Address | Belvedere Road London, SE1 United Kingdom |
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Coordinates | 51°30′20.56″N 00°07′0.34″W / 51.5057111°N 0.1167611°W |
Public transit |
Waterloo Waterloo |
Operator | Jude Kelly (artistic director) |
Type | Artistic venues: Royal Festival Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room and Hayward Gallery |
Opened | 1 May 1951 |
Website | |
www |
Southbank Centre is a complex of artistic venues in London, England, on the South Bank of the River Thames (between Hungerford Bridge and Waterloo Bridge).
It comprises three main performance venues (the Royal Festival Hall including the Saison Poetry Library, the Queen Elizabeth Hall and the Purcell Room), together with the Hayward Gallery, and is Europe’s largest centre for the arts. It attracts more than six million visitors annually. Over two thousand paid performances of music, dance and literature are staged at Southbank Centre each year, as well as over two thousand free events and an education programme, in and around the performing arts venues. In addition, three to six major art exhibitions are presented at Hayward Gallery yearly, and National Touring Exhibitions reach over 100 venues across the UK.
Southbank Centre's site, which formerly extended to 21 acres (85,000 m²) from County Hall to Waterloo Bridge, is fronted by The Queen’s Walk. In 2012 management of Jubilee Gardens transferred to the Jubilee Gardens Trust and the car park on the remaining land beyond Hungerford Bridge was sold in 2013, to extend the gardens as part of the Shell Centre redevelopment. The site is located next to the National Theatre and BFI Southbank, but does not include them.
Susan Gilchrist became chairman of the Board of Governors of the Southbank Centre in 2016, having first joined the Board in 2008. In April 2009 Alan Bishop, former chairman of Saatchi and Saachi International and Chief Executive of the Central Office of Information, took over the role of Chief Executive. September 2005 saw the arrival of Jude Kelly as Southbank Centre's Artistic Director.