Campaigners urge Riverside Theatre co-funder from 1970s to help save it: ‘This is not a dying theatre – it is an underfunded one'

Belfast Telegraph

5 days ago

The 350-seater Riverside Theatre was built in 1976 by the New University of Ulster, in partnership with Coleraine Borough Council, the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, a public fundraising appeal and the Gulbenkian Foundation.
Steven Millar, from the Save the Riverside Theatre group, has written to the Gulbenkian Foundation, as well as Communities Minister Gordan Lyons and Economy Minister Caoimhe Archibald, with 'urgent concern' about the imminent closure of the Riverside Theatre in Coleraine an institution which Gulbenkian Foundation helped found.
The Gulbenkian Foundation is an international organisation promoting the development of individuals and organisations through art, science, education, and charity, for a more equitable and sustainable society.
In March of this year, UU suggested that Causeway Coast and Glens Borough Council could take on a lease of the theatre, and also pay the annual running costs and the necessary repairs.
Ulster University has previously said the building would require significant capital investment to remain in use – with refurbishment works estimated to cost in the region of £745,000, on top of annual running costs of £495,000.
"In the face of unprecedented financial challenges… it is more important than ever that we focus our resources on core academic activities," a university spokesperson said.
Mr Millar said Ulster University (UU) has announced its intention to close the Riverside Theatre in Coleraine by the end of July 2025 without public consultation, without a feasibility study, without an equality impact assessment, and without any formal process to explore viable alternatives.
'This isn't just a devastating civic and cultural loss. It also violates the public and charitable commitments under which Riverside was founded and dishonors the spirit of Gulbenkian's original investment,' he said.
'This is not a dying theatre. It is an underfunded one. There are viable options: we are actively exploring a charitable trust or a lease model to allow continued operation.
'But these alternatives are being shut out before they can be tested. Ulster University has declined, so far, to pause the closure timeline or publicly engage.
'That is why we are calling on you as a founding funder and cultural leader to intervene. You co-built Riverside Theatre. Your voice now could help protect it.'
Designed by Peter Moro, Riverside remains the only flexible-format theatre of its kind on the island of Ireland. From its inception, the Riverside was never a conventional university department it was a civic and cultural asset, created for the benefit of the wider public.
Mr Millar has claimed this decision breaches legal and public duties on multiple grounds, citing that it was co-funded by charitable and public taxpayer money including the Gulbenkian Foundation.
Under UK and Northern Irish law, he said, such assets may be subject to charitable purpose restrictions, requiring that they continue to serve the public benefit for which they were created.
Chris Robinson Chair, Equity Lagan & East Branch obo Lagan & East Branch, has also written to UU's Vice Chancellor Professor Paul Bartholomew.
He said: 'This announcement by the University of Ulster comes as yet another body blow to the Arts in Northern Ireland and is further evidence of the lack of importance that local decision makers place in the arts and the community who engage with them.'
Mr Robinson also accused the local council and department for communities of 'passing the blame'.
Ulster University, DfC and Causeway Coast & Glens Council have been contacted.