History
Designed by Arthur Harrison, it was officially opened January 16, 1908 by the wife of the Pastor of Carrs Lane Church, John Henry Jowett, as an institutional church attached to Carr's Lane Congregational Church. In the week that followed, it hosted a variety of acts. The area which surrounded it was predominantly slums and industrial.
In 1954, the building was put up for sale by the trustees as they felt the building was not needed for its originally intended use. It was bought by Birmingham City Council in 1955 for £65,000 and was used as a civic hall.
People known to have made speeches at the Digbeth Institute include Neville Chamberlain, Henry Usborne, Florence L. Barclay and Herbert Hensley Henson.
In 1987, the building was used as a film studio by the Birmingham Film and Video Workshop for the Channel 4 film 'Out Of Order'. The venue later appeared onscreen again, when it played a part as one of the main locations in the feature film 'Lycanthropy', filmed in 2005-2006.
During the 2000s (decade), the venue was called The Sanctuary and was the original home of Godskitchen. It also played host to famous club nights such as Atomic Jam, Uproar, Slinky, Sundissential, Athletico, Ramshackle, Insurrection, Inukshuk and Panic.
Fugazi performed a sold-out concert in the venue's main auditorium as part of their last ever UK tour, in support of The Argument on October 22, 2002 which was later released as Volume 28 of their Fugazi Live Series.
Many influential hip hop artists performed at the venue including Redman and Keith Murray
Read more about this topic: Digbeth Institute
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