When you arrive at BAC, one of the first things that strikes you is the impressive stone staircase that leads up to the first floor. Most modern fringe theatres wouldn’t have the money to invest in such an ornate entrance hall, so it got me wondering about the history of the building.

What is now the BAC ( Battersea Arts Centre) was built as Battersea Town Hall, and the grand public areas were lined with modest offices for the administration of a fast growing London borough. Opened in 1893, it was designed by E.W.Mountford, whose other famous London building is the Old Bailey (not quite as fun a place to visit!).

 The Grand Hall was designed for “recreative entertainments of a high class for the people”.  It hosted early silent pictures, astronomy lectures with lantern projections and organ recitals.

The entrance foyer has a mosaic floor decorated with bees, which are said to represent the democracy and industry of the hive, the double B’s of Battersea Borough and possibly the early history of the area as fields of lavender. There’s no trace of any lavender left on Lavender Hill now, but we will be increasing the number of insects in the building during the Festival ( just to warn you). 

Always a radical, Battersea Town Hall witnessed meetings lead by the leading suffragettes, the Pankhurst sisters, and in 1913 the people elected the first black mayor in London. It’s no surprise then that the building continues to be so ground breaking today!

In 1965 Battersea Borough was absorbed into Wandsworth and the building was threatened with demolition. Fortunately a local campaign saved the building, and it became a Grade II* listed community arts centre.  In 1980 Jude Kelly became the first Artistic Director.  The building is still on a journey from Town Hall to 21st Century home for creativity. BAC’s environment continues to evolve, with each new artist who walks into the building and sees potential in the spaces and stories that they hold. 

In 2004, David Jubb took over the reigns as Artistic Director and so far, during his tenure has seen exciting changes at BAC, both in its programming and in the development of the building. BAC pioneered the “Scratch” methodology as part of its “ladder of development” for new work, where performances are shown at various stages of development to an outside audience, whose input and criticism guides the further evolution of the work.

David is one of subsidised theatre’s most respected producers and is a pioneer of ‘creative producing’ in the industry. Creative producing underlines BAC’s artistic philosophy and, as such, has been the basis of creating one of theatre’s most ground-breaking artistic programmes.

Perhaps BAC’s most famous, and successful, recent production was Punchdrunk’s Masque of the Red Death, which took over the entire building for several months, and was a big part of the redevelopment of the building architecturally. Working with renowned architects Haworth Tompkins, the building is gradually being refurbished in response to the artists who work there and also to the artists who will soon be in permanent residence there!

In 2008 David Micklem became Joint Artistic Director with David Jubb, allowing for the building to grow and grow with it’s success. The BAC’s motto, “Not for me, not for you, but for us”, has been carried over from the days of the Town Hall and it’s certainly true. With an incredibly diverse programme (and I’m not just talking about the Accidental Festival!), this is one arts venue you really must visit! So get on the website, and check out what’s on!

John East wrote this intriguing review into the history of the BAC.