9th August 2023
We’re sad to announce that Conclave will soon be taking a break from having a permanent bricks-and-mortar gallery space in Brighton.
We opened the Queens Road gallery in December 2018, when the world was a very different place.
There have been so many changes, and so many challenges, and it’s been exhausting for us (as it has been for so many small businesses). We’re incredibly proud to still be here after the pandemic and after more than a year of the “Cost of Living” crisis, but even the most optimistic outlook will see most of us in some sort of financial squeeze for a while yet. We’re all having to make changes to how and where we spend our time and money in this strange new world. Having a permanent presence on a city centre high street (with its costly overheads and long-term commitments) doesn’t feel like the right thing to do at the moment.
BUT, it’s not all bad news – we’ve survived this long, and been luckier than many other small businesses, and for that we are truly thankful. We’ve sold thousands of artworks and met and chatted to even more lovely customers, and we’ve shown the amazing artworks of nearly 200 artists in that time – many of whom showed in a gallery space for the first time. We’re really proud of what we’ve achieved, and we know that it doesn’t need to end here!
Our plans are to take a short break, and then look towards curating and hosting regular pop-up exhibitions and events in Brighton (and maybe a little further afield!) We will remain committed to having financially and socially accessible art spaces that allow and encourage “normal folk” to get involved in seeing, appreciating and loving art, where previously they may have felt it wasn’t something for them.
Our last day at the Queens Road gallery space will be Saturday 16th September 2023. We really hope we can see a few of you in person at the gallery before then!
We will continue to run the online shop (https://conclave-brighton.co.uk/shop) although we may not have the same huge range of artworks that we currently have.
If you would like to stay up to date with news of our future pop-up exhibitions and events, please do join the mailing list here https://conclave-brighton.co.uk/sign-up. (If you’re already on the list, you’ll know that we really don’t do spamming, so there’s no need to worry about constant pointless emails…if we manage to get one a month out, that’s quite a thing for us!!)
In the future – when the world (and our town and city centres) start to feel a bit more normal – we hope to be back in a permanent, physical gallery space: somewhere new, somewhere different, somewhere in Brighton…but for the moment, we’re getting ready to say goodbye to this particular amazing space that we built up from nothing! (We do hope the new tenants appreciate what we’ve done with the space!)
But for the moment, a huge thanks to all our past and present customers and artists, and TTFN!
With big love and arty hugs,
Conclave
xxx
PS. If you have any queries or concerns about this, please don’t hesitate to get in touch at gallery@conclave-brighton.co.uk