![\"Bosses](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/0_JS108697924-1.jpg\")
Bosses say The Lowry is a ‘proper part of the city, thoroughly embedded.’<\/p>\nMillions have visited The Lowry since it first opened its doors. Declan Carey reflects on the first quarter century and speaks to those involved about what comes nextBosses say The Lowry is a ‘proper part of the city, thoroughly embedded.’<\/p>\n
It brings people to Salford from all over the world.<\/p>\n
The Lowry – the city\u2019s iconic arts and theatre venue – is celebrating its 25th birthday.<\/p>\n
It first opened its doors on April 28, 2000 and has drawn more than 20m visitors since then, putting on nearly 1,000 performances each year.<\/p>\n
Named after one of Britain\u2019s most celebrated painters, it holds the world\u2019s biggest public collection of LS Lowry\u2019s work.<\/p>\n
And the building, dubbed \u2018Salford<\/a>\u2019s Guggenheim\u2019, has been at the heart of the city\u2019s massive transformation in the Quays and MediaCity, which has made the area an international destination.<\/p>\n \u201cThe venue of course celebrates one of Salford\u2019s most famous sons, but it also celebrates the city\u2019s and our resident’s, families’ and communities’ shared love for culture and the arts,\u201d Salford city mayor Paul Dennett said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a place that wouldn\u2019t have existed without Mr. Laurence Stephen Lowry, but equally, as an artist he couldn\u2019t have created his art without the city, industrial and working-class life as his subject.<\/p>\n \u201cThe artist and the city are and forever will be, so intrinsically linked, and the venue in return couldn\u2019t exist without either the city or the artist.\u201d<\/p>\n That view was shared by residents and visitors, who said how much the venue means to Salford.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s so important to have places like the Lowry,\u201d said 30-year-old Chad Blakelock, a New Zealander living in Salford Quays<\/a> who said Greater Manchester has a growing reputation as the \u201cLondon of the north.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been to see some of the art work there, it\u2019s a really cool place. MediaCity is very interesting and there\u2019s a lot to do around the area.\u201d<\/p>\n Val Farrar, a retiree visiting the theatre who grew up nearby, added: \u201cI didn\u2019t even recognise it after how the area has changed, the scale of it has been unbelievable.\u201d<\/p>\n She thinks one of the reasons the Lowry has become such a popular venue is how easy it is to get to Salford Quays, an area which is \u201caccessible to a lot of people.\u201d<\/p>\n Salford\u2019s mayor said the seeds of what would become Salford Quays and the Lowry were planted long ago.<\/p>\n In some ways it is hard to imagine that the area was once a place of grafting dock workers, but its heritage has been captured and preserved through information points around the area documenting its past.<\/p>\n “It was a vision that was started under the leadership of councillor Les Hough, encouraged by councillor Ben Wallsworth who had the foresight to see the derelict docks as a regeneration and tourist destination, which led to securing public ownership of the docklands,” the Salford city mayor added.<\/p>\n \u201cThe vision for Salford Quays continued under councillor Bill Hinds realising the cultural potential of Salford Quays in 1992, establishing the Lowry project team in 1994, and opening The Lowry Theatre & Art Gallery with the Labour<\/a> government\u2019s support in 2000 as a millennium project.<\/p>\n \u201cSalford Quays regeneration credentials were further boosted under councillor John Merry who oversaw the arrival of the BBC<\/a> and MediaCityUK.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat came next was a hugely important economic renaissance of Salford\u2019s derelict docklands, arguably one of the most successful economic development and regeneration initiatives of its time in Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n One person who is well aware of the changes that have taken place around Salford Quays and the Lowry is the venue\u2019s chief executive, Julia Fawcett OBE.<\/p>\n She grew up on the edge of the Quays in the 1970s, and said she could have never imagined the area would turn into what it is today.<\/p>\n A fence separates what was the street where she once lived, and the boundary with the Quays.<\/p>\n Julia studied at Salford Tech alongside actor Christopher Eccleston, but later left the city to go to Bristol University before a career where she worked at Granada and then became chief executive of one of Scotland\u2019s largest visitor attractions.<\/p>\n She took on the job of leading the Lowry in 2002, and has witnessed the incredible changes happening all around Salford Quays in that time. As she puts it: \u201cWe\u2019re a proper part of the city, thoroughly embedded.\u201d<\/p>\n For Julia, a large part of the Lowry\u2019s existence and future is to make sure that kids in Salford have a world-class arts and performance venue right on the doorstep – and all the benefits that brings to the city.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d like to think that it means a young kid growing up in Salford can come and take part in things here and see that the arts is a place for them, whether that\u2019s because they have an interest or talent for it, or just for the joy of it\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cYoung people don\u2019t have to go away from Salford for a career in the arts. The Lowry and Media City is a really great pathway for those young people that means we can hold on to creative talent in the city, in a way that we couldn\u2019t previously.\u201d<\/p>\n Salford’s problems are well-documented – the council says the city is still one of the most deprived local authority areas in England, and it uses large chunks of its budget trying to support some of the most vulnerable families.<\/p>\n It is in that context that Julia speaks with pride about how the Lowry is a Salford venue on the national touring circuit, bringing the best of the country\u2019s live theatre to the city.<\/p>\n In May and June, the Lowry will host performances of ‘Dear England’, the National Theatre\u2019s Olivier Award-winning show, as part of its 25th anniversary programme.