A new £5.2 million cultural centre called Arts Collective is opening in Northampton, UK, on May 1st. The centre, housed in a refurbished 1930s former municipal building, features a gallery, 17 artist studios, workshop spaces, and community facilities. Its opening exhibition, "House Rules," presents a retrospective of British conceptual artist Rose Finn-Kelcey.
During Berlin Art Week, a group of artists from the Alliance of Endangered Studio Spaces (AbBA) staged a protest at Alexanderplatz on September 16, calling on the Berlin Senate to repurpose abandoned properties for artistic and cultural use. The demonstration highlighted that five studio cooperatives housing about 150 artists were shut down by private owners in 2014 and 2015, with many more studios threatened by foreclosure due to rising rents and gentrification.
Richard MacDonald, the internationally acclaimed figurative sculptor known for his bronze works of dancers, athletes, and performers, is celebrating his 80th birthday with a two-day event on June 5 and 6, 2026, in Monterey, California. The celebration takes place at his studio and foundry, featuring a private invitation-only evening on June 5 for close friends, family, and leading collectors, followed by a public cocktail event on June 6. Activities include live performances, guided studio and foundry tours, a live bronze pour demonstration, and the unveiling of new sculptures, including a commissioned piece for the Weaver of Change Foundation in Singapore.
Sienna Art Gallery & Gifts has officially opened at 129 S. Gay Street in Knoxville’s downtown Arts District. Founded by watercolorist Gayla Seale, fiber artist Judi Gaston, and painter Blanche Nicoll, the space serves as both a working studio and a retail gallery. The venue debuted during a recent First Friday event, featuring original works, architectural cityscapes, handwoven garments, and guest artist rotations, including pieces by Cynthia Markert.
Bridge Street Studios, a cornerstone of the Dundalk arts community, is celebrating its 30th anniversary with a special group exhibition titled "The things that matter most are the things that can’t be seen." Hosted at the Basement Gallery in An Táin Arts Centre, the show features works from current studio members including Orlaith Cullinane, Rachel Tinneswood, and Sarah McKenna, among others.
A commemorative plaque honoring artist Francis Bacon has been unveiled in Paris, installed by the City of Paris at the studio apartment near the Place des Vosges where Bacon lived and worked from 1974 to 1987. The unveiling was attended by art historian Michael Peppiatt, who wrote a biography of Bacon and served as his guide to the French capital, and Guillaume Cerutti, president of the Pinault collection. Bacon took the small studio after his hit 1971 exhibition at the Grand Palais, and Peppiatt helped him find the space, which Bacon used for both living and painting during his frequent visits to Paris.
Mokhtar Alkhanshali, a pioneer of specialty Yemeni coffee in San Francisco, and author Dave Eggers are partnering to open a cafe and gallery at Pier 29's Art + Water, a new 70,000-square-foot arts nonprofit set to launch in late summer or fall 2026. Alkhanshali will operate a large cafe space featuring a new luxury coffee brand, while Art + Water will offer free studio space for artists and 10,000 square feet of gallery space, hosting rotating artists and workshops in collaboration with the Community Arts Stabilization Trust.
A massive fire destroyed Claudia Kaatziza Cortínez's Brooklyn studio in the Beard and Robinson Stores building in Red Hook on September 18, just days before her solo exhibition "Salt and Bone" opened at the Furnace: Art on Paper gallery in Falls Village, Connecticut. The blaze, which required 250 firefighters and a barge to contain, consumed 15 years of archives, tools, and equipment, leaving only the 10 works in the exhibition as the entirety of her art practice. The cause remains under investigation, and the building is off-limits.
Wellington City Council has announced a new location for Toi Pōneke Arts Centre at Market Lane, offering 1,959 square meters of floor space across three levels. The facility will include artist studios, offices, a workshop space, dance and drama rehearsal rooms, a gallery, and a cultural/pōwhiri space. The move is part of the Council's Long-term Plan, with a total budget of $6 million for design and fit-out. Applications for limited-term artist studios, arts offices, and workshop space will open on 27 August 2025 and close on 28 September 2025.
The Community Arts Stabilization Trust (CAST) has partnered with the San Francisco Port Commission to transform Pier 29, a long-vacant warehouse on the city's waterfront, into a major cultural hub. The 47,000-square-foot indoor space and 23,000-square-foot outdoor area will house exhibitions, residencies, performances, and a new residency program called Art + Water, led by author Dave Eggers and San Francisco Arts Commission member JD Beltran, providing affordable studio space for emerging and underserved local artists. CAST is investing $300,000 and the Port $500,000, with a two-year lease and an option to extend, aiming to open in January 2026.
