Belfast City Council opened a new performance space called The Black Box on 27 April in Belfast’s new Cathedral Quarter.

The simple, unadorned theatre space will host performances until the opening of the new £9.2m city centre arts centre in 2010.

The Black Box provides a space for evening shows, as well as a much needed development and rehearsal space for new theatre work and other art forms by day. It accommodates 275 people in cabaret-style seats.

The council’s Celebrate Belfast programme invested £225,000 to support the initial fit-out of the venue and the cost of the rental for the first year. The Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure provided a contribution of £50,000.

The performance space will be developed by the Black Box Trust, which is comprised of representatives of both the arts community and the private sector.

The Black Box theatre space will address a major gap in arts provision for younger and less mainstream audiences and will promote and enhance the Cathedral Quarter as a cultural centre, which already features more than 50 cultural organisations.

Comedian John Shuttleworth will host the opening show to mark the start of the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival – between 27 April and 7 May – which is now in its seventh year. Details: www.cqaf.com