In 2019 we’ve presented more than 35 shows here at ARC. That doesn’t include any of our music or comedy gigs, any of the films we present in our cinema (there are about 300 of them!), or any of our wonderful community events.
These shows have included Stockton’s own Umar Butt and Scott Turnbull with theatre performances, international dance company Gracefool Collective, and artist Chris Green – who transformed a whole floor of the Hampton by Hilton hotel into a care home.
All of our shows are Pay What You Decide. You don’t pay anything in advance, and after the show you choose how much you’d like to pay. It might be £10, it might be 10p, but it’s up to you have a think about what you’ve seen, what you think it’s worth to you, and and then you can decide how much to pay.
The shows that we present are all very different from each other, and they tell stories from all over the world, about lots of different subjects, in a huge variety of ways.
But the things they do all have in common – they’re all new stories (you won’t find any Dickens or Shakespeare here…!) they’re all about what’s going on in our community, and they have all been brought here, made here, for you.
It sounds silly, maybe even naïve, to say “stories can change the world”. But it’s something we here at ARC firmly believe in. Sharing stories allows us to hear about the issues, the successes, the injustices and the joys felt by our family members, our friends and our neighbours. They help us to understand a little of what others might be feeling.
As we go into 2020, after a 2019 seemingly filled with division and political strife, finding a way to understand each other a little better seems like a good idea to me…
So make coming to ARC to see some shows a new year’s resolution – come and be entertained by stories about private detectives investigating mysterious goings on in Teesside 2049, about real people from Stockton trying to express how it feels to be the age they are, and follow the goings on of shadowy government agency The Department of Distractions, who are attempting to keep everyone’s focus away from the Government…
Daniel Mitchelson, ARC Producer
(Image: Third Angel’s The Department of Distractions by Von Fox Promotions)