Contemporary Hastings
The calm before the storm; we met Liz Gilmore, Director of Hastings Contemporary, shortly before the gallery doors opened when a wave of excited children and their parents flooded the space.
Liz Gilmore, Director of Hastings Contemporary
Can you tell us about your background, growing up, education and the start of your career?
Liz. I suppose, in some ways, my childhood was quite diverse and unusual even though, at the time, it seemed rather ordinary. My mother’s father was from the Punjab in northern India, my father’s family came from Ireland, and we lived in the suburbs of Bristol.
For me, going into the art world was not expected, nor was it encouraged, not because my family aren’t proud of what I’m doing now, but much more because culturally, it’s not part of their culture or thinking. So a doctor and a dentist are credible; you know what they are, and you understand the job. Indeed, for my parents, you might classify their families as working class. Both their families came over to this country as immigrants, with very little, and established themselves.
My brother and I were the first generation to go through university. Choosing the history of art as a degree was unusual and in part came from a random and serendipitous moment. My mother, who did shorthand and typing, went to work for a war artist and philosopher, George Melhuish, who lived in Clifton, Bristol.
The artist, George Melhuish had his house open to the public. From an early age, I would hang out at the weekends with my brother and show people around the property. This was opposite the Avon Gorge Hotel, right in the heart of the (Clifton Suspension Bridge) tourist trail. So I had an early confidence, appetite and understanding of contemporary and abstract art.
When I was about 11, George died. So suddenly, there was a severing of that artistic connection. It only came back when I was thinking about my A-level options, with the influence of a friend’s father, an architect who encouraged history of art, as an idea. That notion perhaps wouldn’t otherwise have come to me, as a career option.
I went to University in Leicester and York. At this stage, I hadn’t thought about what my career might be; I didn’t particularly associate a job in museums and galleries with the study of the history of art. It was a work placement at the ceramics department of the Stoke-on-Trent City Museum and Gallery, where work colleagues inspired me to think about museums as a career; real specialists who understood their subject so well, for example, people could tell the authenticity of certain ceramics by touching it against the enamel on their teeth.
They pointed out that doing a degree is great, but you won’t get a job unless you’ve got an MA. So that was the catalyst to work hard because to get an MA for me would mean getting the funding. I had to do well. And that led to me doing a Museum Studies MA.
“With the current funding squeeze in mind, I don’t think I would in any way be considering the course I did; if I were a student now, and that is food for thought.”
I got a job immediately having made the professional connections through a course-based placement. I was an educator at the National Waterways Museum for a few months and then I moved up to Yorkshire, to Calderdale Museums, working across several sites. Then within a year I moved to London, landing my first permanent job at the National Gallery (Education Officer), I set up the informal learning programme something called Out of School and Family Activities, which evolved into several roles. It was swift, I suppose; I was fortunate.
Moving to the National Gallery was a fantastic opportunity; I was there for seven years. I had the privilege of having my first term to read and learn about the collection, watching the lecturers give their talks. And to think about how I would encourage some of the most isolated communities and families to engage with it. It was exciting; education was beginning great growth.
At that point, I lived amongst the Bangladeshi Muslim community in East London and connected with the community and its leaders. It became clear that they may be just a few miles or a few Tube stops away, but they wouldn’t visit the gallery because they didn’t use the Tube - Tube posters will not bring that community to the National Gallery. I also had some exciting encounters, experiences and developments working with social services departments, children in foster care, and adults for whom English wasn’t their first language. We thought about how the National Gallery might be opened up to communities who might ordinarily not use it, which was exciting.
Then I moved to the Arts Council as head of visual arts for the South East region, which brought me to Brighton. It was at the time of growth with Lottery Funding coming in to enable the build of several capital projects. At that point, Turner Contemporary in Margate was a notion, and the string of pearls (chain of galleries along the South East coast) was in evolution or redevelopment.
The South East region was immense, from Oxford to the Isle of Wight, Margate to Milton Keynes, (with London taken out). It was an exciting position; you’d get this bird’s eye view of the sector and see patterns of behaviour that are very helpful when you are on the other side (of the funding fence). Managing the investment risk for Arts Council, you are responsible for public money. So doing that with insight and guiding peers or being a point of reference and support for them was an interesting role.