Writer Dave Eggers and artist JD Beltran have launched a new initiative called Art + Water in San Francisco. The project provides free studio space for 30 artists, hosts exhibitions, and offers community events, creating a dedicated hub for local artistic production and engagement.
CUATRO VOCES LATINOAMERICANAS EN TORNO AL INTENSIVO CURATORIAL DE MONTEVIDEO
Independent Curators International (ICI) held the Montevideo Curatorial Intensive in March 2026, in partnership with the ESTE ARTE fair and the Faculty of Arts at the University of the Republic (Udelar). This was the first time the program took place in Uruguay, bringing together twelve emerging curators from Uruguay, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Venezuela, Ecuador, Colombia, and the United States for eight days of seminars, debates, and mentorship. Led by independent curator Marina Reyes Franco, the intensive included visits to local cultural spaces such as CasaMario, SUBTE, and the Espacio de Arte Contemporáneo, as well as a trip to Punta del Este to tour galleries and artist studios. The program featured presentations by international faculty including Ionit Behar, Victoria Noorthoorn, Maya Juracán, and Keyna Eleison, and concluded with a public symposium at the Museo Nacional de Artes Visuales (MNAV).
A long-vacant warehouse on Stathem Avenue in Westwood, Ohio, is being converted into the Apropos Art Society, a visual arts center. The project will include eight artist studios, a classroom for public workshops, and an art gallery, with the owners collaborating with an architect and contractor to transform the former plumbing warehouse. The center is expected to open by the end of the year.
The Vancouver Island Visual Arts Society (VIVAS) is launching its inaugural Art Crawl on April 18, 2026, opening over 100 artist studios and five galleries to the public. The event spans two major creative hubs in Victoria: the established arts center at 780 Blanshard Street and the newly opened Hourglass location on Yates Street. Visitors can access exhibitions at venues including Rockslide Gallery and The Vault Gallery, alongside live music and performance art.
Open Up Sheffield, an annual open studio event celebrating over 25 years of the city's cultural vibrancy, is holding its second leg this weekend on May 9-10. Over 140 artists across 90 venues are opening their homes and studios to the public, showcasing works from ceramics to paintings. The first leg took place over the Bank Holiday weekend, featuring artist Tom Heller, 80, who sells his work to benefit the charity Spreading Health, which trains nurses in Cameroon. The event is organized by a small committee on a not-for-profit basis and sponsored by RivelinCo.
Acme Art Studios, a historic artist complex located at 711 N. Fifth Avenue in downtown Wilmington, North Carolina, has been listed for sale at $4.4 million. The article features a gallery of photographs documenting the studios over the years, showing artists such as Pam Toll, Michael Van Hout, Dumay Gorham, and Dick Roberts at work in their spaces, as well as scenes from events like the No Boundaries art exhibition and the Le Petit Atelier du Monde residency.
The Gadsden Arts Center & Museum has officially opened applications for its 38th Annual Art in Gadsden Juried Exhibition. Open to current members living within 200 miles of Quincy, Florida, as well as former Gadsden County residents, the call for entries remains active until May 15, 2026. This year’s programming is set to expand beyond the gallery walls, featuring a three-day flash sale, artist studio tours, and a specialized luncheon to engage the local community.
The Museum of Graffiti in Miami’s Wynwood district has launched a new permanent artist studio residency program featuring Jel Martinez, James “Ras Terms” Monk, Nicole “Nico” Holderbaum, and Entes. These four established artists, who began their careers painting illegally on the streets, now occupy professional workspaces that are open to the public seven days a week. Fully funded by the museum, the initiative allows visitors to observe the creative process in real-time and purchase works directly from the artists through an on-site sales gallery.
The Elk Grove Fine Arts Center has announced its upcoming April programming, headlined by the Gallery Artist Studio Collection exhibition running from April 4 to 29. This showcase features work from over 20 local artists across various mediums, including painting, sculpture, and ceramics, offered at studio prices. Additionally, the center will host the Fifth Annual Elk Grove Festival of the Arts on April 25 at Old Town Plaza, featuring over 40 vendors and a dedicated showcase for student artwork.
The Spruill Center for the Arts is expanding its footprint by converting the former Chamblee City Hall into a new creative hub called Spruill Studios. Scheduled to open in June 2026, the 6,796-square-foot facility will house 15 affordable artist studios and a dedicated exhibition space. The project is the result of a strategic partnership with the City of Chamblee, which is leasing the 2002 building to the nonprofit for just $1 per year.
Sheboygan Visual Artists (SVA) has officially opened a new permanent gallery and studio space in the South Pier neighborhood of Sheboygan, Wisconsin. After operating without a fixed location for 18 months, the nonprofit organization’s new facility features exhibition areas, five rentable artist studios, and a dedicated space for community-integrated projects. The opening marks a significant milestone for the 80-member collective, which has been a fixture of the local art scene since 2007.
