EASTBOURNE.- Towner Art Gallery announced that it has been awarded £450,000 from Arts Council England’s Small Capital Grants fund. The award is being used to develop a ground floor auditorium for presenting artists’ moving image, a film programme, live performances, talks and other events.

Emma Morris, Executive Director of Towner said, “The new space will be an incredible asset for both the gallery and Eastbourne. Having a dedicated, fully accessible auditorium, equipped with high quality AV will allow us to deliver a richer and more diverse programme of moving image and digital works, support artists’ professional development and create new audiences.”

This major award complements the announcement in 2015 of Towner and Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester as the first partners to participate in the Art Fund’s new Moving Image Fund. This enables Towner to acquire important moving image works for a growing collection that includes artists Joao Penalava, Yael Bartana, Ori Gersht, Tacita Dean and Adam Chodzko. In recent years Towner has collaborated with many artists working in film and moving image including Bill Viola, Dorothy Cross, and Joachim Koester, and in April opens the first survey show of moving image work by Melanie Manchot.

The new capital award is also enhanced by a donation of £100,000 from Eastbourne Arts Circle, a membership organisation dedicated to supporting Towner.

Hedley Swain, Area Director, South East, Arts Council England, said: “Towner’s plans are a great example of how our capital investment can create powerful change in an organisation that supports its long term sustainability. As well as supporting a more diverse programme which will hopefully increase audiences, it will also support increased commercial revenue from commercial hires.”

Towner also recently received funding from Arts Council England to present and curate work from the Arts Council Collection in celebration of it’s 70th anniversary. Through this investment Towner, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, and Yorkshire Sculpture Park, will curate twenty-four exhibitions drawn from the Collection over the next three years, as well as developing eight new commissions.