Two Queens is a vital art space in Leicester, which is at risk of closure. Now they need YOUR help to keep it alive.
Two Queens is an independent art gallery and studios at the heart of Leicester’s Cultural Quarter. With the landlords selling the building, everything they’ve built for Leicester’s artistic community is at risk. Now they need people-power, from people who believe in the arts, to back their Crowdfunder.
Through their Crowdfunder and Community Share Offer YOU can take a share in the ownership of Two Queens. Owner Packages start at £50, with options to spread the cost of investment from £5 a month.
“I couldn’t give you another artist run organization who does things as brilliantly as they do.”
We caught up with the team at Two Queens to find out more about what they do and how you can help them.
Tell us a little about the background of Two Queens
Two Queens is an artist-run gallery and studios based in Leicester’s Cultural Quarter. We started in 2012 when two big groups of recent graduates from art courses at Loughborough and DMU came together to find a space in the city where we could keep making and invite artists from around the country to show their work here in Leicester. At that time in 2012, the city didn’t have much of a visual art scene, but it’s really grown over the past decade, and there is plenty to see and do here if you know where to look.
Over the past decade we have built a reputation for working with emerging contemporary artists at an important stage in their careers, helping them to realise ambitious projects that lead to them building an international profile. Artists who have shown here include 2023 Turner Prize winner Jesse Darling, and artists who have been nominated for the Film London Jarman Award including Hannah Quinlan and Rosie Hastings, Hardeep Pandhal and Larry Achiampong. We are known internationally amongst audiences for contemporary art, but are maybe less well-known in our own city – visitors often tell us we are Leicester’s best-kept secret!
In 2023 we became a Charitable Community Benefit Society, which is a type of Community Co-operative, something we did to place the organisation in the hands of our community, putting those who benefit from our work in control of what we do, and making sure Two Queens serves their needs.
How would you describe Two Queens in 5 words?
Independent, creative, challenging, therapeutic, community-led
Why is Two Queens under threat?
Our lease ends in March 2025 and we have no right to remain as tenants after that point. When we announced that we were under risk of closure we were overwhelmed by the love people showed for Two Queens and the work it does, so it feels really vital to keep this space open in Leicester city centre, where it can be at the heart of the local community and accessible to as many people as possible.
Artist-run projects like Two Queens are often short-lived, and many across the country have closed down over the last few years as they face rising rents and a shortage of funding, so we are trying to buck the trend by finding a new solution to staying open and hopefully remaining an asset for Leicester far into the future.
What has been your proudest moment of being involved in Two Queens?
A few spring to mind from the last few years – our exhibition with R.I.P Germain was probably the most ambitious thing we have done recently, which saw us build a replica newsagents inside the gallery. The installation was a kind of escape room, and people had to find their way through to play a specially made video game – that was a really fun exhibition to look after as lots of visitors went from being really confused to getting gripped by the challenge of solving this big puzzle. R.I.P has since made similar things at ICA, London, and currently at Fact, Liverpool, but was able to test it out first at Two Queens – he’s a name to watch!
The other thing I’m most proud of is our work in support of mental health, through a creative wellbeing group aimed at benefiting local artists and creative people, which we have developed in partnership with Bright Sparks, a charity run by our local NHS Arts in Mental Health Coordinators. The project has been so valued and effective at creating a reason for people to get out the house, meet other artists, and do some making in a low-pressure, supportive environment. Sadly we have had to pause the sessions while we apply for funding to carry it on, and it’s this kind of work I hope Two Queens can do alot more of in the future.
What does Two Queens mean to the Leicester artist community?
Two Queens is a place for local artists to make their work, show new art through exhibitions, meet other creative people and make connections that open up new opportunities. Lots of people were able to rekindle their artistic side during the pandemic, and realise how vital expressing yourself creatively can be, but being an artist can also be lonely, and many people become frustrated and dispirited working alone, trying to gain opportunities to show their work in public. The best thing we can do as artists is to work together as a community to support each other, and try to build sustainable careers as creatives, as well as building the profile of our city as a place where artists live and make great work.
There are 45 artists, makers and creatives based at our building working across the full range of artistic media, from painters, sculptors, printers and ceramicists, but we also have a bigger associate membership of over 100 artists based across the county and region who can also access our opportunities, workshops and artist development activities. In short, Two Queens is more than a building, its a community!
Tell us about your summer exhibition
We are just about to launch an exhibition by four artists based in Cornwall called ‘Sound Solid Liquid Light’ – it’s an installation that brings together film, sound, textiles and sculpture, and they are working to create an atmospheric and immersive space away from the everyday world. Two of the artists in the show have Leicester connections – Leila Galloway taught on the Fine Art course at DMU for many years (including teaching me!) and Noami Frears grew up in the county and has been away for 30 years living in St Ives. The exhibition is part of an exchange between Two Queens and gallery spaces in Redruth, Cornwall, which will see artists from our membership go and show their work there in 2025. The exhibition is free to attend, and on Saturday 10th August we will be running a free hands-on family workshop for ages 4-12 as part of Cultural Quarter Earlies.
How will the money from the Crowdfunder be put to use?
Our fundraising campaign starts with a community share offer, which is a kind of crowdfunding where people invest rather than donate. You might have heard of villages who have clubbed together to buy their pub, post office or football club – community shares are often the way this is made possible. Investors can put in anything from £50 upwards, and in return will be able to have a say in how we are run, earn interest on their investment, and get their money back further down the line. We know £50 is alot to pay in one go, so people can also spread the cost from £5 a month, and we have just secured equity match from Co-Operatives UK, meaning that up to £50,000 of public contributions will be matched pound-for-pound, effectively doubling the impact of investments.
The money will be used to buy the freehold of our building, and if we raise enough we will also be able to start improving it, making a more welcoming, accessible and sustainable public space for our city, including a dedicated learning space that would allow us to run more open workshops and creative courses. Being the building owners would also strengthen our work, putting more income towards our public programmes and helping us to be open and serving our community more often.
How can people support the campaign?
We invite everyone in our community to become an owner, by contributing to our community share offer, which can be found at:
https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/twoqueens
If people can’t chip in financially, then anything they can do to help spread the word is so appreciated, and if you haven’t visited Two Queens before, please come down and see what we do. Myself and my colleagues Kerry, Gino and Abi are usually on the front desk and always want to welcome new visitors to the space, so please don’t be shy and say hello!
