Current Exhibitions – Forthcoming Exhibitions – Past Exhibitions – Permanent Works
The main exhibition spaces at Bank Street are housed on the ground floor of the Listed Georgian terraces that make up the Arts Centre. There is a large reception gallery, which also doubles as a Performance and Events space and four smaller satellite galleries at either side (approximately 1200 sq ft of gallery space across the five rooms). In addition to these rooms, there is also a glass-covered atrium, a café area, a courtyard and 3 unique basement spaces with barrel vaulted ceilings. All of these areas are used as gallery and project spaces for exhibitions, as artists and groups are asked to think about the diverse spaces available, rather than rigidly restricting their exhibitions to particular rooms.
Like most aspects of our work at Bank Street, our policy for use of the gallery spaces is still evolving. We try to react to demand, respond positively to enquiries and suggestions and be flexible and adaptable. We programme very late and frequently retain empty spaces in our calendar in order to be proactive and stage exhibition as they become available rather than working many months ahead. Whilst we have a strong emphasis on local work, we have also staged exhibitions on an international scale through partnerships, competitions and using the internet as a curatorial tool. We are particularly committed to exhibitions of a hybrid nature and encourage all those we work with to think about collaboration, often outside their normal practice.
We are particularly focused on process rather than product. We are ostensibly a non-commercial gallery although that does not stop us from selling work. We encourage resident artists to use studio and gallery spaces to interact with visitors and show work in progress; we have frequently used the gallery spaces as working studios, open to visitors, for short periods. We organize our own exhibitions, encourage those wishing to gain experience in curating to organize shows on our behalf through our volunteer programme; we hire the galleries for a few weeks of each year in order to offer a hands-off approach; and, we host several open submission platforms and competitions each year to encourage participation from as wide a base as possible.
We request that anyone interested in exhibiting at Bank Street considers one of the four identifiable strands of our programming rather than sending unsolicited proposals:
- the gallery spaces are available to hire for a few weeks each year (we welcome enquiries from anyone interested)
- we have a programme of curated exhibitions which runs in conjunction with established Sheffield festivals such as Grin Up North, Sheffield Children’s Festival, Off The Shelf and Galvanise
- our innovative Residency scheme is used to inform and feed into our gallery programme
- Open Submission exhibitions and events as advertised on our website broaden access to anyone.
