Our Approach
Our Funding
About | History
The Arts Centre was designed by Oscar Garry and Partners and opened in 1984. It is built on land owned by the London Borough of Hounslow, who lease the venue for a peppercorn rent
The intention in its creation was to provide opportunities for all of the people living in the Borough and in West London to experience and participate in the best possible arts practice.
The original building contained a Theatre, Cinema and Gallery. The two Studios are a later addition.
The very first event in the Theatre was a concert by India's leading sitar player and Beatles guru Ravi Shankar. Since then Watermans has actively promoted British Asian Arts and the venue has built a national reputation for this. Several household names first stepped the boards here.
Since it opened a great variety of artists have performed or shown their work. In the '80's Robert Rankin was writer in residence for a while. Other notable names who have appeared include Peter Greenaway, Elvis Costello, Mica Paris, Silvia Ziranek, Melvin Bragg, Shabana Azmi and Jo Brand
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