"The Acorn, Penzance’s theatre, is dedicated to the performing arts – theatre, comedy, music and dance. As both a touring venue and a performance space for local artists, it is a vibrant, creative and life-enhancing centre for all of West Cornwall. Background
The Acorn has been a place for creativity in the performing arts since 1969, when it was set up in a converted Wesleyan Chapel in Parade Street, in the centre of Penzance. Over the years its two auditoria have hosted a huge variety of acts, groups and projects, including theatre, dance, music, youth, community engagement, comedy, children’s theatre, films and choirs.
Since its inception The Acorn has had the status of a charity, The Acorn Trust. In recent years it has been run as a professionally staffed theatre and arts centre with an arts development remit. However, in May 2010 the Trustees, acting on advice from the staff and stakeholders, agreed that this model was not viable without a significant increase in funding. In the absence of an assurance that this increase would be forthcoming, in August 2010 the theatre closed and the staff were made redundant.
However, since March 2011 a reconstituted Board of Trustees, with financial support from Arts Council England and Cornwall Council, has set about bringing The Acorn back to life. We have been working on developing a clear artistic and operational vision for The Acorn, and details of this is contained in a Business Plan that was submitted in November 2011."