I had been at Arts Council for about three years; (as head of visual arts) when cuts and a restructure came along, I moved to a new role, funding programmes manager, which kind of consolidated three roles into one.
Then the opportunity to set up the gallery in Hastings came along. It was a region I had become familiar with and was passionate about.
Because I had been at Arts Council, I knew there were talks about the proposal for a gallery in Hastings. The regional director at the time took me there. I saw its potential; I had seen the emergence of Turner Contemporary in Margate, the original visioning document ‘Dreaming with Open Eyes’. Hastings Borough Council were passionate, with good people there, with a fundamental understanding of the potential of what a gallery could bring to Hastings.
The build commenced in 2010, opened to the public in 2012. We are now in our 10th year. Hastings even now is the most deprived town in the South East, 13th in England and the charging model has always been complicated.
Hastings Contemporary is now wholly independent and a charity. The trustees’ ambitions are for it to be as free as possible, with the broadest possible access to as many people. But we also have to be realistic as we don’t have a huge income to enable free access for everyone (as much as we would like to be!). So, we fundraise to allow us to subsidise every visitor to the gallery. Even the full entrance fee ticket is subsidised. We have partnership clubs with some of the most deprived communities. We encourage them to enter the gallery for free through sustained interactions and build that sense of ownership and trust.
“We are dealing with fourth generation unemployment in Hastings alongside the most vibrant creative community. So it’s a mix of people that come and our challenge to please them all is complicated.”
We have a fantastic collection of towns in this area, all with their own offer, but somehow, collectively, it feels like one place to me.
Liz. Yes, it’s like a string of connected jewels or towns, and you live in a way that’s not just connected with Rye; it is Bexhill, Battle; you might move around and explore the countryside; it is an inspiring place to be.
I think that the draw of this part of the world is incredible. Funnily enough, when my mother’s family first moved from India, they had a shop selling Indian exotica on the old pier in Brighton. They weren’t here for very long, but something brought me to Sussex. It was only when I was in the Brighton office at Arts Council, my mother told me she was born in Hove.
How did building and planning a gallery in this community begin?
Liz. What is now Hastings Contemporary, formerly Jerwood Gallery … from the beginning, the architect’s HAT Projects had been doing consultations with the community. A core part of the group was the Hastings Fisherman’s Protection Society, and they were able to support the process. From my experience, with any new capital build, if you go to public consultation, you’ll probably hear voices of dissent and discontent louder than those who are pro the change. Indeed, ten years ago, there was a caution, and it’s not that people fear change; I think they fear the unknown. So the very prospect of bringing a gallery to Hastings, nobody knew whether that would be a good thing. A gallery alone clearly isn’t salvation for a town, but it plays an important role in driving the local economy and tourism and creating a sense of place and pride in the town.
Often our way to reaching new communities is through the children; we still encounter, almost daily, children coming to the gallery who have grown up in Hastings and not only is it their first gallery visit, but it’s their first visit to the seafront and they live in Hastings. So we are dealing with some of the same experiences I encountered in East London.
Part of planning a build is thinking about the people that are going to visit; they, the communities, are the heartbeat along with the arts. I have some fabulous team members and a whole group of freelance staff serving an extensive programming range.
We have 50 to 60 volunteers at a time who represent all sections of the community and beyond. They come from all professions and backgrounds and have landed in Hastings for whatever reason and generously give their time. Our volunteers are the face of the gallery.
We also have a great group of patrons, directors and supporters, without whom much of our work would not be possible. Plus great support from Arts Council and the Borough Council, without both of whom we could not do our job. It is like an iceberg; a tremendous amount of unseen work goes on to enable what has been happening. Approximately 400,000 have been coming through the door since 2012.
It could be many more, if we could be free access for everyone. So we are really committed to thinking can at least part of the gallery have free access, because when we’ve made those important connections with communities; we want those children to bring their parents back, to feel like this is a place for them. And it’s wonderful seeing that transformation.
Quentin Blake illustrations at Hastings Contemporary.
“Those hinging moments give you either the encouragement, or they are the creative catalyst to it. For many, it is about not knowing what pathway to take or how to take it.”
Hastings Contemporary has shown work by artist Quentin Blake a few times. Is there a connection?
