Towner Eastbourne

Towner Eastbourne Towner Eastbourne is a free and welcoming community space providing world-class exhibitions, spaces Host of . We are FREE!
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Art gallery, cinema & collection in the heart of . Visit our website - townereastbourne.org.uk - for more information on Towner, our exhibitions, and events. Sign up for our newsletter: towner.gallery/mail

This October, we're hosting a special in-conversation event between artist Cecilia Fiona and writer Jennifer Higgie, pro...
28/08/2026

This October, we're hosting a special in-conversation event between artist Cecilia Fiona and writer Jennifer Higgie, programmed alongside Cecilia’s current exhibition at Towner, Spirals Gathering, Time Breathing. Cecilia and Jennifer will discuss Cecilia’s exhibition, her new works and wider artistic practice. There will be 15 minutes at the end for audience questions.

Drawing inspiration from microbiology, quantum physics and processes of transformation, Fiona's first institutional solo exhibition in the UK comprises an impressive immersive installation of new sculptures and paintings across Towner's ground-floor gallery.

Saturday 10 October
2.00pm to 3.00pm
£10, concessions available
Book now: https://townereastbourne.org.uk/whats-on/in-conversation-cecilia-fiona-and-jennifer-higgie

Photos by Cameron Brown & Rob Harris

✨Volunteering Opportunities at Towner✨Volunteers play a vital role at Towner, proactively engaging with our visitors as ...
27/08/2026

✨Volunteering Opportunities at Towner✨

Volunteers play a vital role at Towner, proactively engaging with our visitors as well as helping us maintain a safe and secure environment within the gallery spaces.

We are currently recruiting new volunteers for our upcoming exhibition 'Maybe: Ryan Gander.' Applications are due by 20 September. Find out more and apply via the Volunteer page of our website: https://townereastbourne.org.uk/get-involved/volunteer

If you are interested in art, enjoy interacting with people and are keen to develop new skills or just broaden your horizons, then we would really love to hear from you.

James Owen, The Round House, undated.As part of Heritage Open Days' annual celebration of England's history, we're hosti...
25/08/2026

James Owen, The Round House, undated.

As part of Heritage Open Days' annual celebration of England's history, we're hosting a special talk celebrating the life and art of James Owen, led by his great-great-grandson Russell Owen, followed by a visit to Towner's Art Store.

Owen specialised in capturing the coastal charm, rolling scenery, and town life of Eastbourne, the South Downs, and surrounding Sussex areas. In this Illustrated talk, Russell Owen will delve into family history to reveal more about the artist, his life and his inspirations.

Saturday 12 September
11.00am to 12.00pm
Free, booking required (link in bio)

Image: James Owen, The Round House, undated. Towner Collection. © Towner Eastbourne

Zara Wilkins () is back at Towner for a new Edward Bawden inspired course! Learn illustration and lino printing techniqu...
24/08/2026

Zara Wilkins () is back at Towner for a new Edward Bawden inspired course!

Learn illustration and lino printing techniques inspired by Edward Bawden, a close friend of Eric Ravilious, whose versatile and charming illustrative style continues to influence artists today.

In the first session, you will have the exciting opportunity to visit the Towner Art Store with Sara Cooper, Towner’s Head of Collections & Exhibitions, to view our collection of Bawden’s works up close, and to learn a little more about his life and work.

Image: Edward Bawden, Brighton Pier (crop), 1958. Towner Eastbourne.

September's programme is now live! Towner Cinema brings you the best in new releases, including 'Pressure', Anthony Mara...
22/08/2026

September's programme is now live! Towner Cinema brings you the best in new releases, including 'Pressure', Anthony Maras’ sweeping dramatisation of the behind-the-scenes preparations for D-Day, 'Bitter Christmas', new from the iconic Pedro Almodovar and 'Sense & Sensibility', a fresh adaptation starring Daisy Edgar Jones.

Tickets for Sense & Sensibility will be on sale from early September. Check out our website for everything else, booking now!

Digging Horizons, a new series of ecology focused events, starts this September!🌳Saturday 5 September: Edible Ecology Wa...
21/08/2026

Digging Horizons, a new series of ecology focused events, starts this September!

🌳Saturday 5 September: Edible Ecology Walk with artist Rain Wu
📍Meet at Black Robin Farm bus stop

With Rain Wu and ecologist Laura Blaker, explore the landscapes around Black Robin Farm and enjoy edible creations by Rain, inspired by the eating habits of butterflies and caterpillars that call chalk grassland their home.

🍃Saturday 12 September: Creative Writing Workshop with artist & writer Alinah Azadeh
📍Warren Hill Dew Pond

Explore the possibility of imagining new futures at downland sites, writing through a ‘what if’, ‘if only’ and ‘if this carries on’ lens. This is a genre long used by artists, writers and filmmakers as a tool for visioning in turbulent, precarious times.

These events are part of Digging Horizons, a series of autumn talks, walks and events exploring new approaches to landscape, ecology and archaeology. Together, these events will test and shape future activities for Towner Seven Sisters, Towner's forthcoming site at Black Robin Farm. Meet, experiment and engage with the cultivation of a cultural site stitched into the landscape. Digging Horizons is made possible with The National Lottery Heritage Fund ().

More events to be announced - keep an eye out on our website and socials!

