Art galleries at Atkins Building to reopen 17 May

The Atkins Gallery and the Post Box Gallery at the Atkins Building are free to enter and Covid-19 secure measures are in place including a check in QR venue code for use with the NHS Test and Trace application. The opening hours for both galleries are Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm.

In Atkins Gallery will be the Arts in Mind and IDAHO exhibition which will run from 17 May to 23 June.

Arts in Mind is an exhibition to celebrate the benefits of the arts to our mental health and wellbeing and features a collection of works from different groups with the aim of using art to improve mental health.

Also in Atkins Gallery will be International Day against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia (IDAHoBiT) from 17 May to 23 June, a day which aims to challenge homophobic discrimination in our communities. Visit the displays to learn more about how people identifying as LGBT+ have shaped our lives in art, literature, science, technology, sport and more.  

Barwell-based LGBT+ Rights Campaigner Mathew Hulbert says:

IDAHoBiT is an important opportunity to again make clear that homophobia, biphobia, transphobia and, indeed, any hostility or hate crime based on sexuality or gender identity is never, ever acceptable.

We, as LGBT+ people, have the right to live our lives without fear of persecution, intimidation, prejudice or hate.

I'm really pleased that this exhibition is the first in the Atkins Building upon its re-opening after the covid enforced lockdown.

This has been a tough time for all of us and especially for LGBT+ people, for whom home isn't always the safe and loving place we'd all hope it would be, due to the potential for prejudice by family members, housemates or neighbours. 

I hope many people, in a socially distanced and covid-compliant way, come and take a look around the exhibition, learn about the lives of LGBT+ people and the hostility we can face and, if not members of our communities themselves, pledge to become our allies in the ongoing fight against prejudice and for equality.

Meanwhile the Post Box Gallery will feature the joint project Life in Lockdown 17 May to 2 July where Atkins Building and Ten2 Gallery of Upper Castle Street, Hinckley teamed up to showcase creative responses to the lockdown in Spring/Summer 2020. The project’s intention was to support the local creative community while art venues were closed by showing the submissions on Atkins Gallery Online. Now the Atkins Building has reopened, the physical exhibits can be displayed alongside the digital entries.

For anyone not yet able to visit in person, Atkins Gallery Online is still available from home with the follow-up exhibition to Life in Lockdown. You Can’t Lockdown Nature is a community exhibition exploring our changed relationship with our outdoor spaces from the ongoing impact of COVID-19 and the Lockdown measures. This multi-medium exhibition features local artists and is a review of our year outside.

The Hansom Café, which is new to the Atkins Building, will be open for hot drinks including Fairtrade coffee, cakes, lunches and breakfasts. They also have range of options for party platters for your home events and workplace meetings. To contact the Hansom Café please call 07828079592 or email hansomcafe1@outlook.com 

Executive Member for Culture, Leisure and Tourism, Councillor Keith Nichols said:

I am absolutely delighted that finally we are able to re-open the Atkins Gallery. We open with new exhibitions, a new café and hope that residents and visitors will once again plan to visit. The Gallery team look forward to welcoming you.

If you would like to exhibit in Atkins Gallery or the Post Box Gallery please email info@atkinsbuilding.co.uk for more information.