Londoner behind New York's £362 million arts centre hails Britain's 'disproportionate' amount of talent

The former Londoner at the helm of a new $475 million (£362 million) arts centre in New York hailed the “disproportionate” amount of talent Britain produces as he opened the building with a play starring Ben Whishaw and concerts directed by Steve McQueen.

The Shed, which opened in Manhattan today, will tonight host McQueen’s Soundtrack Of America, a series of five concerts exploring the influence of African American music, and next week the premiere of Norma Jeane Baker Of Troy, featuring Whishaw.

Alex Poots, The Shed’s British artistic director and chief executive, hopes to bring more Britons to his venue.

He said: “Britain creates a disproportionate number of really great actors, artists, musicians, theatre makers, writers, all kinds of artists, it’s so rich and I desperately and truly believe that is to do with the education system.

“I just hope that people keep investing in that because it’s one of our great successes.”

Poots, who was previously director of Manchester International Festival and has worked at the Barbican and the Tate, said government subsidies give British artists an advantage over their American counterparts.

He added: “The amount of directors, theatre designers, writers who were allowed to develop their skills in Britain because of the subsidised sector, allowed to fail, allowed to make mistakes. I meet people here, practitioners, who say, ‘We never got that opportunity, we had to be thrown into Broadway and succeed’.”

The Shed was designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro, the architects behind the planned Centre for Music concert hall in London, in collaboration with the Rockwell Group. It includes art galleries, a 500-seat theatre and an elaborate moveable outer-shell on wheels that means the venue can expand for big events to turn the outdoor plaza into an additional indoor space.

Poots hopes to collaborate with London cultural institutions in the future. “We’re really open to people, it doesn’t matter if they seem different ... let’s get together and do it,” he said.