This week Equity activists delivered a petition with over 3,000 signatures to Arts Council England (ACE) calling for the reopening of a popular local arts venue in Halifax.
The Save Square Chapel for the People petition has been handed into ACE in advance of a board meeting this week by the public funding body. The Square Chapel Arts centre has been closed to the public since February this year. Between May and August, the venue operators, Square Chapel CIC, entered into an arrangement for Square Chapel to be used as green rooms for the Piece Hall's Summer Concert series. That arrangement has now come to an end.
Equity - along with a local campaign group, TUC North East, Yorkshire & Humber’s Creative and Leisure Industries Committee and Calderdale Trades Union Council - has been calling for the venue to be reopened. A public meeting on the topic earlier this year was attended by more than an hundred people.
ACE currently holds a charge on the property and is being asked to make a decision about the operation of the venue. There has been a requirement that the venue must be used as an arts centre.
A number of local arts organisations have expressed an interest in taking over the running of the venue but the decision on how the venue is run is down to ACE and the local Calderdale Council.
Pete Massey, Arts Council North Director for Northern Economy and Partnerships, has also previously confirmed that Arts Council England “are committed to working with Calderdale Council and other local stakeholders to ensure that Square Chapel remains a centre for arts and culture.”
Dominic Bascombe, Equity’s North East, Yorkshire and Humber Official said:
“Nine months on from the closure of the doors at Square Chapel, ACE needs to make a decision quickly about how this venue will reopen.
No one wants this venue to remain closed; but there needs to be a clear path set out for an operator to be properly funded and supported in getting Square Chapel up and running again.
"The local community remains passionate about returning Square Chapel as a vibrant, operating arts venue in the region that embraces local, community and international professional artists as it has been in the past.”
About Square Chapel
Square Chapel was a popular arts centre with good community links and outreach prior to becoming insolvent during the Covid pandemic in 2020. Extensive building works had taken place to create a second performance space and other facilities at Square Chapel with the new centre opening in June 2017.
In September 2020, the venue was reopened when it was taken over by Wigan-based Arts at the Mill. Square Chapel CIC was subsequently established.
In early February 2025, Square Chapel CIC announced the arts centre was closing and all future events were cancelled. Months later, this valuable community asset remains closed and not serving the people of Halifax. Arts Council England (ACE) has now withdrawn its funding from Square Chapel. The Square Chapel building is currently being rented out to provide dressing rooms during the Piece Hall concert season.
As ACE has affirmed in their response to Equity, it “no longer has a funding relationship with Square Chapel CIC. We do, however, maintain an interest in the building, due to a charge relating to our previous capital award which restricts the building’s use.”
There is also a requirement by Calderdale Council that the building is used for cultural purposes.
