Grundy Art Gallery in Blackpool is celebrating its 115th birthday in 2026 with a winter exhibitions programme that includes a giant birthday cake drawing installation in the foyer, the largest-ever Grundy Open Exhibition for local artists, newly commissioned paintings by locally based artist Jayne Simpson, and a collection spotlight exhibition themed around 1926 featuring loans from Showtown History Centre. The gallery invites the public to a special launch on January 24, 2026, and the exhibitions run through March 7.
This milestone matters because it underscores the Grundy's enduring commitment to showing contemporary local art, a promise written into its founding documents 115 years ago. The open exhibition, with no selection criteria and no entry fee, actively engages the Blackpool and Fylde Coast community, while the birthday celebrations coincide with other significant local anniversaries—150 years since Blackpool became an independent borough and 100 years since the Blackpool Jubilee—reinforcing the gallery's role as a cultural anchor in the region.