A landmark art deco cinema "left to ruin" in the heart of Edinburgh's Leith is to be reborn as a cultural venue next year.
The State Cinema, opened in 1938 and home for a number of different uses since, is to be part of the Hidden Door festival in May and June.
The festival is also to return to the Leith Theatre, which is in the process of raising funds for a major redevelopment.
This year's cultural festival drew 13,000 visitors to Leith Theatre.
Irvine Welsh is one of the patrons of the theatre's drive to raise funds, between £8m and £10m is needed, to become a full time venue again.
David Martin, Creative Director of Hidden Door, said: "This year’s festival left the public - not to mention the Hidden Door team and contributors - wanting more.
"Leith Theatre has enormous potential to be the venue the city is crying out for, and we can’t wait to continue the journey with the Trust and everyone involved in bringing it back to life permanently.”
Jack Hunter, the Chair of Leith Theatre Trust added: "Next year marks a developing partnership approach between us and we will be working together to gain funding so that we can regenerate the amazing art deco building that is Leith Theatre.
"Hidden Door really helped put us on the map for a lot of people in 2017."
The use of the State Cinema is currently the subject of "early discussions".
It is now owned by Edinburgh property developers Glencairn Properties, who intend to redevelop the building.
However Hidden Door wish to use the building, on Great Junction Street, as a temporary venue.
Hazel Johnson, site team leader, said: “There’s a lot to do there, but Hidden Door has always been up for the challenge and this felt like the perfect addition to our plans for the theatre just around the corner.
"The developers have been very open to the possibility of using the cinema, and it’s a great match for our skills in bringing spaces back to life.
"Now, more than ever, we’re going to need the people of Edinburgh and Leith to get on board and support us to make something
incredible happen in Leith next May”.
Daryl Teague, director of Glencairn Properties, said: “The cinema building, originally designed by architect Sir James Miller, first opened in December 1938 as part of a multi-use leisure development.
"It’s fitting that this incredible building, that’s sadly been left to ruin over recent years, will provide a backdrop for the arts in Edinburgh. "We’re delighted to help play our part in supporting the Hidden Door festival and look forward to seeing the space transformed once again."
Hidden Door is currently inviting proposals for visual art, theatre, spoken work , dance and
film to be part in the 2018 festival.
The festival has steadily grown since 2014, when it cleared out the abandoned Market Street vaults to run a 9-day arts festival.
In 2015 the festival moved to a courtyard behind Kings’ Stables Road, and returned to the same site in 2016, attracting over 12,000 visitors.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel