The Athanaeum building in Plymouth city centre contains a 340-seat disused theatre space, and other rooms. We would like to collaborate with The Athanaeum Society and other groups to bring the building back into full use. To do this we seek social investment, but before we commit to investment, we are looking to test the financial viability of the building by creating community performance events, supported by The Barbican Theatre, in order to ascertain whether the Athenaeum could become financially sustainable, given the right support and developing new models of working.

 

The Athanaeum also has a disused lounge bar, with 100 seat capacity. This could be used as a grassroots performance venue, which also addresses the challenge within Plymouth of the lack of live music and performance venues. The lounge bar has a small kitchen, which could turn it into a world food café/restaurant/bar – we would like to test out this concept using local caterers from diverse backgrounds. There is only one room in The Athanaeum that’s currently being used regularly – a lecture hall with 70 seat capacity, which could be used for more community events, given the right refurbishment.

 

There are other rooms in the building that could be shared by different community groups for their activities. The building could also be a permanent home for many groups to share office space together. We want the different groups that use the building to come under a shared governance, where everyone has a say in how things are run, and a share of the building.

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Getting the Athanaeum back up and running would bring a wider cultural offering to Plymouth, especially for touring theatre, talks, lectures, live music, comedy and other performances, which could boost Plymouth’s economy and the overall well-being of people who use the space.

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We want The Athanaeum to be a place for well-being, including things like environmental groups, knitting groups, a place where people feel like a home-from-home, a place for everyone from all backgrounds to feel welcome, tackling issues of social isolation, mental health and loneliness, providing a space to meet and make friends.