About The Citadel
The Citadel Arts Centre is based in an old Salvation Army Citadel, built in 1856.
It was resulting from a report based on arts provision in the Borough, commissioned in 1984 by Merseyside Arts and St Helens Council, that the building was bought and refurbished by The Rainford Trust. The Rainford Trust is the Pilkington glass family charity, whose aim is to provide focus for the disparate arts activities in St Helens and a response to the needs of young people. The Citadel Arts Centre opened its doors in April 1988.
The Citadel became a Company Limited by Guarantee with an independent board in 1992. It was then home to the St Helens Arts Resource Project, which had four full-time arts workers establishing community-based projects and outreach work at the venue.
By the end of 1995 The Citadel had become an annual revenue client of North West Arts Board and acquired Charitable Status. After careful appraisal of its market The Citadel began developing its own artistic programme in consultation with its funders. Seasonally mixing together a variety of performance genres covering a wide range of art forms.
A feasibility study into how improvements could be made was carried out in 1996. In February 1999 the Arts Council gave the go ahead to a £1 million refurbishment project funded by the National Lottery and EU investment.
With a new accessible building The Citadel re-opened in March 2000. These improved facilities provided the opportunity to market a broader range of activities, which included live theatre, comedy, dance and fine art in addition to the traditional music programme.
One year on 'Hands On @ The Citadel' was launched; a programme of youth and community arts work, which received additional financial support from external funding.
In 2003/04 The Citadel celebrated its fifteenth birthday by being voted by The Independent as one of the top ten Jazz and Blues venues in the UK.
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