Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff

Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff

Chapter Arts Centre has been redeveloped, and reopened a week or so ago. Set up in the 1970's by a group of artists including Christine Kinsey and Brian Jones, the Centre has been an extraordinarily successful and much loved hub for the arts in Canton, Cardiff ever since. It is housed in an Edwardian red-brick school away from the city centre and has always been able to attract a diversity of people through its doors, it has a very particular identity linked to the egalitarian attitude of its foundation. The brief for the redevelopment was to keep the essential heart of the place intact, whilst updating and improving the facilities and raising the architectural spaces to match the ambitions of the organisation. The work has been undertaken by architect Ash Sakula and interior designers Gidden and Rees.

I think it's been really successful, it's a lovely space, and it still feels like Chapter. I went to a seminar; The Centre is Here, (part of May You Live In Interesting Times - a three day Festival of Creative Technology) covering aspects of social networking in the arts community and how artists are using these platforms in their practice - very interesting.