The Arches is 15 years old and plenty of people are celebrating, but getting here has been a rollercoaster ride. Andrew Richardson digs about in the mouldy old basements of the organisation’s past
hc look on Andy Arnold‘s lacc suggcsts hc's inorc than a littlc hit goh—smackcd to hc sitting in his dappcr ol'licc. in what could only hc dcscrihcd as thc cockpit ol‘ thc Archcs. talking about how an idca sparkcd oycr l5 ycars ago has lcd to an arts. club and liyc music hchcmoth. Do“ it hclow us an cnthusiastic tcam of stall hu// ahout likc workcr hccs. laying thc l‘oundations l’or to c l'urious wccks ol‘ l'orthcoming actiy'itics. With a nod to thc y'cnuc‘s punk spirit and anarchic past. thcy'yc duhhcd thc cclchrations l‘il‘tccn Ycars. 'l‘wo l"ii1gci's. a scntimcnt which ought to rcsonatc with morc than just thc thcspians and cluhhcrs who’y'c hccn draggcd up at thc Archcs oycr thc past dccadc and a hall'. In Juno. thc Archcs ranks among thc hcst multi-purposc arts spaccs in liuropc. Within its portals you can catch mind-altcring physical
'Andy Arnold
16 THE LIST Scivf‘ 0,1 .300.“
thcatrc. syyaggcring indic hcrocs-on-thc—makc. csotcric world music Icgcnds and thc odd glon-trotting D]. ()n ccrtain nights you could quitc casin lind yourscll‘ in thrall to all ol‘ thc
ahoyc. With 65.000 squarc l'cct ol' spacc. cncompassing siy massch archcs. thrcc hars. thc studio thcatrc and thc Playroom not
l‘orgctting thc hilli-‘(lU/L‘H I'L‘hcitt‘stll spitc‘cs in thc hascmcnt kccn and skillcd cnough to pull ol’l' thc most ambitious multi-tasking.
‘It all started with a love of theatre, not commerce. No other venue has achieved or maintained credibility in the same way. Andy Arnold has a safe pair of hands, but he’s not scared to look, listen, or hand over the reins to the mad people on a regular basis.’
Ian Smith. r‘u-r/i/‘r'r'lm' of l'l'lt’l'rlll [twin/wring um Imupc illiyt'lu'rfl'lu Buy.
So. how did thcsc mouldy old Victorian railway caycrns hccomc such a \ ital huh l‘or pcrl'orming arts and cntcrtainmcnt'.’ And how has thc tiny production tcam managcd to makc so much happcn so consistcntly l‘or so long. ol‘tcn without as much as a spcck ol dust l'rom thc council‘s pursc and all on a not-l’or-prolit hitsis'.’
Rcwind l5 ycars. and thc placc lookcd land smcllcdl a hit dil'l'crcnt. (ilasgow was huoy ant al'tcr winning liuropcan ('ity ()l‘ ('ulturc in
I‘Nl): puhlic moncy had pourcd into thc city Mr
\‘ai'ious largc-scalc projccts. ()nc ol thcsc. a tcmporary cyliihition (ilasgow. ch to thc unuscd support archcs undcr (‘cntral Station hcing conycrlcd. \thn
callcd (ilasgoyy's
lhc .»\rchcs is big cnough. thc stall
cycrything was rippcd out. thc inl'rastructtu'c ol a puhhc huilding rcmaincd: toilcts. cmcrgcncy c\its. rudimcntary lighting.
;\t that timc thcrc was no small—scalc pcrl‘ormancc spacc in thc ccntrc ol (ilasgow: thcatrc happcncd undcr thc prosccnium archways ol’ thc 'l'ron. thc ('iti/cn's and thc King's. lintcr stagc lcl't .'\ndy Arnold. his ('\’ stccpcd in what hc dcscrihcs as 'community and strch art‘. running 'l‘hcatrc Workshop in lidinhurgh l'or l'iyc ycars and dirccting London's Bloomsbury 'l'hcatrc lor anothcr Illt'L‘L‘.
‘.-\t thc timc l was lighting to thoUsand quid togcthcr just to and a thcatrc Iiccnccf rcmcmhcrs Arnold today. 'I camc hack to Scotland hccausc I got l'cd up with London. I was running a big thcatrc and 1
ct a couplc ol' ct lirc alarms
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