we said we weren’t using the anniversary to highlight that. Despite a £2.5 million redevelopment in 2023, we still need to secure around £250,000 in grant funding just to survive this year. We don’t receive core funding, so celebrating ten years is also about helping us keep the doors open.
What can audiences expect from the anniversary programme?
Scott Forbes: We’ve spread celebrations across the year rather than doing one huge event. We’ve got Ibibio Sound Machine in October, our beer festival returning this summer, and ‘Beyond the Moor’ continuing to grow. We’re also bringing in artists such as Martha and This Is The Kit as we continue expanding the range of gigs and events we host.
What changes would you like to see in the arts sector over the next decade?
Rob Huggins: Inclusion has to be at the start, in the middle and working its way outwards – not just sitting on the edges of organisations. We use the word ‘normal’ a lot at GCT. We don’t want inclusion to feel like a selling point. We want people to come to a gig or the café and for it all to feel completely natural.
To find out more about Gosforth Civic Theatre, head to gosforthcivictheatre.co.uk.
