Celebrate culture and creativity with Attenborough Arts Centre this spring by experiencing our latest range of exhibitions and performances and get creative with artist-led courses, workshops, and a range of free events for all ages.
The performance Good For A Girl takes pride of place on the front cover brochure image this season. Written by Becky Deeks and directed by Lucy Wild, the production is a dynamic, comedic and hard-hitting play revealing the highs and lows experienced by women in football. Rocking onto the stage are Moxie Brawl with their family show Punk Alley, an unapologetic joyride of live original punk music and high energy dance – but don’t leave the adults at home, this show is for everyone! Later in the season, Elf Lyons invites everyone to experience the first ever comedy show performed entirely by a horse.
A highlight of the season will be the return of Leicester Comedy Festival, one of the largest comedy festivals in Europe of which Attenborough Arts Centre is a proud host venue. From the 7 – 23 February the centre will host 14 acts ranging from laugh-out-loud comedy from Edy Hurst’s Wonderfull Discoverie of Witches in the Countie of Himself, live comedy games with technology from WiFi Wars, and shows for the whole family including Dan Nicholas’ Birthday Party and FailFailFailFailWin.
With a number of performances offered on a Pay What You Can pricing scale, Attenborough Arts Centre remains committed to ensuring access to the arts for all.
In its visual arts programme, Attenborough Arts Centre presents two new compelling exhibitions this season.
In Gallery 1, national disability-arts charity Shape will bring their landmark Crip Arte Spazio: The Disability Arts Movement in Venice to Leicester from 14 February to 11 May 2025. Fresh from its presentation at the world-renowned Venice Biennale 2024, the exhibition is a joyous and exuberant celebration of the Disability Arts Movement, showcasing its dynamism, wit, and grandeur. The exhibition reclaims historical slurs ‘Crip Arte Spazio’ in an unflinching explosion of huge protest banners, cartoon panels, large-scale projected artist films, photography, graphic novels, and campaign merchandise featuring artists Keith Armstrong (supported by the National Disability Movement Archive and Collection), Terence Birch, Tony Heaton OBE, Jameisha Prescod, Abi Palmer, Ker Wallwork, Tanya Raabe-Webber and Jason Wilsher-Mills. The title ‘Crip Arte Spazio’, translated as ‘Crip Art Space’, plays on Italian words while reclaiming slurs disabled people have historically and continue to face, and Attenborough Arts Centre fully supports the curators, artists and disabled people in the reclamation of these words.
In Gallery 2 from 7 February to 6 April, artist Sabrina Tirvengadum will exhibit a range of her work which delves into the complexities of her Mauritian family history, deeply influenced by the legacies of colonialism. With a background in photographic arts and graphic design, her work challenges ableist systems and champions inclusivity in digital spaces.
Before then, Tim Fowler’s The Ground will continue until Sunday 26 January across Galleries 1 and 2. The Leicester artist’s largest solo show to date presents an extensive range of work which features Tim’s trademark palette of extremely bright and intense colours, combining oil and acrylic with spray paint, enamel, graffiti inks, creating layered compositions that fizz with energy. The exhibition is a personal exploration of Tim’s Bajan heritage, bringing together key pieces from an ongoing body of work that began in 2020. Inspired by the results of a DNA test, Tim started researching his family history, and then became fascinated by plants that have made a migratory journey similar to his own DNA: from West Africa via the Caribbean to the UK..
The exhibition has been extremely popular with visitors and it can be experienced on its closing weekend after hours in our ever-popular Attenborough Late, a fun-packed after-hours art experience across the exhibition and the whole building on Friday 24 January. The galleries and café will be buzzing with music, dance, performances and craft workshops, with a range of drinks available for purchase. More information will be revealed soon.
An exciting range of artist-led Creative Courses and Workshops are available, delivered by our experienced tutors, including a range of Life Drawing Classes for beginners and advanced artists to hone their skills with artist Scott Bridgwood, who spent 10 years teaching art in Rome, Italy. Or try your hand at something different with Small Scale Metalworking, a one-day workshop with award winning Contemporary Metalsmith and Silversmith Emma-Jane Rule. Meanwhile, you can get inspired by music, visual arts and the great outdoors and discover your voice in The Joy of Creative Writing with local poet and multiple poetry slam winner Cathi Rae.
Alongside Exhibitions, Performances and Creative Courses, Attenborough Arts Centre also runs a range of free events to engage local communities including Family Gallery Workshops each Saturday during exhibitions, free weekly Sunday Sessions in the café with creative activities from 12pm – 4pm, and Soundbites Lunchtime Concerts every Tuesday.
With such a range of events on offer, there is sure to be something for everyone this spring at Attenborough Arts Centre.
Visit the Attenborough Arts Centre website for more details.