Barnabas Arts House occupies a former Victorian church on New Ruperra Street in Newport, bought in 2009 by Janet Martin and converted into what the venue describes as the city's only independent arts house. The building has served as a church, a soup kitchen, a dance hall and a printworks over the past century, and the restoration kept original features while adding a fine art gallery, rentable studios and a vegetarian kitchen. Exhibitions in the gallery change regularly and cover painting, photography and mixed media, often by artists with a connection to Newport and South Wales. A small stage called the Phyllis Maud, built into part of the building, is used for live music, spoken word and small-scale theatre. Robbins Lane Studios, in the same complex, lets working space to artists and other creative businesses. The Arts House opens Tuesday to Friday and Saturday mornings, closing Sunday and Monday, and hosts private event hire alongside its public exhibition and studio programme.
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