A Russian drone strike on November 14 damaged the studios of Nahirna22, a collective of young artists based at the Kyiv Institute of Automation, for the second time in three months. The attack, which killed six people in Kyiv, shattered wooden windows and left studios covered in glass and rubble, though plastic windows installed after a previous strike in August survived. Co-founder Marta Nyrkova expressed uncertainty about whether the building can be repaired, while the collective plans a fundraising event and a sale of works in Berlin.
Ukrainian cultural institutions and artists are actively restoring and creating art despite ongoing Russian attacks targeting the country's cultural identity. The Nahirna 22 arts collective in Kyiv, which runs 30 artist studios, was hit by air strikes in August that killed at least 23 people, damaging studios and forcing relocations. Meanwhile, the Mykhailo Boychuk State Academy of Decorative Applied Arts and Design in Kyiv, named after a Modernist executed in 1937, was struck by a Russian missile in 2024. Contractors in July 2025 recovered surviving works from the academy's archives, including paintings, textiles, ceramics, and student pieces, with support from UNESCO, the Japanese government, and Ukraine's culture ministry. A new conservation training program and exhibitions like Body/Fragility demonstrate ongoing cultural resilience.
Gowanus Open Studios returns on October 18-19, inviting the public into the studios of hundreds of local artists across dozens of locations in Brooklyn. The event, organized by Arts Gowanus, features individual studio visits, group shows, and two featured exhibitions: "Add/Subtract" curated by Tegan Brozyna, and a retrospective of the late Samuel Heller. Highlights include the first affordable artist studios secured through the 2021 Gowanus rezoning, with about 22 new subsidized spaces opening at The Shop BK and Society Brooklyn, where artists like Mayowa Nwadike now work after winning a lottery for affordable space.
An art exhibition called The Crow Gallery is opening in Westport, County Mayo, during the Westival 2025 arts and music festival. Housed in the vacant The Local public house on Castlebar Street, the show features work from local artists with disabilities and participants of an Open Call centered on disability justice. The exhibition explores perceptions of disability, challenges ableism, and aims to spark dialogue about inclusion. It is the first phase of a long-term project to establish a permanent gallery, coffee shop, gift shop, and artist studios where disabled and non-disabled artists collaborate, with people with disabilities leading the space. The project was inspired by local artist Maitiu Quinn and Amber Walsh, and is driven by Anna Wall, who participated in Social Entrepreneurs Ireland's Ideas Academy and a Mayo County Council Arts Office workshop facilitated by artist Kari Cahill.
The Jersey City Arts + Studio Tour (JCAST) returns for its 36th annual festival from October 3rd to October 5th, 2025, with the theme "Convergence: Art, Technology, Business, and Wellness." The event features over 120 venues across all six wards, including more than 60 open artist studios, gallery exhibitions, two curated shows, performances, music, poetry, film, and guided tours. Highlights include the JCAST Legend Awards ceremony honoring Ernie Pannicioli and the late Ruth Moore, art talks, a bike art crawl organized by Bike JC, and after parties at various local venues.
A group of Nashville artists opened the exhibition "A Night in Tokyo" at Kreate Hub, a South Nashville coworking and studio space. The show featured Japanese-inspired artwork and memorabilia from around a dozen local artists, including anime-themed pieces, a replica Tokyo apartment, Japanese food and drink, and vintage Nintendo games.
FACT, the Liverpool-based cultural center, marks one year since opening Studio/Lab, a creative hub on its top floor designed to support emerging artists in Liverpool and the North West. Over 500 creatives have engaged with the space through workshops, masterclasses, residencies, and social events. The autumn program features new immersive installations by artists Helen Anna Flanagan and Gavin Gayagoy, developed during their residencies at Studio/Lab. Flanagan's film 'Burnt Toast' (2025) uses machine learning and archival materials to explore class and alienation, while Gayagoy's 'Doomscroll_1' (2025) examines digital isolation and compulsive smartphone use.
Local stand-up comedian and portrait photographer Kevin James Thornton is opening a new creative studio and gallery called Shamala Hamala at 1306 Main Street in Cincinnati's Over-the-Rhine neighborhood this Friday. The space includes a private artist workspace with a photographic darkroom, curated exhibitions, and a gallery selling art and creative goods. An opening night celebration on Friday features a harpist, live crocheting, and work from local artists, with free walk-in access after 8 p.m., followed by open hours Saturday and Sunday.
This article features a studio visit with London-based artist Dima Rebus, offering an intimate look into his creative process, workspace, and recent works. The piece includes photographs of the studio and Rebus at work, providing insight into his artistic practice and the environment that shapes his output.