Viva Lewes Issue #158 November 2019

BRICKS AND MORTAR
Gardner Arts to ACCA
Looking back with an eye on the future
Fifty years ago this month,
Britain’s first campusbased
university arts
centre opened its doors at
the University of Sussex.
From the outset the
Gardner Arts Centre –
now the Attenborough
Centre for the Creative
Arts – was intended to
provide a more avant
garde experience for audiences.
Contemporary dance, edgy and political dramas,
experimental music, international and arthouse
film and other events that defy boundaries
continue to inhabit the brick towers of the Basil
Spence-designed building at Falmer.
Laura McDermott, the centre’s creative director,
was well aware of this history when she took on
the job in 2016. The centre, which closed in 2008
when it lost regular funding from the local authority
and from Arts Council England, had undergone
a £8m refurbishment and was reopened and
renamed in honour of film director Sir Richard
Attenborough, the university’s former chancellor.
“So many of the university’s founding principles
were about trying to do things differently,”
she says. “From the bold architecture, to the
interdisciplinarity of the curriculum; it was about
providing an alternative to the traditional forms
of higher education.
“The arts centre was fundamental to this experience.
It recognised the arts as a key component in a
rounded educational experience – nourishing your
soul and developing your personal creativity. It was
described as ‘the yeast in life’s solid dough’.”
While it has certainly enhanced campus life,
the centre has also been a boon to the wider
community, not just as a
venue for annual events
such as Brighton Festival,
Cinecity and Brighton
Digital Festival, but as a
space for local artists and
musicians to rehearse and
develop new work.
One of the towers that
once housed an electronic
music studio has been
given a 21st century makeover to become a new
digital recording studio. Named after the late
Professor of Music, Jonathan Harvey, the facility
is for students during term time, but will be used
for other projects out of hours.
To celebrate the centre’s half century, Laura
and her colleagues are devising a 50-day advent
calendar featuring treasures from the archive
– counting down from 12 November to 31 December.
“We’ll have photos of people who have
appeared here, such as Doris Lessing, recordings
of past gigs (like Animal Collective in Brighton
Festival), and pictures of the space in its various
states of construction and renovation.”
They are also recreating the first concert given by
the university Symphony Orchestra in 1969. The
event features novelist and former student Ian
McEwan reading from his original programme
notes, and international pianist and composer
Shin Suzuma (also an ex-student) playing Beethoven’s
Piano Concerto No 3 on the Steinway
grand piano donated by Tony Banks (the keyboard
player from Genesis – a third alumnus).
“Bringing current students together with illustrious
alumni feels like the perfect way to celebrate
– looking back but with an eye on the future,”
says Laura. Jacqui Bealing
Photo courtesy of the University of Sussex
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