About Us
Lancaster Arts: where ideas, peoples and places connect
Our strapline underlines our commitment to exceptional art that connects people with the places we live. Our vision is of a world where social and environmental justice drives change for our future and is inspired and provoked by artistic practice. Alongside a wide range of people, friends and our board, we have developed our approach to environmental justice. Please have a look.
Our mission is to create the conditions for art to make change, alongside our collaborators.
Lancaster Arts is based at Lancaster University in the north west of England and encompasses the Nuffield Theatre, the Great Hall and the Peter Scott Gallery as well as locations on campus and in the region, in natural settings, community centres, carparks, and historic buildings. Our artistic programme includes commissions, Creative Gatherings and artist residencies alongside our presentational programme.
We have a long-established artistic reputation for the creation, development and presentation of cutting-edge contemporary arts and are proud to be part of Arts Council England’s portfolio as a combined arts organisation.
Artistic work has been presented at our venues and in the surrounding region for over 55 years, celebrating a broad range of artforms which include contemporary circus, classical and contemporary classical music, performance art (live art, theatre, dance) and visual art. Often the artists we work with do not define themselves within any one artform and we frequently mix them up as in our recent concert in the gallery. Lancaster Arts takes care of the Lancaster University’s Art Collection, a rich and varied collection spanning thousands of years, from ancient Egypt and Greece to contemporary work. We offer opportunities to experience the collections through visiting our gallery exhibitions, arranging a behind-the-scenes visit to see works not on display, or connecting with the collections online.
“Lancaster Arts is a distinctive cross-arts organisation in an academic context – Lancaster University – an environment that supports the questioning of what constitutes the artistic, the social, the political and the personal.”
Live Art Development Agency
A remarkable and diverse mix of artists from across the world have shared and created work here and include (as a tiny snapshot): Bobbie Baker, Augusto Boal, Rebecca Chesney, Forced Entertainment, Gandini Juggling, Jerzy Grotowski, Adrian Howells, Andy Holden, Lost Dog, the BBC Philharmonic, Manchester Camerata, Proto-type Theatre, Russell Maliphant, Peter Liversidge, Rajni Shah and Roderick Williams.
We are honoured to continue this legacy through our thematic approach to programming seasons and commissions. Our themes arise from listening to a wide range of partners, audiences and participants, academics and artists and relate to what is happening in the world today. Examples of past themes have been Women and Circus, Water, Age & Ageing, Ritual and for 2024, Flight.
We’re proud to work with a number of partners across the North West and beyond, visit our partner’s page to find out more.
