Phoenix Cinema andArt Centre

Leicester Arts Centre Ltd, a registered charity, operates Phoenix in the city's Cultural Quarter, running four cinema screens alongside two galleries and a café bar. The current building opened in November 2009, replacing the original Phoenix Theatre that Leicester City Council had run from Upper Brown Street since 1963. A 2020 renovation added two extra screens, a new gallery, a green roof terrace and more space for hands-on courses, funded partly through Arts Council England. Programming favours films that would not otherwise reach Leicester screens, from small-budget foreign titles to studio releases, chosen by the in-house team rather than set by a national chain. The galleries show free exhibitions from local and international artists, often tied to De Montfort University's digital art programme, and short courses teach filmmaking and art skills to all ages.