THE heart of Newport's arts and entertainment scene The Riverfront celebrated its 10th anniversary today with a birthday reception.

The Riverfront Theatre and Arts Centre opened its doors to audiences for the first time on October 22, 2004 with two performances of a gala concert featuring Welsh soprano Katherine Jenkins and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

A decade later it is hosting up to 180 professional performances, 110 film screenings and 550 workshops a year, with audience numbers far exceeding those set out in plans before its opening.

Last year, The Riverfront saw 90,000 people through its doors, nearly double the annual number predicted in March 2004.

The venue celebrated its anniversary by offering free Welsh cakes to all customers in the café throughout the day today and hosted a birthday reception last night.

A birthday cake was donated by chef Hywel Jones at Lucknam Hotel and there was a performance of one-man show A Regular Little Houdini, written and performed by Newport born Daniel Llewelyn-Williams.

A spokeswoman for the venue said it had been overwhelmed by the birthday wishes and messages of support shared by its customers over twitter and in person throughout the day.

The Riverfront, owned, managed and funded by Newport City Council, was awarded a lottery grant by the Arts Council of Wales towards the construction of the building and a grant by the Welsh Assembly Government for the construction of the purpose built gallery and preservation and conservation of Newport's medieval ship, discovered during the theatre's construction in 2002.

The Argus reported in June that Newport City Council were looking at options to outsource the theatre to one or more organisations or run it in a management partnership.

Another option could see the leisure trust, which has been set up by the council to run the city's leisure services, take control of The Riverfront but no decisions have yet been made.

The centre is the home to the Big Splash festival which this year attracted 20,000 visitors as well as theatre company Hiss and Boo's annual pantomime, which saw 24,000 tickets sold last year.

After last night's performance, guests of corporate club members, councillors, funders, supporters, companies, organisations and individuals, including former members of staff were invited to see short pop-up acts around the building.

The birthday showcase featured a short sample of artists, performers and companies that The Riverfront has worked with over the last 10 years.

The Riverfront spokeswoman said: "The Riverfront extends their sincere thanks to all of their supporters who continue to make it such a success and hopes to continue serving audiences and the city of Newport with the highest quality and quantity of arts activity in the coming years."