<\/p>\n \u201cSome in Greater Manchester would find it difficult to fund a weekend down to London to see Dear England, so isn’t it amazing that it\u2019s transferring off their stages up here for a four week run. From that point of view we play a really crucial role.\u201d<\/p>\n ‘We\u2019re still standing at 25 years, that feels like something of a miracle’<\/strong><\/p>\n But much like the city of Salford itself, the Lowry\u2019s story has not always been straightforward, Julia says, claiming the last five years have been particularly hard.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re still standing at 25 years, that feels like something of a miracle given everything that the last five years has thrown in our direction,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n When Covid hit, arts venues across the country were forced to close their doors, a situation which left many fighting for their very survival, including the Lowry.<\/p>\n The venue found itself in \u201climbo\u201d, not knowing if it would ever recover. It managed to survive by turning the building into a ‘Nightingale Court’ for a year<\/a> to help clear the backlog of cases, a move which meant it was able to keep all of its staff, Julia explained.<\/p>\n Another challenge came two years ago when one of LS Lowry\u2019s most famous paintings, \u2018Going to the Match\u2019, was removed from its wall and put up for auction.<\/p>\n It was owned by the Professional Footballers\u2019 Association (PFA) and on display at the Lowry on loan for decades before the PFA decided to sell it.<\/p>\n The Lowry as a venue was still struggling from the aftermath of the pandemic, and as Julia says, its finances at the time had \u201cnever been ropier.\u201d<\/p>\n But there was a huge desire to keep the painting in Salford at the Lowry.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople come from all over the country to see it. Football fans come from all over, the buses pull up here, people look for that painting, and then go to enjoy a match at Old Trafford<\/a>,\u201d Julia said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019d had it on a long loan from our opening, it was on our walls for 20 years. It was never ours but it was the heart of the collection.<\/p>\n \u201cThe PFA for their own reasons decided to sell it, it all happened so quickly. It was off the walls almost immediately, the auction house took it away to promote ahead of a sale. We were utterly devastated.\u201d<\/p>\n But in the face of a huge test, the city of Salford and the Lowry came together, and bought the iconic 1953 work for more than \u00a36m<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were so keen to save that painting for the people of the north because we knew what it meant, and we weren\u2019t in a position to buy it post-pandemic.<\/p>\n \u201cWe ran a campaign and that\u2019s an example of where we worked with city mayor Paul Dennett<\/a> to drum up support for us to be able to buy the painting.<\/p>\n \u201cThe MEN and press of all political persuasions got involved, and then we found a funder.<\/p>\n \u201cWe went to auction in October and secured that painting forever. So, you think what the Lowry does for the city as well as our community work, we bought that painting for the city of Salford, it\u2019s on public display forever.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s a city and an arts organisation understanding how important the history of a place is, as well as the future of a place, and coming together in really difficult circumstances.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s probably the thing that gave us a confidence boost as we were coming out of the pandemic, because actually art does matter, the public really cared about what was going to happen to that painting, and the press were all saying this needs to happen, the city was behind it, and Paul Dennett particularly.<\/p>\n \u201cIt happened because people recognised that art does matter, and the art from places like this matters.\u201d<\/p>\n What lies ahead for the future of the Lowry?<\/p>\n First, there’s a whole programme of events planned to celebrate the venue\u2019s milestone 25th birthday.<\/p>\n Opening on May 3, visitors can enjoy Lowry 360, which the venue says is the UK’s first free permanent immersive experience based on the sights and sounds of LS Lowry\u2019s iconic work<\/a>, ‘Going to the Match’, alongside a number of other events taking place<\/a> as part of the celebrations.<\/p>\n The Lowry is also looking towards commissioning more work, to find the up and coming artists of the future.<\/p>\n Julia says the venue is really still in recovery mode from the pandemic, but the focus on the future is, as ever, getting more people interacting with art and creativity in Salford.<\/p>\n She said: \u201cWe\u2019re enjoying doing more commissioning work, and I\u2019d like to see us working with more artists to create more work and invest in more work early.<\/p>\n \u201cWe worked with a young company for about ten years who were straight out of university and became part of our ‘Developed With’ artists programme, having worked here for ten or 15 years on a number of different productions, they\u2019ve gone on to have this huge West-End success with ‘Operation Mincemeat’, and next month they\u2019re opening ‘Operation Mincemeat’ in New York on Broadway.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019d like to do more of that kind of work, identify the up and coming artists of today and work with them for ten or 15 years.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Some](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/0_JS367436016.jpg\")
Some have called the iconic building ‘Salford\u2019s Guggenheim’.<\/p>\n![\"Chief](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/0_JS367428146.jpg\")
Chief executive of The Lowry, Julia Fawcett OBE.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/0_JS364707793.jpg\")
A picture of the Lowry taken in April 2000.<\/p>\n![\"Julia](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/0_JS284445301.jpg\")
Julia Fawcett, chief executive of The Lowry, with Paul Dennett, Mayor of Salford, and L. S. Lowry’s ‘Going to the Match’ painting.<\/p>\n![\"After](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/0_JS367436022-1.jpg\")
After a turbulent few years, bosses at the Lowry are looking forward with positivity.<\/p>\n![\"There](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/0_JS365431393.jpg\")
There are big plans for the future of the Lowry.<\/p>\n