We’re looking forward to our 30 anniversary celebrations in 2027, and ahead of that, the major refurbishment works scheduled for the coming months.

As you know, in March we were awarded almost £900,000 to undertake essential refurbishment and access improvements across the original Attenborough Arts Centre building. These improvements will enhance the visitor experience and secure our ongoing mission to provide Art for All at the heart of our communities.

We have planned things a little differently during this period. In our forthcoming What’s On guide you’ll find our whole programme from September 2026 to March 2027, all bookable from 3 August.

From Monday 2 November 2026, the main building will be closed to all visitors until April 2027. During the works we’re doing all we can to continue to offer as much of our regular activity as we can, so the newer gallery side of the building will though remain open throughout, with temporary access via a side door, to our three gallery spaces. Here we’ll be running a wide range of creative courses and workshops, and continuing to offer lots of our regular activity including our weekly free lunchtime concerts, Saturday Art Club and Sunday Sessions. We’ll also continue to host as many school and community group sessions as we can.

So please continue to come and visit! You’ll see the same familiar faces and receive the same friendly welcome, but your visit will be a little different. The café will be closed, there won’t be as much space to socialise as we have usually, and there will be contractors in the car park. We will also be reliant on portable toilets, so prepare to embrace the festival feel!

If you have any queries about access during the refurbishment period, please talk to our box office team, here to help 7 days a week.

This is an exciting time but is not without its challenges, as you will appreciate. Thank you in advance for bearing with us during the refurbishment period, and we look forward to welcoming you to the new and improved Centre in a few short months!

To learn and stay up-to-date please visit our Refurbishment and Capital Bid webpage by clicking here.

Craft & Art Fair

Our annual winter Craft & Art Fair will be going ahead as usual on Saturday 31 October 2026, with 70+ talented artists and makers to browse and buy from.

Soundbites

Our free lunchtime concerts will continue throughout the works period, in a new timeslot in the Salmon Gallery. From Monday 9 November, these will be in the Salmon Gallery, on the ground floor of the gallery side of the building on Mondays, 1pm – 2pm. The space will be fully accessible, although capacity will be reduced a little in the smaller venue, and all music will be acoustic (no microphones etc).

Toilets

We will be reliant on portable toilets, possibly located outside. This will include accessible portable toilet(s). We’re very sorry but we will be without our Changing Places facility until the refurbishment is complete in April 2027.

Shop

Our shop will have a temporary home in the gallery side of the building, and will continue to offer a range of curated cards, gifts, crafts. Jewellery, art materials and seasonal goodies throughout the refurbishment programme.

Café

Our café will be open throughout September and October as usual, then will be closed from 2 November 2026 throughout the works period, re-opening in April 2027. We hope to provide a vending machine while ethe café is closed, but this is yet to be confirmed with the University’s catering service.

Without the café space, it means we’ll have very little space for visitors to wait before/after classes etc, so we’re asking everyone to arrive no more than 15 minutes ahead of your programmed start time, and you may need to clear spaces promptly as classes finish to allow for tighter than usual turn-around times.

Parking

From 2 November 2026, we are likely to lose some of our Blue Badge parking spaces outside the building for the location of the contractor’s welfare facilities. If you are a Blue Badge holder, you will still be able to access any available spaces on a first come, first served basis, or park for up to 3 hours on the double yellow lines on the road, as you can now.

For all other customers, parking remains as it is currently: Free parking available in the University car park next door after 5pm on weekdays and all weekend. For weekdays 9am-5pm, the closest available public parking is at Victoria Park, 5-10 mins walk away, just the other side of De Montfort Hall.

Thank you all so much for your support and patience as we work through the planning, and thank you in advance for bearing with us as we manage the building closure and re-location of all activity later in the year. We will still be here, 7 days a week, so do come and see us!