A Nomadic Gallery
Here at Sussex Contemporary, we celebrate, support, and promote contemporary creatives across all areas of creative output, be that artists, makers, designers, architects, and craftspeople, providing them with opportunities to showcase their work.
We have a vibrant annual program of major global-standard exhibitions, a mix of judge-panel-selected exhibitions with prize packages, alongside our democratic exhibition model, where creatives purchase a place and are automatically included in the exhibition. Both exhibition models are incredibly important to our output, and we don’t believe in a hierarchy of presentation, showing both types to the same standard, based on the belief (and proof of concept) that a well-curated exhibition and the programming around it enable excellence.
We introduced democratic exhibition opportunities into our programming to increase the support we offer within the creative sector and to provide opportunities to be included in curated exhibitions beyond the traditional judge-selected open call model.
THE SUSSEX - Where it all started
Our annual exhibition, The Sussex, is the largest showcase of art by living artists with a connection to Sussex in the world. It attracts thousands of visitors annually and is open to artists, makers, and craftspeople at all stages of their careers. First presented in 2022 at the i360 in Brighton and now shown annually in Newhaven at the BN9 STUDIOS, this is our major annual prize-awarding exhibition that has gained traction year upon year. We have 4 major prizes, 500 artists who have shown with us over the past 4 years, and thousands of artists who have trusted us to enter their work for our esteemed judges to see. We’ve worked with these amazing individuals to select the very best snapshot of contemporary practice here in the UK:
Dinah Casson MBE - Julian Bell - Chris Kendall - Alex Leith - Mark Herald - Maev Kennady - Pierre Ikovitz - Lindsey Mendick - Stephanie Fuller - Philippa Hobson - Jenny Kilbride - Ruth Howard - Tessa Wild FSA - Dr Hope Wolf - Dr Tanya Harrod - Patrick Grant
The Business Of Art
Alongside our exhibitions, we also provide a series of workshops and talks, called ‘The Business of Art’. These talks and workshops are carefully tailored to support the creative practices of artists, makers, and craftspeople, helping them achieve greater commercial success. Now being embedded in further education at 20 universities across the UK, we are incubating something even more meaningful and will be sharing our new venture with you very soon…
CREATING CREATIVE PLATFORMS
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CREATING CREATIVE PLATFORMS *
UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS
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UPCOMING EXHIBITIONS *
WE WUNT BE DRUV
LEWES TOWN HALL
SEPT 4th & 5th 11 am - 4 pm
Part of Artwave Festival an annual arts festival that takes part in Lewes District.
We are showing 100 works form across the country in the Yarrow Room in Lewes Town Hall for this pop-up democratic exhibition.
Join us to explore this focus in on folklore and the recalcitrance nature of the theme.
Creative Opportunities
CLICK ON EACH IMAGE TO BE TAKEN TO THE OPEN CALL OPPORTUNITY
THE SUSSEX 2026
UNFOLD 2027
PASSAGE 2026
A New Phase of Growth & Partnership
It started with one major regional exhibition in 2022, and now, as we end our fourth year in 2025, we have an annual programme of four exhibitions, along with our dynamic programme of workshops and talks, THE BUSINESS OF ART.
We now work with creatives and collectors from across the UK, creating new and dynamic exhibitions that have raised the profile of our exhibitions and the individual artists who participate.
2026 sees us delivering major partnership projects as we embark upon the next chapter of Sussex Contemporary.
In October 2025, a groundbreaking long-term partnership with HASTINGS CONTEMPORARY was announced publicly. Working together to drive a revenue-sharing collaboration allows us to contribute to the economy of the existing publicly funded charity sector of the industry.
Fabrica Brighton & Sussex contemporary delivered Resonance during April 2026. A national open call that
celebrated cutting edge contemporary artist practice across the UK. We have gone on to form a joint venture with Fabrica. Jo Myles, our Creative Director is using this partnership to incubate a major new model in UK allowing our success in the commercial sector to be delivered into establishments to help counter the challenging funding in the UK arts sector. WEARE.
We have just secured our first outside Sussex partnership and shall be sharing news on the WEARE model launch and our new NPO partner!
OUR APPROACH
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EXHIBITIONS
Sussex Contemporary runs a vibrant programme of art exhibitions, a mix of national and regional opportunities presented in Sussex.
After 3 years of running selected and judged projects, we introduced democratic exhibitions into our annual programming. This has been done in the belief that well-curated exhibitions bring cohesion to themed exhibitions regardless of how the work came together.
We are nomadic, allowing us to show cross-country, locations include:
BRIGHTON, DITCHLING, LEWES, NEWHAVEN, HASTINGS, EAST GRINSTEAD, PLUMPTON.
With our planning reaching as far forward as 9 years, we are fully committed to delivering excellent art programmes and exhibtions within the county
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INSPIRATION
The rolling Downs and breathtaking coastlines of Sussex have inspired artists for centuries, including some of the most celebrated artists who have ever lived. Picasso, Miró, Man Ray, Moore, Constable, Turner, Burra, Grant, Bell, Beardsley, Ravilious, Nash, and Grayson Perry all have links with Sussex.
We have spent the last four years building up a vibrant and exciting community of creatives and art lovers, bringing over 25k visitors to the region.
Listening and observing the creative sector is really important to the work we are doing. We use a 360-degree feedback model across all our projects, enabling critical, informed growth thats supports the creatives and the work we do here at Sussex Contemporary.
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PARTNERSHIPS THAT WORK
Jo founded the company as a commercial entity, something we are incredibly proud of.
In a time when it’s becoming increasingly challenging to raise funds in the public, charity and non-profit cultural sector, we can, and do support beyond the work we are doing with the creative community.
Our partnership with HASTINGS CONTEMPORARY is a dynamic example of the work we are doing to support the region's existing museums and galleries.
We have both committed to a 6-year partnership under a revenue-sharing model, in which we are working together to deliver a groundbreaking opportunity for contemporary artists and introduce a new revenue stream into the establishment’s funding model. It’s a biannual project that we are very much looking forward to developing and growing the partnership in the years to come.
Alongside the work we do supporting the existing sector, we have also formed most excellent corporate and commercial sponsorship and partnership relationships that deliver equal value to both parties.
If you are interested in having a chat about a potential relationship do drop Jo an email at jo@sussexcontemporary.com