Director of the Byre Theatre

Wed, Oct 29th 2025 at 12:40 pm - 2:00 pm

Julie Ellen updated on the Byre

The Byre Theatre has been a special asset for St Andrews since the 1930s

The Guest Speaker was Julie Ellen, Director of the Byre Theatre since 2024, whose subject was ’A Vision for The Byre Theatre’, making it ‘a diverse and culturally vibrant home for all people who live, study, work and play in St Andrews and beyond’. This is a passion which matters deeply to her, and since her appointment she has had lots of conversations, getting to know people both inside and outside the theatre and hearing their views. As a young newly-trained actor Ellen had first come to The Byre in 1990 and stayed for 6 years before moving to London where she changed from performer to manager. In 2004 she became the founding Creative Director of the Playwrights' Studio for Scotland, then went on to Stirling’s McRobert Centre before returning to The Byre. She outlined some key strategies of the theatre plan including community engagement, developing student involvement and experience, developing the professional artistic programme, supporting teaching and research, continuing to maximise revenue streams, while always looking to diversity and sustainability. Her aim is a programme which is diverse, informative and entertaining so that local people value and recommend The Byre. This was a talk on an important local issue which generated much interest and questions. Sylvia Donaldson gave the vote of thanks.