Liz. Quentin has had a house in the town for many years, so he always says that we built a gallery at the bottom of his road, which is true! Quentin has the most generous spirit and incredible creativity, constantly upending expectation. He can draw wonderful things incredibly quickly, and it’s always really inspiring working with him. He is undoubtedly a brilliant ‘tool’, if you like, for us to make the gallery connect with communities. When we first opened, we housed the Jerwood Collection. His first project was to connect this historic collection of modern British art with the communities we were striving to engage with. Quentin was able to recreate in his wonderful anarchic and whimsical style some of the collection works. He’d even met some of the more contemporary artists. His work creates a window or interface, for communities who maybe have come across Roald Dahl; seen Quentin’s illustrations, to have a sense of connection and familiarity, which is brilliant. And, his drawings are adored by everyone.
We’ve just launched a biro project as part of our 10th anniversary; Quentin has drawn ten-anniversary portraits. In fact, he has created another ten, which he is donating for us to sell later in the year. And of course his biro drawings are incredible; they are on display at the moment. They remind us that everyone can be an artist; it is not that we are training everyone to be artists, but we want to encourage that openness and creativity that he gives those sightlines to.
Hastings Contemporary has a large window on the ground floor where people can look into an exhibition while passing by the gallery. Is that always the case?
Liz. Most of the time, that was an important design consideration for the gallery. If you wonder around the gallery, I always describe it like being in a sort of grand domestic home, the sense that it is a place of discovery. There is a large, classically rectangular white space that you can view through a window from the street. What do some people fear about a new thing, like a gallery? They don’t know what they’re walking into. So it was slightly counter to what the classic kind of curatorial approach might be. We have these vast picture windows to look through as you meander through the rest of the spaces. There are seven smaller spaces that you can wander through too. Each window gives the most exquisite view, whether it’s out to sea or up to the Funicular, the East or West Hill or the Old Town of Hastings. Where we can, we keep the blinds open with the window views to have that relationship with the place.
In lockdown, while the gallery had been closed to the public, Project Art Works with their wonderful director, Kate Adams, suggested using the gallery space as an experimentation space. The art collective and the art they made at that time was nominated for a Turner Prize. So that window was vital; without it, people wouldn’t have seen the workings of Project Art Works. So I was delighted that the windows were there.
What is coming up?
Liz. It’s exciting. In the artistic programme, we’ve always tried to show some of the most incredible talent we believe in. It can also be quite local to the gallery, while all being internationally significant artists. When we opened, it was Rose Wylie; she is Kent based, and she was our inaugural artist. We’ve evolved to become increasingly international. We currently (Summer 2022) have Lakwena Maciver, very colourful, incredible artworks in the Foreshore Gallery and our historic show Seafaring; they are brilliant in juxtaposition.
By October, we’ll be transitioning to have the mid-career artist Caragh Thuring who was Belgian-born but lives in Hackney; and had some time in Sussex in her childhood.
One of the special features of Hastings Contemporary is that we are possibly one of the greenest galleries in the country, environmentally. We have thermally massive walls stuffed with wool, ground source heat probes which go 10 skyscraper in depth into the ground, which naturally heat and cool key parts of the building and there is a water harvesting tank; recycled water flushes the loos.
Why is this relevant to Caragh Thuring? For years, her work has touched on matters of the environment and, the relationship between nature and people, human nature. And so it’s a brilliant show for our 10th anniversary, it’ll be impressive, large scale, spanning the whole ground floor.
Upstairs we will be celebrating our artist alumni. It is our 10th year of operating, and very generously, many of our alumni have donated works for us to sell, and more crucially, to celebrate their contribution. And that is exciting. Making Waves - 8 October 2022 – 12 March 2023
Our gallery building is currently being generously gifted to the town, which means we will have a long lease, and we’ll be here to stay and able to operate wholly independently with a brilliant board of trustees who bring essential expertise.
Membership is available, for the cost of a couple of cinema tickets, you can become an annual member and bring the family. So, it’s excellent value.
Liz Gilmore - Director Hastings Contemporary
Rock-a-Nore Road, Hastings Old Town TN34 3DW
Open Wed - Sun 11am - 5pm | +44 (0) 1424 728377
info@hastingscontemporary.org
www.hastingscontemporary.org
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