The Eastgate Theatre and Arts Centre
After eight years of hard work and fundraising, the Eastgate Theatre and Arts Centre opened its doors to the public in March 2004. The new centre is based in the Eastgate Church in Peebles, an existing B-listed 19th Century Church on Peebles High Street.
Designed by Richard Murphy architects, the Eastgate contains:
- an auditorium seating 240 people which can also be used as a cinema and conference venue
- a separate studio space with an audience capacity of 60 for performing, visual arts and crafts
- a foyer and café space
- a visual arts and crafts exhibition space.
In recognition of its quality of design the Eastgate Theatre was nominated for the RIAS Building of the Year Award 2004.
In the early 1990s the local authority identified a gap within the Borders arts infrastructure. In particular, a gap existed for a mid scale performing arts facility, as a regional facility and ‘hub’ to act as a community focus for arts participation, performance and film.
A company - Borders 1996 - was established in March 1996 with the aim of creating enhanced arts facilities for the arts in Peebles and surrounding areas. Through fundraising and strong local support the dream finally became a reality in 2002. Development of the Eastgate Church started on 9th October 2002 and was completed at the end of February 2004.
In March 2000, the Scottish Arts Council’s Capital Committee awarded:
- a grant of £1,593,343 to support the project, with a further £70,000 awarded in July 2002
- Other partnership funding came from ERDF (£300,000), Scottish Borders Enterprise (£200,000), Scottish Borders Council (£100,000) and a significant amount of partnership funding came from fundraising (£485,071)
The Eastgate had an overwhelming amount of local support, which was evidenced in the significant amount of funding raised locally.
The Eastgate’s main role is as a medium scale performing arts venue, which compliments the other theatres in the area, the small scale Wynd and Bowhill theatres. The Eastgate also acts as a hub for the network of small scale multi-purpose facilities.
The Eastgate has a strong and diverse arts programme including music, drama, dance and children’s shows. The Eastgate will alos bring cinema back to Peebles for the first time in 25 years. It has been enthusiastically supported by the people of Peebles and surrounding areas and a regular film programme is planned for the Eastgate in the near future.
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