Vision & Artistic Policy
The Montgomery is a family friendly and community theatre and arts centre in the heart of Sheffield City Centre with an engaging programme for families, community productions, touring live events, workshops and activities, exhibitions and festivals. In addition to the 415-seat auditorium, The Montgomery offers rehearsal and event hire spaces in the Gallery, the Old Library and the Studio.
Complete with a new and exciting strand of work Monty Makers, which offers free and affordable arts activities and performances to families, The Montgomery is a welcoming and exciting arts venue.
Our namesake is James Montgomery, who was a social reformer, journalist and poet who campaigned for child labour laws and the abolition of slavery. His mission was to provide access to education for working class children with the intention of keeping them out of the child labour market as chimney sweeps.
We are proud of our heritage and the journey The Montgomery started over 200 years ago. We are also proud that we remain committed to families, children and young people within our community today as we build on our history and work towards our common goal of providing access to a funded programme of creative and cultural education for those on low-incomes and as we work towards becoming an Arts Centre of Sanctuary.
Our Mission
We aspire to be a leading arts centre for children, families and community groups in Yorkshire, an innovative and inclusive place of cultural learning, an Arts Centre of Sanctuary that offers a diverse creative experience of the highest quality for our audiences.
Our Artistic Policy
We believe that the arts can open hearts and minds. It provides a space in which we can see, listen, engage and understand and find out more about ourselves, our world and enrich our lives. We believe that no young person should be denied access to a creative and cultural education no matter what barriers they might face. It is our job to remove those barriers and create an offer that is open and accessible to all. We believe that our relationship with our audiences and participants can start at the youngest of ages and should be the beginning of a relationship for life.
The beating heart of local creativity – art in all its glorious forms – begins with the people and communities of our fantastic city of Sheffield.
The Montgomery is so much more than a historic building. From our very beginning our driving force has been promoting the creative development of children, families and the wider Sheffield community. As a centre for the arts in Sheffield, our aim is to enable people from our diverse local community to discover, develop and share their creativity.
We have a specific focus on programming outstanding professional theatre productions for young audiences between the ages of 0 and 18 to share with their families. Working with selected partners, we offer creative workshops, classes and experiences for children to explore the world of theatre and encourage their own creativity.
If you are interested in submitting a show to be part of our ‘Monty Presents’ strand then please email a full show pack to info@themontgomery.org.uk
If you are interested in hiring a space in our building please visit our Venue Hire page.
Our vision
Our vision is the creation of an inclusive welcoming cultural destination that builds on our heritage to be a building that welcomes families and community groups to our building.
We want to inspire in every child and young person a love of the arts that they share with others for the rest of their lives.
We aim to be open all day through to evening, offering a variety of different activities; a busy building hosting performances, delivering workshops; venue hire events and presenting an exciting programme of work for children and families.