Chichester's Pallant House Gallery awarded £300k for 'ambitious' plans

A Chichester gallery has been awarded £300,000 to start a renovation project.
Pallant House Gallery - Copyright Christopher IsonPallant House Gallery - Copyright Christopher Ison
Pallant House Gallery - Copyright Christopher Ison

Pallant House Gallery was awarded the money on Tuesday (October 23) by the Arts Council to begin 'phase one' of a new 'capital renovation project' designed to transform the gallery.

The gallery was awarded the funding through the Art's Council Capital: Small Grants programme and four other organisations across the east and south eat have been awarded a total of £1.68 million.

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Director of the gallery Simon Martin said: "We are very grateful to Arts Council England for their support of the first phase of Pallant House Gallery's ambitious plans to be and international centre for British are from 1900 to now.

"The funding will enable us to upgrade facilities in our studio space for our public programmes, to install new café facilities, plinths to display sculptures in the garden, environmentally-friendly energy saving lighting and improved signage.

"It will lead to the second phase conversion of the historic Coach House into a new collections centre, expanded library and archive. expanded galleries and facilities for staff and research."

'Phase one' of the project includes a variety of developments including a refit of the studio that will enable Pallant House Gallery to create a more ambitious and flexible exhibition programme. Additional work will include installation of energy saving LED lighting, fitting of new rolling racks to double capacity in the library and the creation of a more publicly accessible reading room.

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Hedley Swain, area director for Arts Council England said: "Pallant House gallery is at a really exciting point in its development and we're delighted to support their first step in creating an ambitions and more sustainable future."

The work will also see the installation of improved signage and better access to the gallery’s café. Once completed, Pallant House Gallery will look to embark on 'phase two' of the capital project, which will focus on developing the newly acquired Coach House.