£5 million Hastings art gallery offered as a gift to the town

The building, now known as Hastings Contemporary, was opened as the Jerwood Gallery in 2012.

It has won several architectural awards and was built on The Stade on the seafront at a cost of £5 million, wholly funded by Jerwood.  

Now Jerwood has offered to gift the building to Hastings Borough Council for the ‘benefit and well-being of the people of Hastings and East Sussex’, as well as the gallery’s visitors from outside the town and region.

Alan Grieve, chairman of Jerwood, said: “We believe it is crucial that projects like this bring amazing art to communities like Hastings to help not just with regeneration but also to inspire the talent that exists across our nation.”

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The gift is to be discussed at the council’s cabinet on March 7, and a full council meeting on April 13, with a recommendation the council accepts the offer.

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Council leader Cllr Kim Forward said: “We are very grateful indeed to the Jerwood Foundation for their most generous offer of the gallery.

“If agreed the gallery will continue to be run by its current management. We look forward to maintaining our successful partnership with them to ensure that the work started by the Jerwood Foundation can carry on.”

The gallery has been a landmark in the town since it opened.

See the pictures below showing the history of the building.

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