John Updike once said "What art offers is space - a certain breathing space." This also applies to what arts centres should offer. Space for the arts to flourish in the community. Space for them to grow. Since the Riverbank Arts Centre first opened some years back one can safely assume that it’s purpose was to do this. I was there on the day the Riverbank first flung it’s doors open to an enthusiastic and eager public bursting with curiosity. How times have changed. Far from the pulsing crowd who filled the centre at the beginning, the Riverbank is now, at times, a bleak and desolate place. The Riverbank, for all intensive purposes, has lost it’s va-va-voom. And I should know.

 

From the outset, I’ve been involved in all manner of art forms down at the Riverbank. On that exciting opening day I was telling you about I was there handing out leaflets for the Riverbank Film Club which I had been asked to run alongside Paddy Melia. Since then I’ve been involved in various theatre productions, musicals, films, music, and literature all happening in the Riverbank. Through it all and despite actors throwing diva fits every now and then, the Riverbank was a fun place to be which is something I’m not so sure of now. It’s hard to pin-point where it all went wrong. This has always been the problem with the centre. Whose to blame? Management? The Riverbank Board? The County Council? No one knows. In fact it’s hard to know when so many of these people are faceless albeit excusing management. The sense of confusion of who to turn to or what to do is felt right throughout the local arts scene. I know because they’ve told me so.

 

One high-profile person involved in local theatre declared to me that their should be a "public enquiry" into the Riverbank. They continued to point out that a lot of the problems stem from it’s original design. "It’s an entirely unsuitable theatre. The stage was never designed as a proper stage. It has no proper seating. It’s the only theatre in creation not to have a backstage. It’s insane." Another high-profile person dedicated to local arts commented that "the Riverbank Arts Centre supports what they consider art no matter how much of it excludes the majority of all the community who all have a share in their arts centre." PBS student Mark Phillips who has taken the initiative to organise gigs for local bands around Newbridge said "the Riverbank doesn’t cater for the most popular art forms enough, rather it concentrates on less popular art forms."

 

The slightly different angle from which all these comments come from shows the quaint chaos the Riverbank would appear to be experiencing. Amongst the local arts scene people are at unrest, particularly young people who have always been admirable in their attempts to shape things for the better. Please don’t get me wrong though in my painting of a picture that was already gloomy. I have always seen potential in the Riverbank as a centre and a building and have tried to reflect that with the projects I become involved with down there. I merely wish to draw you’re attention to what the dogs on the street have been whispering about. I suppose calling for a revolution might be a little melodramatic but anyone could see that something’s needed. The very soul of the Riverbank has vanished. We deserve answers.