We have three exhibition spaces, two permanent dedicated galleries and one flexible space, The Old Stables – a special limited exhibition space reserved for significant exhibitions of commissioned work.
The Old Stables will have approximately 2 exhibitions per year and Galleries 1 and 2 have a rolling exhibition programme throughout the year. We also have more temporary exhibition space in the ‘inbetween’ spaces in the building.
We are interested in artists working in a variety of media and want to exhibit a range of artistic approaches, including socially engaged practice, painting, sculpture, film, new media, sound based installation and performance art.
We are open to challenging work, and experimental work, and will always support and facilitate production and installation where possible.
We would like to work with artists who are interested in responding to our collection, our environment, our local people, or who have an interest in exploring some of our key areas of interest outlined above.
We are currently inviting submissions for exhibition opportunities for our Visual Arts Programme 2023 – 2025.
Submission Deadline: 12pm, Friday 10th February.
Open submission exhibitions
We will include a bi-annual open exhibition where we look forward to including large numbers of artworks from a huge variety of artists.
New Graduate Award
We will introduce a new graduate award, selecting an artist from the local annual degree shows to have a professional exhibition opportunity at The Whitaker, including professional development mentoring from our Creative Director.
Residencies and Special Commissions
We will be continually sourcing additional funding to enable a number of special residencies and commissions. We are keen to invite artists to spend time with our collections and work for extended periods in the museum to develop new work for exhibition with us. We also hope to facilitate significant opportunities for artists to develop new ambitious artworks for our Old Stables venue and in our open outdoor spaces.
Ongoing Activities and Events
We also have ongoing activities and classes throughout the year for all ages groups and abilities, all advertised here on the website, through our social media, sign up to our mailing list to be the first to find out
We are committed to paying artists fairly for exhibitions and any related work they may do for us.
We refer to the National Union of Artists payment guidelines and pay for exhibitions accordingly. All artists will be paid an exhibition fee, have an agreed marketing strategy, have an opening event on a night or weekend of their choosing and have full technical support in installing and deinstalling work. We will ensure that all exhibitions have a minimum of 6 weeks on display.
We are happy to look after sales of work where artists would like to advertise the work as for sale during exhibitions. Our commission on sales is set at 40% of sale price. We also support artists through the sale of limited edition prints through our shop.
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