Spring into the new year with Attenborough Arts Centre

Come and celebrate culture and creativity with Attenborough Arts Centre this spring: experience the latest performances by artists from across the country, get creative with artist-led courses and workshops, and engage with a range of free exhibitions and events to inspire individual and community creativity.

Hollie McNish, one of the UK’s top performance poets, comes to Attenborough Arts Centre on Sunday 24 March to launch her new book, The Lobster. Throughout the rest of the season, featured performances include Attic Theatre and James Rowland’s Piece of Work on the 1 March, a show about fathers, sons and the hope that makes life liveable. Local women-led punk band Unglamourous are returning 10 March with Punk Mums, as they celebrate and remember the bands founder, Ruth Miller, through a loud, proud and funny as hell performance of their own songs. Meanwhile, Frozen Light presents The Bar at the Edge of Time on the 22 and 23 March, a multi-sensory spectacular for audiences with profound and multiple learning disabilities (PMLD).

A highlight of the spring season will be Leicester Comedy Festival, one of the largest comedy festivals in Europe of which Attenborough Arts Centre is a proud host venue. From the 7 – 25 February we will be hosting 23 incredible acts ranging from laugh-out-loud comedy such as Bronwyn Sweeney: Off Brand by Mick Perrin Worldwide Brand, intriguing discussions about the comedy sector from Beyond A Joke, and shows for all the family including Kids Know Best by The Lovely Boys.

With a number of performances offered on a Pay What You Can pricing scale, Attenborough Arts Centre remains committed to ensuring access to the arts for all.

An exciting range of artist-led Creative Courses and Workshop are available including Adventures in Creative Writing, 23 January – 12 March, with local poet, spoken word artist and multiple poetry slam winner Cathi Rae. Try your hand at something difference with the Silver and Copper Rings one-day workshop, 3 February, alongside professional jeweller Kate Bajic to introduce you to traditional hand working skills with metal. Get inspired by nature with Visualising Birdsong, 10 March, with renowned local artist Lucy Stevens to explore a range of mark-making techniques to produce a vibrant piece of work. Meanwhile, in the February half-term, Attenborough Arts Centre presents Creative Workshops just for families including Paint like a Pro, Macrame Feather Hangers, Printmaking, Modern Punch Needle and Cyanotypes for Beginners.

Gallery 1 continues the exhibition Arcadia for All? Rethinking Landscape Painting Now, exploring themes of nature and climate justice, from The Stanley and Audrey Burton Gallery and University of Leeds until 26 January. In Gallery 2, young people aged 16-25 from Attenborough Arts Centre’s Next Gen Creatives programme will respond to ‘Arcadia for All?’ with their own exhibition entitled Project Arcadia. This will explore multiple mediums as the group works through every stage of the exhibition including planning, production, curatorial, marketing, and creating the responses themselves.

From 23 February – 19 May, a new exhibition in Gallery 1 entitled Traces by Leicester artists Seed & Dreams will explore disabled joy through creative mark-making and the lived experiences of four contemporary artists alongside giant wheelchair prints from local children.

Meanwhile, from 8 March – 26 May, Unlocking The World will be exhibited in Gallery 2, documenting the success of Attenborough Arts Centre’s award-winning SENsory Atelier, our flagship programme funded by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, which works with disabled children and young people with special educational needs (SEND) to pioneer new ways of learning and communicating through art.The exhibition shares journeys into learning through art by and with young people attending SEND schools. This will take place alongside a national SEND Arts and Education Symposium on 8 May 2024, in which our Learning team will launch the SENsory Atelier Code of Practice, a guide to revolutionising creativity in education,

The venue will also bring back its popular Attenborough Late in celebration of International Women’s Day. The late-night takeover will feature live performances and creative activities throughout the whole centre, alongside food drink and dancing on 8 March. More information will be revealed soon.

Alongside Exhibitions, Performances and Creative Courses, Attenborough Arts Centre also runs a range of free events to engage local communities including Family Gallery Workshops each Saturday during exhibitions, free weekly Sunday Sessions in the café with creative activities from 12pm - 4pm, Soundbites Lunchtime Concerts every Tuesday and Creative Wednesdays for University of Leicester Students at the Students’ Union.

With such a range of events on offer, there is sure to be something for everyone this spring at Attenborough Arts Centre.

Visit the Attenborough Arts Centre website for more details.