About Artcore

Artcore is an international centre for contemporary art and creativity based in Derby, UK, and is home to Artcore Gallery, studios and work spaces as well as a shop and cafe. A vibrant hub for commissioning, production, presentation and debate, we offer opportunities for diverse audiences to engage directly with creative practices through participation and discussion. Here at Artcore Gallery we believe that contemporary art and creativity are central to the development of people and places. We have an extensive exhibition and residency programme which helps support early, mid-career and established artists to create work which deals with pressing social, political and environmental issues. Each year we welcome over 4000 visitors from all sections of the diverse communities of Derby to experience inspiring, innovative and high-quality exhibitions and events. Over 25 years we have developed links all over the world reaching out to a global creative community and supporting artists at every stage of their career.

Artcore Gallery is newly located in Artcore’s second building in Derby’s City Centre, which opened to the public in August 2019. This is a base for our contemporary art activities. The gallery is a versatile space, and our busy exhibition programme of ten shows each year supports the development of emerging artists from Derby and the East Midlands, as well as featuring the work of more established UK and International artists. Throughout 2021 our programme is focused on working in the public domain with a series of residencies for locally based artists titled Cabin Fever occupying the newsagent’s cabin on Osnabruck Square and two-artist residency, Circling the Square – Visions of an Unmade City, responding to the theme of urban public space, and exploring what the purpose of public space in the City Centre could be in a post-retail world, where social gatherings are a thing of the past, and where indoor social spaces are out of bounds. We will also host two solo residencies of established artists working with sculpture as well as three residencies and exhibitions of work by emerging artists in the region.

In March 2020, in response to COVID-19, we actively moved a lot of our programme online which included curation of In Isolation Together, a 6 week international online visual arts festival. With over 50 artists from around the world responding to different aspects of being in isolation or lockdown, it showcased Artcore Gallery’s adaptability in being not just a physical gallery space but also a dynamic virtual art space.