Universal Hall

Location:  Findhorn, Moray
Details:  Venue comprises a 280-seat auditorium seats, Green Room Café, Findhorn Foundation Visitor Centre, dance studio, music room, on-site recording studio and video editing facilities.
Programme:  Music, dance, drama, community events, art exhibitions.

Director’s Statement

The Universal Hall Arts Center is the best equipped, and I believe most beautiful, facility between Inverness and Aberdeen, and is an extremely popular venue with artists and audiences alike.

During the ten years of its construction, thousands of people put their love and skills into making each area into a work of art, from the intricate patterns of the stone wall facings to the burnt-wood finished frames and rafters.

Gracefully landscaped into the Findhorn Foundation community gardens, and only a few hundred yards from the North Sea and the Moray Firth, the Universal Hall offers the facilities of a city centre for culture and the arts with the tranquility and beauty of a rural setting.

We aim to offer the opportunity for as many people as possible to experience the personal development and delight that comes from exposure to top-quality performance and educational events.  We believe that audience members will find our programme stimulating, inspiring, educational, perhaps even awesome.  We hope that the great variety of work on offer will encourage them to try something new as well as coming out for their favourite artform.

Interview with Director

As part of our profile of the Universal Hall, HI-Arts Journal caught up with venue director, Lesley Quilty.

When was the venue established ?

Lesley: The Universal Hall was designed and built almost entirely by the voluntary labour of Findhorn Foundation Community  members over the course of 10 years.  It opened in 1977.

What famous names have taken to the stage over the years?

Lesley: Mike Scott and the Waterboys, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Paul Winter Consort, Ballet Rambert, Blazin Fiddles, Traverse Theatre, TAG, 7:84 Theatre, Phil Kay.

What are your big ideas for the future of the venue?

Lesley: To up-grade our facilities and equipment, to be the home of a youth theatre, to continue attracting internationally recognized and celebrated artists, to constantly be welcoming new audience members, to be a more formal resource for networking  and information among local artists and arts-lovers.

Does the venue have a ghost?

Lesley: No, but lots of spirits…

What was your worst disaster as director?

Lesley: Three out of  the last four years the exciting African dance companies we had advertised as part of the visiting Aberdeen International Youth Festival have been denied visas at the last minute and had to cancel.

And what was your biggest triumph?

Lesley: Seeing a full-page color ad for the Waterboys new CD titled “Universal Hall” in the Glastonbury Festival 2003 programme.  The CD was recorded in our recording studio, launched with two massive sold-out concerts here at the Hall in June, and the cover features a photo of the magnificent stained glass frontage of the building.

If you could have any artist in the world for a one-off special, who would it be, and why?

Lesley: Van Morrison, because his music and the Universal Hall would just be such a perfect match…ecstatic…Or maybe the superb Scottish singer-songwriter Eddi Reader.
For 3 years my big dream has been to have Mr. McFall’s Chamber Orchestra visit – and that will soon be coming true, as they’ll be doing a 3-day residency with 2 public concerts Sept 10-12 – so dreams do come true!  Roll on Van the Man.

Why should people look forward to visiting the Universal Hall?

Lesley: Outrageously often we are told by visiting artists that their show here was “the best show of our tour!!” and they always want to know when they can return.   Audience members also find the atmosphere special and keep coming back.  Our unique 5-sided auditorium with three-quarters thrust performance area gives both artists and audience a heightened feeling of intimacy, connection and participation.  Magic can happen and frequently does.