Upfront Gallery and Arts Venue Near Penrith, Cumbria

WELCOME TO UPFRONT

Upfront Gallery, Arts Venue, Puppet Theatre and Vegetarian Restaurant are located near Penrith, Cumbria in a rural setting in beautifully converted 19th Century farm buildings.

WHAT'S ON

PUPPET THEATRE

Productions will delight audiences from 4 to 99 years of age

DISCOVER

LIVE MUSIC EVENTS

A wide range of amazing concerts are presented with a bar and often with food

VIEW CONCERTS

ART GALLERY

A changing programme of exhibitions by local, national and international artists

NOW SHOWING

VEGETARIAN CAFÉ

Our Licensed Coffee Shop serves a delicious menu of vegetarian food throughout the day

SEE MENU

Welcome to Upfront

Upfront Gallery, Puppet Theatre, Music Venue and Vegetarian Restaurant are located near Penrith, Cumbria. Based in a rural setting the venue is located in beautifully converted 17th century farm buildings and a purpose built 128 seat theatre.

The venue was the winner of the Sustainable Tourism Award from Cumbria Tourist board in 2018. In 2019 it was awarded “The Readers Choice” Cultural Award from Cumbria Life Magazine.

The buildings house Upfront Puppet Theatre and the workshops of artist, John Parkinson.

John and Elaine are the owners and co founders of Upfront Gallery.

Upfront Arts Charity was founded by the couple to support the work of the onsite Puppet Theatre

The gallery presents a changing program of exhibitions throughout the year. In January February and March the “Upfront Open Exhibition”. This is a selected exhibition by a panel of judges and entries are welcome from artists from Cumbria and beyond

A self catering holiday cottage and two unique “eco” lodges are available on site to hire for holidays.

Access

An interactive Google map, of terrain and roads can be found in our contact page on this site

Parking is possible directly outside the main entrance door of the gallery and level smooth access is available to all the main downstairs areas of the building.

There is an easy access entrance for wheelchair users to the building, plus easy access toilet and baby changing facilities.

The downstairs area, including the, coffee shop and gift shop is all on one level. The theatre has a level entrance, with raked seating and spaces at the front for wheelchairs. A lift is installed which gives access to the first floor and large gallery spaces of the new theatre building as well as to the upstairs gallery spaces located in the barn.

As all food is cooked on the premises we can help any visitor with specific dietary requirements,for example, gluten free food please ask and we will be very happy to help.