Charleston is coming to Lewes, Sussex.
In September, the venerable location of Bloomsbury in the country will open a new venue in the former district council offices in Southover Road in Lewes that will feature a shop, a pop-up café pop-up café operated by Lewes-based Caccia & Tails, and a free program of co-produced community projects, artist-led workshops, gallery activities, and a learning program.
Charleston, 2019
The effort is the first step in bringing 100 of the most important Bloomsbury works back to Sussex and providing a growing Bloomsbury archive in a central location that is accessible to researchers and visitors.
Two free exhibitions will be featured during the venue’s first season, which will run Sept. 13 through Jan. 7, 2024:
- “Bring No Clothes: Bloomsbury and Fashion,” which will feature catwalk fashion by the likes of Dior, Fendi and Burberry alongside never-before-seen Bloomsbury portraits and personal items including Virginia Woolf’s handbag, embroidered by Vanessa Bell, and
- “Jonathan Baldock: Through the Joy of the Senses,” the first UK survey show for the artist.
Transforming the cultural life of Lewes
Here is what Nathaniel Hepburn, director of Charleston, has to say about the project:
“Since Charleston reopened after the pandemic, we have been working in partnership
with the council and community groups in Lewes to develop a bold and ambitious vision which could transform the cultural life of Lewes and replicate the ‘Rodin effect’ from 1999 when Tate lent the famous Kiss sculpture to the town.
“It is exciting to be able to announce plans to launch this space in time for a major cultural season happening across Sussex to coincide with the largest contemporary art prize in the world – Turner Prize – being hosted in Eastbourne. It’s a great moment to put Lewes on the map as an important part of the region’s cultural offer.”
According to the Charleston website:
It is not a new idea for the Bloomsbury group to explore creating a cultural centre in Lewes. During the Second World War, the economist John Maynard Keynes, alongside Vanessa Bell and Duncan Grant, worked on a project for the precursor of the Arts Council, making designs for a theatre and art gallery – with a café – for small towns across the country, using Lewes as a model.
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