About us

Focal Point Gallery is South Essex’s gallery for contemporary visual art, promoting and commissioning major solo exhibitions, group and thematic shows, a programme of events including performances, film screenings and talks, as well as offsite projects and temporary public artworks.

The organisation currently produces up to seven gallery exhibitions each year with an accent on the experimental and visionary use of lens-based media, in which artists and curators are given a platform to make new work in response to the gallery’s unique location on the second floor of Southend Central Library, which is housed within a classic early 1970s Brutalist civic building. Artists confirmed for 2012 include Marc Camille Chaimowicz, Kitty Kraus and Mark Titchner, while thematic exhibitions include ‘Thames Delta’ – a project containing contemporary artworks positioned alongside archival material based on the history of Southend's music scene – as well as a group show curated by writer, poet and artist Paul Buck.

During late 2009 and early 2010 Focal Point Gallery ran a residency programme,

which enabled three artists to spend an extended period in Southend-on-Sea making work as a critical response to the regeneration of South Essex.

The gallery is currently organising a series of offsite projects in and around Southend and the Thames Gateway. This new programme, funded by Arts Council England, will allow artists and curators to work with the fabric of the local environment, and enable the organisation to extend its activities beyond its headquarters and main gallery space from summer 2010 to autumn 2012 and beyond.

Each programme is currently being developed to include a series of activities that will host a diverse range of artists, curators and writers, establish ongoing collaborations with international arts institutions, and engage with a wide range of local community groups, schools and children.

Focal Point Gallery receives regular funding from Arts Council England as one of the organisation's national portfolio of funded organisations. The gallery also receives regular support from Southend Borough Council. The programme receives additional funding from

other trusts and foundations and collaborates with partners including arts agencies and other organisations to co-produce projects.