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The Gulbenkian was founded as a result of a generous grant from the Gulbenkian Foundation in 1969, an organisation which has funded many arts projects around the world. This Foundation was set up by Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian, who was born in Turkey in 1869, but who gained British citizenship in 1902. The Gulbenkian family fortune was made in the oil business in Baku in the 1880's, and subsequently expanded to include the Iraq Petroleum Company. Calouste left $70,000,000 and vast art collections to start the Foundation, and after his death in 1955 his son Nubar Gulbenkian carried on the philanthropic work.
In 1966, the University of Kent appointed a small working party to prepare proposals for a theatre on the University site and examine the possibility of obtaining a donation for its cost from private sources, it being widely accepted that the University had a responsibility to its own members and to the public in East Kent to provide facilities to foster the arts. The working party was in no doubt that treasury funds for a theatre would, at best, not be forthcoming for an extravagant scheme but might well be so for a modest building which provided the best range of equipment and facilities, although this would mean a building of most utilitarian standards. It was hoped that the theatre would serve a variety of purposes in addition to a wide range of dramatic production, experiment and teaching and the building would be essentially an instrument rather than a show piece. Emphasis was placed on establishing a real and obvious actor - audience relationship, which led to the adoption of the thrust stage and good sight lines and the elimination of any proscenium arch and fly tower.

The theatre's doors opened to the public for the first time in the summer of 1969. Since then, audiences have steadily increased and now regularly exceed 30,000 annually. Already a second generation of theatre goers are enjoying the exciting environment the Gulbenkian provides and a range of productions which reflect the full spectrum of artistic interest in Kent. Over the years a wide range of performers have taken to The Gulbenkian stage from Ian McKellen and the RSC to the hottest comedians fresh from Edinburgh festival inclduing Bo Burnham, Daniel Sloss, Sarah Millican and Jimmy Carr.