We're celebrating the creativity of our HAF participants this weekend! Drop in to Studio 1 to see what participants have...
19/08/2026

We're celebrating the creativity of our HAF participants this weekend! Drop in to Studio 1 to see what participants have been up to and find everything you'll need for self-led and relaxed creativity. Materials and prompts will relate to the heritage and archaeology of Sussex.

Open Saturday 22 & Sunday 23 August, 10.00am to 4.30pm (drop-in)

Led by artist .ribbons, the HAF group have been exploring multi-sensory routes into themes involving the heritage and archaeology of Sussex through play, making and sensory exploration.

Photos by Cameron Brown

Ethel Gabain, Women Workers in Canteen at Williams and Williams,Chester, c.1943. © Grosvenor Museum, West Cheshire Museu...
17/08/2026

Ethel Gabain, Women Workers in Canteen at Williams and Williams,
Chester, c.1943. © Grosvenor Museum, West Cheshire Museums

Gabain exhibited five works at the AIA Exhibition 'The Engineer in British Life' in June 1945, organised to celebrate the Silver Jubilee of the Amalgamated Engineering Union and mark the nation’s industrial achievement during the war years. These included two of her Williams and Williams paintings – Lathes and
Centreless Grinders in a Shell Shop.

When the AIA staged '1945 This Extraordinary Year' at the Whitechapel Gallery that autumn, Gabain contributed a third work, Swinging Bailey Bridge Sections at Reliance 206 Works Chester. This was displayed next to L S Lowry’s VE Day and not far from Peter László Peri’s The Rescue Men.

Now available to view in Comrades in Art: Artists Against Fascism, at Towner Eastbourne. Established in 1933, the AIA unified artists against fascism and war, rallying comrades across Europe during the Spanish Civil War and efforts to overcome the rise of fascist General Francisco Franco.

This exhibition highlights the life and work of 11 members of the founding generation of the Artists International Association (AIA): Peggy Angus, Pearl Binder, James Boswell, James Fitton, Margaret Fitton, James Holland, Percy Horton, Peter Laszlo Peri, Betty Rea, Cliff Rowe and Nan Youngman. Their work is shown alongside works by prominent AIA exhibiting artists, including Ithell Colquhoun, Dame Laura Knight, Paul Nash and Lucien Pissarro, who supported the organisation and its campaigns for peaceful and cultural development and international understanding.

7 May to 18 October 2026
Galleries 2 & 3 (Second Floor)
Tickets £5.50 to £11.
Free for Towner Members

Book online and use code 'ONLINE10' to receive a 10% discount on your tickets.

Pay What You Can tickets are available on the first Friday of every month.

Find out more and book tickets on our website: https://townereastbourne.org.uk/whats-on/comrades-in-art

We are delighted to announce that Martin Clark will be joining Towner as its new CEO & Director in January 2027. He was ...
14/08/2026

We are delighted to announce that Martin Clark will be joining Towner as its new CEO & Director in January 2027. He was appointed by a panel led by our Chair of Trustees, Stephen Welton CBE, with President David Dimbleby.

Martin, who previously worked with Towner as a member of the Turner Prize 2023 jury, joins the team after ten years as Director of Camden Art Centre, London. During his tenure, he has grown the organisation’s profile and visibility, both nationally and internationally, programming and curating an internationally acclaimed series of exhibitions.

Before taking over at Camden Art Centre, Martin was Director at Bergen Kunsthall, Norway (2013-17), and prior to that, in 2007, he took up the post of Artistic Director at Tate St Ives (2007-13).

He joins at an exciting moment in Towner’s development as we look forward to delivering Towner Seven Sisters, the new cultural destination for art, heritage and nature at Black Robin Farm, and to growing our creative programme in Newhaven which supports artists, communities and creative businesses.

Martin said: “I’m enormously excited to be joining Towner at this pivotal moment for the organisation. It is already the largest and most significant museum and gallery of modern and contemporary art in the southeast, but with the delivery of Towner Seven Sisters at Black Robin Farm, we have the opportunity to create a new kind of arts organisation. One that brings together a world class collection, an ambitious and internationally renowned exhibition and commissioning programme, alongside innovative new models of education, training, skills development and creative opportunities, all set in the unique and breathtaking landscape of the South Downs National Park.”

We look forward to welcoming Martin when he joins us in the new year.

Now booking! Join artist Rain Wu and Eastbourne-based ecologist Laura Blaker for a leisurely walk bringing together food...
09/08/2026

Now booking! Join artist Rain Wu and Eastbourne-based ecologist Laura Blaker for a leisurely walk bringing together food, nature and conversation. Following the lives of butterflies and caterpillars, explore the landscapes around Black Robin Farm, the future site of Towner Seven Sisters. Along the way, you’ll discover the plants, habitats and seasonal rhythms that sustain these important species.

You will enjoy edible creations by Rain, inspired by the eating habits of butterflies and caterpillars that call chalk grassland their home. Together we’ll explore another way of moving through and experiencing the landscape.

This event is part of Digging Horizons, a series of autumn talks, walks and events exploring new approaches to landscape, ecology and archaeology.

Saturday 5 September, 2.30pm to 4.30pm
£24, concessions available
Find out more and book tickets via our website (link in bio)

Sketch by Rain Wu / Photo by Sara Pinheiro

Address

Towner Eastbourne, Devonshire Park, College Road
Eastbourne
BN214

Opening Hours

Wednesday 10am - 5pm
Thursday 10am - 5pm
Friday 10am - 8pm
Saturday 10am - 5pm
Sunday 10am - 5pm

Telephone

+441323434670

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