South Mill Arts: Difference between revisions

Arts complex and museum in Bishop’s Stortford, England

South Mill Arts is a venue for theatre, contemporary arts and culture, and conferences in Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire, England. An adjacent 19th-century building, today Bishop’s Stortford Museum, was the birthplace of Cecil Rhodes and is a centre for local history.

The complex was refurbished in 2005.^[1] It has a 300-seat theatre, a multi-purpose studio space, museum, an exhibition gallery for art and photography, and a café bar. It provides a programme of arts events and hosts professional touring productions, dance groups, musicians and comedians. Films are also shown in its tiered auditorium.

Previously called the Rhodes Arts Complex, on 24 August 2020 the arts complex was renamed South Mill Arts.^[2] The Black Lives Matter protests against institutional racism, which originated in the United States following the murder of George Floyd in Minnesota, had resulted in requests to rename things linked to Cecil Rhodes.^[3]

Netteswell House was the birthplace of British imperialist Cecil Rhodes, the financier and founder of diamond company De Beers who gave his name to Rhodesia.^[4]
The Rhodes’ Birthplace Museum opened in 1938 in Netteswell House and the house next door.
The building is Grade II listed.^[5]

The museum now combines the collections of the former Rhodes Memorial Museum and the Bishop’s Stortford Local History Museum.

The original part of Rhodes’ home holds exhibits on the life of Rhodes, 19th-century Southern African artefacts from his travels, and a reconstructed middle-class Victorian drawing room with family memorabilia.

The Rhodes Birthplace Trust was a registered charity under English law,^[6] which has been renamed the Bishop´s Stortford Museum and Arts CIO.^[7]

51°51′49″N 0°09′50″E / 51.8635°N 0.1640°E / 51.8635; 0.1640