Theatre The Civic, in the town centre, is a multi-purpose performance venue in a grade II
listed building. The building was originally the Barnsley
Mechanics Institute and Public Hall, built by
Henry Harvey in 1877. His brother Charles Harvey, gave the building to the people of the town a few years later, renaming it the Harvey Institute. The Harvey Institute was host to many types of entertainment, including
variety shows and
cinema. It was also home to the
public library and shops; public meetings and celebrations were held in the hall; and education was provided. The School of Art occupied the Public Hall from 1878 to 1948, which was also used as first headquarters and billets for "Barnsley Pals" during World War I. In 1962, the building became Barnsley Civic Theatre, closing in 1998. The Civic was reopened in March 2009 after a major redevelopment, which included provision for a theatre and public art gallery. The Civic has hosted high-profile acts such as
Al Murray and
Russell Howard. The Civic houses a contemporary art gallery that hosts touring exhibition from the
V&A and the Flow Gallery in London. The Civic also curates its own work for touring. The Lamproom Theatre has four theatrical companies, and showcases theatre in the town. The Academy Theatre is part of the Take 2 Centre, where performances range from comedy to
musicals. The Take 2 Centre houses The Take 2 Performing Arts Academy, The Stage Door Restaurant, and The Take 2 Music Centre.
Museums and galleries Barnsley Council operates five museums:
Elsecar Heritage Centre,
Cannon Hall, the Cooper Gallery
Worsbrough Mill and
Experience Barnsley, which opened in the Town Hall in 2015. Other museums in Barnsley include the volunteer-run
Darfield Museum and the Cawthorne Victoria Jubilee Museum. Other heritage sites include
Wortley Top Forge,
Wortley Hall,
Wentworth Castle,
Monk Bretton Priory and
Pot House Hamlet. HIVE Gallery is a contemporary art gallery set up in 2007. It is in Elsecar Heritage Centre and puts on eight contemporary art exhibitions per year. The HIVE programme ranges from supporting emerging contemporary artists to exhibiting the work of nationally and internationally known artists.
Music Barnsley is home to a tradition of
brass bands, which were originally created as social clubs for the mining communities.
Grimethorpe Colliery Band, located in
Grimethorpe, to the east of Barnsley, is perhaps the best known brass band in Britain. It rose to fame in the film
Brassed Off and is now the 'artist in residence' at the
Royal College of Music, London. The band has performed in
Hyde Park during the
Last Night of the Proms. Other events include Picnic In The Park, being held annually to raise funds for Barnsley Hospice. There is a live
rock and
hip hop music scene, which reached its height in the
Britpop years, around 1997, due to its close proximity to
Sheffield and
Manchester. The 1980s saw the rise of
Saxon (metal band),
Danse Society (Goth) and
Party Day (Indie-rock). Both
Alex Turner and
Matt Helders, of the
Arctic Monkeys, studied music at
Barnsley College. Barnsley is the home of several live music venues such as The Underground, The Garrison, The Old No 7 and The Old School House. It formerly hosted the Barnsley Origin Music festival (BOMfest), an outdoor summer music festival which catered for local and national artists. It now hosts Barnsley Live, an annual music festival featuring local acts that takes place in the town centre over a weekend in June. In December 2023, a
Christmas carol, written by local musician Arthur Godfrey in 1933, was rediscovered in the archives of the
Barnsley Chronicle. It was rerecorded to celebrate the 90th birthday of the town hall.
Media Regional television is provided by
BBC Yorkshire and
ITV Yorkshire. Television signals are received from the
Emley Moor TV transmitter. Local radio stations are
BBC Radio Sheffield,
Greatest Hits Radio South Yorkshire,
Heart Yorkshire,
Capital Yorkshire and
Hits Radio South Yorkshire. The town is served by these local newspapers: •
Barnsley Chronicle •
The Star •
We Are Barnsley, an online newspaper.
Other arts The "Bard of Barnsley"
Ian McMillan writes a column in the
Barnsley Chronicle. He was nominated for a chair of poetry at
Oxford University and appears on
BBC Radio 4. It was reported that Barnsley is the most frequently defined sub-Yorkshire dialect in interviews on attitudes to local dialects, with the fronted [a:] in the first syllable of the town's name often cited. An article in the Transactions of the
Yorkshire Dialect Society noted that it is a relatively recent notion that Barnsley is distinctive and that most traditional dialect writing saw Barnsley as much the same as neighbouring areas of the West Riding. It is suggested either that Barnsley has not undergone the
dialect levelling that has occurred in other parts of Yorkshire or that Barnsley has become better-known in the media through films set around Barnsley such as
Kes and
The Price of Coal, both of which were adapted by scripts from local writer
Barry Hines by director
Ken Loach. ==Sport==