MK Gallery on track to deliver new multi-million pound arts centre for the region

Posted 9th January 2017

MK Gallery continues to progress with its ambitious expansion plans which will culminate in the delivery of a new multi-million pound arts centre for Milton Keynes and the wider region.

The Gallery is working with renowned British practice, 6a architects, on its major renovation and expansion, with bar and café, auditorium for film, music and events, and dedicated community facilities. The Gallery has revised its original timescale as it seeks to deliver excellent value for money for the scheme. Capital works are due to begin during 2017.

Earlier this year, MK Gallery was recognised for its work in Milton Keynes when the Gallery won in the Community Impact category at the 2016 Milton Keynes Business Achievement Awards. The Gallery continues to contribute to Milton Keynes during the expansion planning and build phase with its popular learning and events programme, alongside projects such as City Club, which levered £750,000 of new funding into Milton Keynes as one of only three projects to receive national funding in Round 4 of Arts Council England’s Ambition for Excellence programme.

City Club will celebrate our unique city through a programme of new art, performances, family activities, commissions, happenings, events and talks inspired by the original cultural plans for Milton Keynes. The project will enable thousands of people throughout Milton Keynes to explore, enjoy and be inspired by their surroundings. Led by MK Gallery and delivered in partnership with the city’s arts and heritage organisations, the project takes its name from the unrealised national leisure complex planned by Milton Keynes Development Corporation for the city in the 1970s. City Club will culminate in the creation of a new permanent public art work around the Gallery by lead artists Gareth Jones and Nils Norman offering a new outdoor space for everyone to enjoy. Details of the full City Club programme will be announced in early 2017 with updates about the project planning shared on the Gallery blog, https://mkgalleryexpansion.org/, in the meantime.

Ongoing regular MK Gallery events include messy and creative activities for under 5s every Tuesday and Wednesday with Start the Art, artist-led workshops for 5+ year olds and their families with Saturday Studio, alongside a dynamic programme of live music, talks, artists’ film, performance, sound art, and weekly film screenings showcasing the very best in new and independent cinema.

MK Gallery has been serving communities in the city for 17 years. Through an extensive range of exhibitions, events, participatory workshops and community projects, the Gallery has provided hundreds of thousands of people with creative opportunities, including learning opportunities for families, children and young people, people with profound and multiple disabilities and those living at disadvantage.

For further details visit www.mkgallery.org or the Gallery’s dedicated expansion blog at www.mkgalleryexpansion.org.