history

Before Lochside Theatre came into being the only theatre in Castle Douglas was situated in an old army hut and owned by Unity Players. It was called the Little Theatre and it lived up to that name because it must only have had seating for about 30 and the headroom on the stage would be about 8 feet. By the middle 1970s the firemaster had decreed that it could no longer operate as a theatre.

It did continue in use as Unity Players base, but thoughts turned to some kind of replacement as the building itself was beginning to require attention. In the beginning, the intention was of replacing like with like, but in 1984, Donald Fullarton had the idea that something better could be achieved if Crossmichael Drama Club and Castle Douglas & District Musical Society were involved. A joint meeting was called, a committee was formed, and Galloway Arts Project was born. Jim Paterson was treasurer of that first committee, and is still looking for someone willing to take the job from him.

A company limited by guarantee was formed after the first year, and originally all of the members of the founding clubs were members of GAP (as it became known) and each club elected five directors to the board. Later, independent members unconnected to the clubs were allowed to join, and finally, we became a totally separate organisation, with all members having equal voting rights.