The Arts In Newport

From the University’s renowned art school to The Riverfront Theatre and Arts Centre, and including The Dolman Theatre, Newport Museum and Art Gallery, Maindee Festival and others, there is a wide range of artistic activity in Newport.

The Riverfront, opened in October 2004, has a 493 seat theatre, 128 seat studio theatre, a dance studio, recording studio, small gallery and 4 workshop areas. It promotes a broad spectrum of classes, performances and film screenings, including street dance, opera, popular and classical music, drama, contemporary dance, physical theatre and comedy.

The Riverfront is also the base for the City Council’s Arts Development team, which includes outreach workers in two areas of the City, and which initiates and manages a significant quantity of work across all of Newport. Within this, a long-standing partnership with Rubicon delivers over 40 sessions of dance each week.

The Dolman Theatre, established in the 1960s, has recently had its front of house areas refurbished, and is home to a number of amateur drama and opera societies, presenting performances throughout the year.

The Art Gallery presents an extensive programme of exhibitions and events covering aspects of art and design, focusing on artists living and working in Wales - looking at traditional media from an original and exciting viewpoint. The Gallery has collections of paintings, watercolours, decorative ceramics, contemporary prints, and craft and also brings in touring exhibitions.

The City Council owns, manages and funds The Riverfront and the Art Gallery, and receives additional support from the Arts Council of Wales for these. It also promotes arts and entertainment activity at The Newport Centre and at Tredegar House. There is a small grants scheme through which the Council supports some activity by independent organisations, most notably the Maindee Festival and Independent Ballet Wales, who are based in the City.

Newpart, the Newport Arts Forum is an independent grouping which brings together many individual artists as well as representatives of organisations for networking and other activity.
Every three years the Newport International Competition for Young Pianists takes place, attracting entries from all over the world.
For more information, http://www.newport.gov.uk/_dc/index.cfm?fuseaction=artculture.homepage