New Director of Firstsite. Sally Shaw on Monday at Firstsite, East Hill Colchester.. A LOT can change in the space of a decade. Colchester’s Firstsite gallery is celebrating its tenth anniversary with a myriad of exhibitions pencilled in over the coming months. However, taking bookings has not always been as effortless as it is now. In its early years the gallery was unpopular. Costing £28million and opening two years late after a series of setbacks, the contemporary art gallery was damned by its critics. It was labelled elitist and failed to get the footfall it wanted. In 2015, Colchester Arts Centre director Anthony Roberts was parachuted in as interim director.
Firstsite, Colchester.
- Credit: Andrew Partridge
The wait is almost over as Colchester’s contemporary art gallery Firstsite prepares to welcome visitors again, when it throws open its doors on May 17.
Art lovers will be treated to an exciting and diverse mix of exhibitions as well as a range of activities, courses and clubs to enjoy.
Firstsite was designed to be more than just an art gallery. It is a social space where people can meet
- Credit: Archant
Adding to the mood of celebration there will be an extra buzz around the gallery, as the striking, crescent-shaped building is celebrating its 10th anniversary.
Firstsite Director Sally Shaw. Photograph by Jayne Lloyd.. A POIGNANT exhibition providing people the opportunity to pause and reflect on the coronavirus pandemic is being launched as part of a gallery’s tenth anniversary milestone. Firstsite, in Colchester, was approached by the North East Essex Clinical Commissioning Group last June to make a project which recorded what NHS staff went through during the pandemic. Working with a number of artists, including Alec Finlay and Roland Carline, key workers took part in a series of workshops to explore their experiences of the coronavirus outbreak and the subsequent effects it had on their lives.