Contemporary arts venue opens in town centre

A new arts hub with galleries, studios and community spaces has opened in Northampton town centre.

Arts Collective has opened its centre on Guildhall Road after a £5.2m refurbishment of the former municipal offices.

The four-year redevelopment has seen the old civic building repurposed into a cultural venue featuring a state-of-the-art gallery, 17 artist studios and a range of public and educational spaces.

"This isn't just an exhibition space," said artistic director and CEO Emer Grant. "People come in, they work here, they learn here, they sit together, they talk, and they build things together. That's a really important part of how we designed it."

Arts Collective is part of NN Contemporary, the artist-led organisation that has been based in Northampton's cultural quarter since 2008.

A central feature of the building is the Northampton Rooms, a series of public spaces for collaboration, events and shared activities.

The interiors include references to Northampton's civic and cultural history, with details inspired by the Guildhall, the Mount Baths and the work of architect and designer Charles Rennie Mackintosh.

"We wanted a place to gather, to meet, to share ideas, to have dinners, to maybe teach a lesson, to pass on skills," added Grant.

"It's about creating a space where people can actually use the building in different ways, not just come and look at art but actively participate in it."

The venue's free year-round exhibition programme has launched with House Rules, an exhibition by Northamptonshire-born conceptual artist Rose Finn-Kelcey.

It marks the first major presentation of her work in the town.

Arts Collective has also become home to the first permanent open-studio archive space for the Northamptonshire Black History Association, showcasing the Matta Fancanta Movement, a Black youth-led cultural and political movement active in Northampton from the late 1970s to the early 1990s.

"[Arts Collective] is about multiple voices, multiple views, different communities coming together and really activating this space," Grant added.

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