About Haarlem Artspace
Haarlem Artspace is an independent contemporary arts organisation based in Wirksworth, Derbyshire. We support artists and the wider creative ecosystem through exhibitions, residencies, studios, events, education and opportunities for exchange.
We are building an organisation in which artists can make, develop, present, connect and progress. Our ambition is to create the conditions for artists and creative practitioners to develop their work, encounter new ideas and opportunities, and build meaningful relationships with others locally, regionally and nationally.
Haarlem Artspace brings together spaces, people and opportunities that support artistic practice at different stages of its development. We want to connect the places where work is made with the spaces and opportunities through which it is presented, discussed and developed.
Haarlem Artspace Gallery, Haarlem Artspace Studios, our residency programme and wider programme are not separate activities, but connected parts of a growing ecosystem. Together, they form an infrastructure for artistic practice that can support artists over time, create new pathways and bring different communities and networks into meaningful contact.
We want Haarlem Artspace to be a place artists want to be part of, audiences feel a sense of ownership and belonging, and organisations see as a valuable partner.
What we're building
Haarlem Artspace Gallery is at the centre of our public programme, presenting ambitious contemporary art through exhibitions, talks, workshops, sound and music events, residencies and other forms of engagement.
Haarlem Artspace Studios provides affordable workspace for artists and creative practitioners. We are developing the studios as a more integrated community of practice, with opportunities for mentoring, professional development, collaboration and participation in the wider Haarlem programme.
Our residencies bring artists from elsewhere into Wirksworth, giving them time and space to research, reflect and develop ideas in response to the place and its creative community. This often leads to exhibitions or other public outcomes.
Our programme strands, including Seedlings, Germinator, Perennial and Pollinator, provide different routes into Haarlem Artspace, supporting children and young people, emerging artists, community participation, artistic development and exchange between different regions and practices.
Across all of this, collaboration is substantive rather than simply a principle. We work with artists, curators, galleries, studios and cultural organisations to share ideas, resources, knowledge and opportunities.
How we work
We believe artists thrive when they are given support, space and time, but also challenge. We aim to provide practical and professional support alongside critical dialogue, collaboration and opportunities to encounter people and ideas beyond familiar territory.
Our programme is deliberately varied. We work across disciplines, generations and career stages, with a particular interest in emerging and developing practices. We are less concerned with a single aesthetic or medium than with the quality, ambition and distinctiveness of the work.
That breadth is balanced by a consistent curatorial standard. We care about the quality of the work we show and about how it is presented, documented and discussed. We want Haarlem Artspace to be open and accessible without becoming diluted.
Our location is important, but it does not define the limits of our programme. Wirksworth and Derbyshire provide a particular context from which to work, with a rich history, distinctive geography and landscape, and a strong culture of making. These inform our interests and sometimes become starting points for projects exploring history and pre-history, folklore, ritual, environment and place.
At the same time, Haarlem Artspace is outward-looking. We are interested in connecting artists and organisations across the UK, bringing people and ideas into Wirksworth while creating opportunities for artists from our own community to develop relationships and opportunities elsewhere.
Our approach
Our ambition is to build a secure and established organisation capable of creating meaningful, long-term opportunities for artists. We want Haarlem Artspace to become an increasingly connected and productive part of the cultural landscape in Derbyshire, while retaining the independence, flexibility and openness that allow us to respond to artists, ideas and opportunities as they emerge.
We want artists to develop through Haarlem Artspace, making new connections, taking their practice further and finding pathways into wider networks. We want to create opportunities not only to exhibit, but to experiment, research, learn, collaborate and exchange ideas. Over time, we hope to build stronger connections between artists at different stages of their careers, local and visiting practitioners, and galleries, studios and organisations across the UK.
We also want audiences to feel a sense of participation and belonging. Through exhibitions, discussion, learning, music, sound and other forms of engagement, we want to create opportunities for people to encounter contemporary art in ways that feel welcoming, relevant and open.
At a wider level, we want Haarlem Artspace to contribute to a thriving, interconnected creative scene in Derbyshire and beyond. We believe strong arts ecologies are built through relationships: artists working together, organisations sharing knowledge and resources, and ideas moving between places.
Haarlem Artspace is still developing, and that is part of its character. We intend to keep building, adapting and creating new opportunities as the organisation and the community around it grow. We want to build an organisation with the ambition to grow, the curiosity to evolve and the resilience to support artists for the long term.