U2, The Smiths, 12 Years As a Slave director Steve McQueen, and Coventry’s own Debbie Isitt all appeared at Warwick Arts Centre before they were famous.

The University of Warwick venue, which first opened its doors in October 1974, was the brainchild of first vice-chancellor Jack Butterworth and American benefactor Helen Martin, who established a trust fund worth the equivalent of £28million.

She wished to remain anonymous in her lifetime, and was referred to by the university simply as “The anonymous benefactor”.

“It’s a lovely story. In the hey days of the 1960s there was a sense of idealism and we are part of that. Warwick Arts Centre was a meeting of the minds of Jack Butterworth and a wealthy spinster from Kenilworth,” says arts centre director Alan Rivett.

“The anonymous benefactor was passionate about the arts. Her brother was running a family food and drinks company in the States.

“Jack and Helen thought an arts centre, bringing the best of the world to Coventry, would be an extraordinary contribution not just to students and staff, but to the wider population.

“Here was an open invitation to join and experience great art – and boy have we done that over the last 40 years!”

Warwick Arts Centre has provided a stage to top international artists, theatre companies, film-makers, musicians, dancers, comedians, academics and politicians.

Both U2 and Siouxsie and the Banshees played early gigs in 1981. The Butterworth Hall saw Kirsty McColl’s penultimate concert in 2000, The Smiths in 1984, sell out comedy gigs by Jo Brand, Jasper Carrott and Goodness Gracious Me; and the West End production of Victoria Wood’s Acorn Antiques.

An avid classical music fan, Alan started his career at the National Theatre before training as a drama teacher, and was appointed director in 2001. He was deputy director for the previous 11 years.

Stars of classical music who have performed in the Butterworth Hall include US-born violinist and conductor Yehudi Menuhin, New Zealand opera star Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Nigel Kennedy, English soprano Lesley Garrett, English conductors Sir Colin Davis and Sir Simon Rattle and “some of the great Russian orchestras from Moscow and St Petersberg.”

“The opening concert of Warwick Arts Centre’s Butterworth Hall was given by the Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Ricardo Muti in 1981,” he says.

“My personal highlights include the Scottish percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie and British concert pianist Joanna MacGregor.

“One of the things we are always known for is our comedy programme – the only comedian we’ve not had is Ken Dodd!

“Some the great rock bands have played here. This season we had Rufus Wainwright – we’ve had the whole of family here – his dad, his sister and him, I am not quite sure if the mother came...

“Something quite rare around here is our world music programme.

“What we wanted to do this season was to have examples of what we are really good at and to really respond to our audience.”

The cinema and The Mead Gallery opened at the venue in 1986.

“We’ve had many artists from Antony Gormley to Damien Hirst, Grayson Perry, Cornelia Parker and Katie Paterson, as well as great African and Aboriginal art,” Alan says of the gallery.

“This autumn we are bringing in one of the National Gallery masterpieces: Manet’s The Execution of Maximilian, a special for our 40th year.”

Cutting edge, experimental and international theatre is one area where the arts centre has established a strong reputation.

The National Theatre’s The History Boys was staged in 2006 and two years later the English premiere of the National Theatre of Scotland’s international hit Black Watch.

A vital role of the arts centre has been supporting upcoming local artists including Coventry filmmaker Debbie Isitt, who directed the Nativity! trilogy.

“The tenancy for people who want to pursue a career in art or dance is to hop on the train to London and hour away. An important thing is to support artists in our locality.

“I follow the career of Debbie Isitt. She started off in Coventry with the Snarling Beasties theatre company. We supported all the early works of that company including The Woman Who Cooked Her Husband, which premiered here.

“We created Thatcher The Musical! With Foursight Theatre (a female-led devising theatre company from Wolverhampton), We supported Coventry’s Theatre Absolute with their city trilogy and Talking Birds’. We’ve had a long association with Motionhouse Dance in Leamington, who are now touring in the USA and China, as well as people like Stan’s Café in Birmingham.

“Giving theatre and dance companies time, space and a comfortable place to rehearse, offering advice and premiering new work, I think that’s important.”

Other rising artists encouraged in their early career include Steve McQueen, British director of the Oscar-winning 12 Years A Slave. In 2003 the arts centre showed two of his early films – Carib’s Leap set in Grenada and Western Deep about life in the South African gold mines.

“There’s a debate in the cultural sector about whether the rising costs of tuition fees and training for artists will mean that we are going to end up with ‘posh people’.

“When we look at the extraordinary work of artists from the last few decades some of the best and most interesting work has come from ‘not posh’ people – people like Nuneaton’s Ken Loach, Christopher Eccleston and Steve McQueen. We put Steve McQueen’s work on here several years ago. So it’s important to say to be an artist you do not have to be rich to do it,” says Alan.

On Alan’s future wish-list is the US artist Jeff Koon.

He would also love to see, Chicago’s Tony-Award-winning Steppenwolf Theatre Company and experimental New York theatre company The Wooster Group perform at the arts centre.

One of the biggest events Alan has been asked to oversee was Bill Clinton’s Presidential visit in December 2000.

As Bill Clinton and Tony Blair gave speeches on Globalisation in the Butterworth Hall, Roald Dahl’s The Twits was performed in the theatre.

Despite strict security regulations President Clinton and White House officials were adamant that the children who had booked to see the Christmas show should not miss out.

That was an extraordinary 10 days. It was electric to have a world event on your patch. My team were terrific and we staged an extraordinary event.

“Bill Clinton has a huge charisma – you cannot help but fall under his spell. Hillary Clinton was pretty impressive too. You got the sense she was listening even in short 10-second handshake – and that’s quite clever.”

To see what’s on to celebrate Warwick Arts Centre’s 40th anniversary season go to www.warwickartscentre.co.uk.

Film programmer John Gore is Warwick Art Centre’s longest serving employee, having worked there for 35 years.

When the arts centre first opened he was studying history and French at the university.

He recalls: “It was very muddy at that time of year and obviously the arts centre was much smaller. It was more or less ready to open in the October, but people were still nailing down the carpet.

“The population of the university was around 6,000 – it’s now 23,000. I lived on campus, accommodation was fairly rudimentary and they were in the process of landscaping. It wasn’t quite as sumptuous as it is now.”

John became the full-time film programmer in 1989, and has never looked back.

His job involves picking out the best new films, with a leaning towards home-grown British, international and indie.

Working in association with the British Film Institute he attends screen previews in London, Toronto International Film Festival and London Film Festival.

He said: “To a certain extent it’s the next big thing which is exciting. I was down in London for the a screening of a Chinese police story. I had very little expectations, but I was blown away. It kept you on the edge of your seat!

“People surprise you constantly. I was in Toronto last month where I first saw the Theory of Everything the new film about Stephen Hawkings. Eddie Redmayne is unrecognizable – he’s heading straight for the Oscars. It was really exciting stuff.

“There’s plenty coming up – the new Mike Leigh film, Mr Turner and Pride. We have a Film Club and had some fabulous speakers."

As well as film, John has been able to indulge another passion at work.

“I watched Simon Rattle conduct the CBSO playing all seven Sibelius symphonies in 1982, which was sublime. U2 played here in 1981 when they were practically unknown. It was quite extraordinary.

“I did see Siouxsie and the Banshees in 1981 and The Smiths in 1982.

“The Buena Vista Social Club came here in 1999 and gave a phenomenal performance. People got up and did proper Latin American dancing. It didn’t feel like Coventry, but Cuba or Mexico.”