Blackfriars Arts Centre is a theatre and community centre located in Boston

Boston, Lincolnshire

Boston is a town and small port in Lincolnshire, on the east coast of England. It is the largest town of the wider Borough of Boston local government district and had a total population of 55,750 at the 2001 census...

, Lincolnshire

Lincolnshire

Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 built on the site of a mediaeval friary. The Blackfriars friary was formed some time during the 13th Century. The first written record is from 1288 when it was noted that the friary had been rebuilt after being destroyed by fire. In 1300 the friary housed a total of 29 friars. Blackfriars was closed during the reign of King Henry VIII

Henry VIII of England

Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...

 after he separated from the Catholic

Catholic

The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...

 church. The surviving building, which is believed to be the dining room, was converted into a theatre in 1965. Blackfriars is said to be haunted by a friar, who hides sharp objects left by theatregoers under the stage.

In its heyday the arts centre proved a popular place for art classes including night classes in still life, life drawing, screen printing, photography needlework and photography. Including various residences and numerous outreach workers through the 1980s and 90s.

Other groups which used the arts centre included, Boston Playgoers, Wyberton Theatrical Society, Boston Operatic, Strolling Players, BYTe (Boston Youth Theatre later adopted by Blackfriars to the evolve into their own BYTe), Boston Jazz Club, Boston Folk Club, Saturday dance classes, Boston Children's Theatre. Many of whom have found other locations within the town for rehearsals and meetings but still use the Arts Centre occasionally for performances and to host events.

In more recent times the Arts Centre has seemed to rely more on receiving tribute bands and the occasional piece of community led arts/theatre.

Nowadays, the building hosts very occasional exhibitions, performances, workshops, classes and activities. There are popular wall hung art exhibitions by such artists as the British contemporary artist Craig Kerrecoe, talks by well-known public figures such as Ann Widdecombe

Ann Widdecombe

Ann Noreen Widdecombe is a former British Conservative Party politician and has been a novelist since 2000. She is a Privy Councillor and was the Member of Parliament for Maidstone from 1987 to 1997 and for Maidstone and The Weald from 1997 to 2010. She was a social conservative and a member of...

 and a children's theatre festival to keep the kids busy over the holidays.

The centre was also the birthplace of Stump Radio on 87.7fm during July/August 2006 and 2007 with help from nearby Spalding's Tulip Radio

Tulip Radio

Tulip Radio is the local community radio station covering the area of Spalding, Lincolnshire in England. The name is linked to Spalding's heavy involvement with the horticulture industry, and Tulips are one flower the town is famous for...

. The station serves Boston with local presenters, news and community events and has now moved on to new management as Endeavour FM and Endeavour Online

The official web-site of the contemporary British artist Craig Kerrecoe