A new home for Bath Festivals

Bath Festivals has a new home in Bath’s largest entertainment venue, The Forum.

The Bath Festivals team of 11, which runs The Bath Festival, Bath Children’s Literature Festival and year-round Creative Learning projects, has moved out of its headquarters in Bath Street into The Forum in the heart of Bath city centre.

The Grade II listed building, which is owned and run by Life Church Bath and Bath Forum, makes a fantastic arts hub for the wider community to enjoy. Bath Festival audiences have enjoyed concerts and events in The Forum’s magnificent auditorium over seven decades, including appearances by international artists including Yehudi Menuhin, John Dankworth and Cleo Laine and Sheku Kanneh-Mason, who played in Bath just a week after he had played at the Royal Wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Other big names who have graced The Forum for festival events include JK Rowling, Hilary Mantel, Ted Hughes, Julia Donaldson and Michael Morpurgo. Bath Festivals’ move into The Forum will build on its relationship with the venue and allow it to programme more events for future festivals.

The Forum’s Art Deco auditorium seats up to 1,640 people and the building also has a ballroom and a ground floor cafe, both of which can be used for smaller events. Bath Festivals is a not-for-profit arts charity committed to providing entertainment, education and arts events to the wider community. Life Church Bath took over the former cinema building in 1989 and its sister company, Bath Forum Ltd runs the centre as a live arts venue. Bath Festivals and Bath Forum Ltd will operate independently alongside each other but will also collaborate on welcoming audiences to a wide range of cultural events and activities.

Bryn Williams, The Forum venue manager, welcoming Bath Festivals to its new home, said: “ We are delighted to give our friends Bath Festivals a long term home here at Bath Forum in the hope that this gives them the stable base needed for ongoing and even greater success in the future. We are excited for the

many new projects, creative adventures and collaborations that we think will come from two of the most culturally focused teams in Bath working alongside each other.”

Ian Stockley, chief executive of Bath Festivals, said: “Our move into The Forum is a hugely exciting next step as we grow the value of the arts in the community, increasing accessibility for all. We are excited about partnering with The Forum to create a visible cultural hub for the city and surrounding area with a dynamic that promotes the positive impact that the arts can have on people’s lives.”