University venue, open to the public, for films, visiting speakers, concerts and family shows.
Gulbenkian is the University of Kent’s Arts Centre offering innovative, engaging and high quality arts activity for the public, staff and students. It provides a key role in delivering the University commitment to public engagement and has a particular focus on the creative empowerment of children and young people.
Gulbenkian houses a 340 seat theatre, 300 seat cinema and a café which incorporates an informal cabaret style space for live music, comedy and slam poetry. We programme over 1,000 events including music, comedy, theatre, dance and film per year, enjoyed by more than 100,000 people. The arts centre attracts a range of conferences and events to Kent such as BBC Question Time.
Our work with young people includes the Gulbenkian Youth Theatre with over 100 members aged 5-18 years and Gulbenkian Youth Dance Company, run in partnership with Jasmin Vardimon Company. We are also home to ART31, a cultural leadership project, led by young people, TECH31 , SCREEN31 and TECH(Y)31 plus Kent’s international family festival – bOing!
A range of companies and artists are based with us including Artswork (South East Bridge), Confidance, Animate Arts Company and the Three Half Pints.
In April 2015 we became an Arts Council of England National Portfolio Organisation in recognition of our developing role as a pioneer in the creative empowerment and engagement of children and young people.
The University of Kent as the “UK’s European University”, provides invaluable access to Europe through our campuses in Paris, Brussels, Rome and Athens. Our international outlook and the expertise of international colleagues helps to inform our work and develop best practices through initiatives like ART31 and the bOing! International Family Festival.
Accessibility
Theatre: up to 4 wheelchair spaces available- advance booking essential.
Cinema: up to 4 wheelchair spaces available – advance booking essential.
Colyer-Fergusson Hall: 3 wheelchair spaces available – advance booking essential.
Dedicated parking spaces in Central Car Park.
Level access to the foyer and cafe through automatic doors. Level access to cinema, theatre and Colyer-Fergusson Hall.
Disabled accessible toilet in Gulbenkian and Colyer-Fergusson.
Assistance dogs welcome.
Infra-Red Audio system for the hearing impaired. Allows patrons to independently control the level of volume required, from any seat in the theatre. Two types of headsets are available; one for people who do not use hearing aids and one for use in conjunction with a hearing aid, by switching it to the ‘T’ position. Headsets available from the Front of House team, please ask at Tickets & Information for more information. A refundable deposit is required.
Handrails on the stairs in the cinema and Colyer-Fergusson Hall.
Lift available to first floor for Cinema and Colyer-Fergusson Hall. Please be aware that we can only accommodate wheelchair uses on the ground floor of the cinema.
Captioned Subtitles: Gulbenkian is committed to offering Captioned Subtitles on a Tuesday evening screening where available. If Tuesday or Captioned subtitles are unavailable we will endeavour to screen another film that week with subtitles.
Audio Description: Gulbenkian is committed to offering Audio Desciption on a range of cinema screenings where available. There are specific seats where Audio Description is available in our cinema. Please see Cinema Audio Description seating plan for more information.
Relaxed performances: Gulbenkian offers relaxed performances for some events. Relaxed Performances are specifically designed to welcome people who will benefit from a more relaxed performance environment, including guests on the Autistic Spectrum, sensory and communication disorders, or a learning disability or parents who want to attend our performances with young children. There is a relaxed attitude to noise and movement in the auditorium and we make some small changes to the light and sound effects.
For seating arrangements please see Gulbenkian’s seating plans, or contact a member of our Ticket & Information Team on 01227 769075. Please keep in mind that for some events there are bespoke seating arrangements that will vary from the seating plan.
