Its public programme includes performance, dance, live art, film, music, discussion and debate.

It is also a memorial to Attenborough's daughter Jane, a Sussex alumnus, who died in the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami.

[2] Refurbishment addressed the building's previous shortcomings for contemporary use, making it an interdisciplinary space, in the following ways: the auditorium is flexible with end-stage, theatre in the round and thrust stage arrangement seating; rehearsal studios; specialist lighting, sound and audio-visual equipment; a gallery; rehearsal studios; and a new café and bar.

[12] According to the venue's web site, its public programme includes "performance, dance, live art, film, music, discussion & debate and digital practices".

The main studio section of the BBC reality TV show Interior Design Masters has been filmed there from at least season 4 onwards.